The text of the apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae has been released and the Five Luminous Mysteries differ from those mentioned as possibilities in some preliminary reports. Here is the relevant paragraph from the letter, the point at which Pope John Paul II moves from a consideration of the Joyful Mysteries to the newly introduced Luminous meditations, which commemorate events next in time in the life of Christ, before the Sorrowful Mysteries commemorating the events of the passion and death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Glorious Mysteries commemorating the Lord's Resurrection and Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of honor to Mary, the Mother of God.





Moving on from the infancy and the hidden life in Nazareth to the public life of Jesus, our contemplation brings us to those mysteries which may be called in a special way “mysteries of light”. Certainly the whole mystery of Christ is a mystery of light. He is the “light of the world” (Jn 8:12). Yet this truth emerges in a special way during the years of his public life, when he proclaims the Gospel of the Kingdom. In proposing to the Christian community five significant moments – “luminous” mysteries – during this phase of Christ's life, I think that the following can be fittingly singled out: (1) his Baptism in the Jordan, (2) his self-manifestation at the wedding of Cana, (3) his proclamation of the Kingdom of God, with his call to conversion, (4) his Transfiguration, and finally, (5) his institution of the Eucharist, as the sacramental expression of the Paschal Mystery.



His Holiness gives extended consideration to the primary purpose of praying the rosary, to the centrality of Sacred Scripture as the basis of meditation, and to the aspects of the prayer that will most surely advance our growth in Christ and in His Love. The letter is rich in its imagery, deep in its understanding, persistent in echoing the call of God to His people.



In Christ, God has truly assumed a “heart of flesh”. Not only does God have a divine heart, rich in mercy and in forgiveness, but also a human heart, capable of all the stirrings of affection. If we needed evidence for this from the Gospel, we could easily find it in the touching dialogue between Christ and Peter after the Resurrection: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Three times this question is put to Peter, and three times he gives the reply: “Lord, you know that I love you” (cf. Jn 21:15-17). Over and above the specific meaning of this passage, so important for Peter's mission, none can fail to recognize the beauty of this triple repetition, in which the insistent request and the corresponding reply are expressed in terms familiar from the universal experience of human love. To understand the Rosary, one has to enter into the psychological dynamic proper to love.