Category Archives: Western Rite

In the Mystery of the Transfiguration, God is revealed as he really is: a human man, fully divine, enfleshed, and loving us so dearly. In the Transfiguration the Son of God is revealed as God the Son. There are some … Continue reading →

The Proclamation of the Kingdom is a special mystery because it involves not only Christ and it is not limited in time or space. Anywhere the preaching of Christ is embodied in the world the Kingdom is taking place.  Of … Continue reading →

My most sincere apologies for the lateness of this post – it should have happened on Sunday! This mystery is about the Wedding at Cana: given all the hoopla currently around marriage, I think is a mystery for us all … Continue reading →

In the East this event is commemorated on 6 January, which feast is called the Theophany, or manifestation of God.  In the West the Baptism of Our Lord is commemorated on 13 January: the Octave Day of Epiphany, which feast … Continue reading →

To the standard 15 Decades of the Rosary, Pope John Paul II suggested another 5, the Mysteries of Light or the Luminous Mysteries. He did this in his letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae on 16 October 2002.  Whilst these have been accepted … Continue reading →

When praying the Rosary, it is traditional to do one set of five mysteries (eg, The Joyous Mysteries) – also known as five decades – at a time, although another pious practice is to do three Mysteries a day as … Continue reading →

Our Lady’s coronation by her divine Son as Queen of Heaven is, in fact, the second coronation in the Rosary: the first being that of her Son, himself, by the Romans; but where the Virgin receives a crown of twelve … Continue reading →

Here, at last, is one place where the Romans and the Orthodox might differ in the Rosary – although as recently as the middle of the last century this was not so. When I was a freshman in High School … Continue reading →

Our Lord’s Ascension is the first evidence that the “key has changed” as I noted in the last mystery: the Eastern liturgical texts speak of how amazed the Angels are at seeing one of our race of men entering into the … Continue reading →