{"id":3672,"date":"2015-11-20T15:00:22","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T14:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2012\/09\/the-earlier-mysteries-of-the-b-1\/"},"modified":"2020-11-21T09:15:19","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T09:15:19","slug":"the-earlier-mysteries-of-the-b-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2015\/11\/the-earlier-mysteries-of-the-b-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Earlier Mysteries of the Blessed Virgin Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3stanne.jpg\"<\/small>The image is a detail from D\u00fcrer’s Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (1519). I especially like Saint Anne’s motherly hand resting on Our Lady’s shoulder.<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n

For some years now, especially around the Marian feasts of September 8th, September 12th, November 21st, and December 8th, I have “told my beads” while dwelling on five mysteries of the first part of Our Lady’s life. These five mysteries of the Blessed Virgin Mary are:<\/p>\n

\u2014 the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne (feast December 8th);
\n\u2014 the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (feast September 8th);
\n\u2014 the Most Holy Name of Mary (feast September 12th);
\n\u2014 the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple (feast November 21st);
\n\u2014 the Betrothal of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Joseph (feast January 23rd).<\/p>\n

There is a particular sweetness in dwelling on these mysteries of Maria Bambina<\/em>, the Infant Mary, the Child Mary. They distill graces of purity, of childlike simplicity, and of littleness.<\/p>\n

All five mysteries are commemorated in the Sacred Liturgy. The liturgical books are rich in texts to nourish the meditation of each one. It is enough to take an antiphon, a verse, a single phrase, and to hold it in the heart while telling one’s beads. The Rosary corresponds to the meditatio<\/em> and the oratio<\/em> of monastic prayer; it begins necessarily in lectio divina<\/em>, the hearing of the Word, and then, gently, almost imperceptibly, draws the soul into contemplatio<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Rosary is, I am convinced, the surest and easiest school of contemplative prayer. The Rosary decapitates pride, the single greatest obstacle to union with God. The repetition of the Aves<\/em>, like a stream of pure water, cleanses the heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The image is a detail from D\u00fcrer’s Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (1519). I especially like Saint Anne’s motherly hand resting on Our Lady’s shoulder. For some years now, especially around the Marian feasts of September 8th, September 12th, November 21st, and December 8th, I have “told my beads” while dwelling on five mysteries <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blessed-virgin-mary"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-Xe","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3672"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24071,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672\/revisions\/24071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}