Does the Rosary exist without the Bible?

The Rosary and the Bible: the question of dependence on Scripture in the prayer structure of the Rosary

Undoubtedly, all Christian prayer has a center represented by the Liturgy, the summit of the Church’s entire action, the font of all her power (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium 10). For this reason, the Christian is aware that the prayer of the Church, made up of the Eucharistic Liturgy and the Liturgy of the Hours, forms his life as a Christian and provides him with the daily nourishment of the Word and of the Eucharist, and this, as John Paul II recalled, requires that “the listening to the Word become a vital encounter, in the ancient and ever valid tradition of lectio divina, which makes one perceive in the Sacred Scriptures the living Word that questions, directs, and shapes existence”.

With the primacy of the Liturgy respected, the Christian, precisely so that liturgical prayer may be prolonged until it becomes unceasing prayer and so that the art of dialogue with God may develop and be refined, may have recourse to other forms of prayer, for, as Sacrosanctum concilium stresses, “the spiritual life is not limited to participation in the Liturgy alone” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 12). In the Christian tradition the forms of prayer by which the faithful have renewed and confirmed their communion with the Lord have been many and varied. Among the non-liturgical acts of worship there stands out, within the Western tradition of the second millennium, the Rosary.

The Rosary as a “compendium of the Gospel”: John Paul II’s definition in rosarium virginis mariae (2002) §1

What is the Rosary? Despite certain prejudices, which tend to relativize it and even to devalue it, the Rosary is an original reality on the level of devotion, a non-liturgical form of prayer, unique in Western spirituality. Cardinal Newman called it “the Creed made prayer”, emphasizing faith in the mysteries we profess in the Creed. John Paul II, in the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae no. 18, defines it with the same words of Pius XII, later repeated by Paul VI: “The Rosary, ‘compendium of the Gospel’”. We focus on this definition. Already at the beginning of the Letter, the Pope writes: “in the sobriety of its elements, the Rosary concentrates in itself the depth of the entire Gospel message, of which it is almost a compendium” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 1).

John Paul II, with the gift of Rosarium Virginis Mariae, intended to lead the Christian to discover it as a precious and salutary exercise of communion with the mysteries of Christ through the heart of Mary. As an expression of an intense love that is satisfied only in repetition, as an anthropological self-understanding of the Christian. Today, scholars and commentators on the Rosary like to concentrate on the link between the Rosary and the word of God, highlighting its peculiar characteristic as a biblical and essentially evangelical prayer.

In this language Benedict XVI spoke at Pompeii on October 19, 2008, while the Twelfth Synod of Bishops on “The word of God in the life and mission of the Church” was taking place in Rome. The Pope said: “in fact, the Rosary is entirely interwoven with elements drawn from Scripture. There is first of all the announcement of the mystery, made preferably with words drawn from the Bible. The Our Father follows: by imparting to the prayer the ‘vertical’ orientation”, it opens the soul of the one who prays the Rosary to the right filial attitude, according to the Lord’s invitation: “When you pray, say: Father…” (Lk 11:2). The first part of the Hail Mary, also drawn from the Gospel, makes us hear again the words with which God addressed the Virgin through the Angel, and those of blessing of her cousin Elizabeth”.

We find the same biblical orientation in one of the Synodal Propositions, no. 21, where we read: “the Synod recommends the formation of small ecclesial communities where the word of God is listened to, studied, and prayed, also in the form of the Rosary as biblical meditation”. The reason why the Rosary is an essentially evangelical prayer does not concern only what we have just highlighted. It depends still more on the fact that almost all the “mysteries” derive directly from Gospel pages.

Only two mysteries, the fourth and the fifth glorious, the Assumption and the Coronation of Mary, are not documented by Scripture, but draw their inspiration from it. “certainly, [the mysteries] do not replace the Gospel, nor do they even evoke all of its pages. But if those considered in the Rosary are limited to the fundamental lines of Christ’s life, from them the soul can easily expand to the rest of the Gospel” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 29).

If the Rosary does not exhaust the Gospel, it nevertheless evokes its heart, the essential nucleus, introducing the soul “to the taste of an event of Christ that continually drinks from the pure font of the Gospel text” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 24). A mention of the fifteen traditional mysteries, which constituted the unmistakable physiognomy of the Rosary until the promulgation of the Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, confirms this evangelical orientation. The “mysteries of joy” have their origin in the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke, the infancy narratives. The “mysteries of sorrow” are based on the episodes of the passion recounted by the four Gospels. The “mysteries of glory” reflect the conclusion of the Gospels and their prolongation in the new age of the Spirit and of the Church.

Nevertheless, if the Rosary has a profoundly evangelical character, John Paul II acutely observes, the fifteen traditional mysteries propose to the contemplative meditation of the faithful only some events of Christ’s life. The mysteries of joy reach as far as the episode of Jesus at twelve years of age in the temple; those of sorrow begin with Gethsemane. Between the Baptism and the Passion there is no trace of Jesus exercising his ministry in the years of the public life. The fact is that one cannot truly understand the death of Jesus except in the context of his life.

Jesus was put to death precisely for the witness he gave, with all that he was and with all that he accomplished during his ministry. “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt 8:29) is the challenge posed by the Jesus of Mark. The answer lies not only in his death, but also in what led him to death. The addition, or improvement, the insertion, on the part of John Paul II, of the “mysteries of light” makes it possible to embrace also the mysteries of Jesus’ public life, in which he presents himself as the “light of the world” (Jn 9:5). This integration makes the Rosary a more balanced prayer.

In the mysteries of light, baptism, Cana, the proclamation of the Kingdom, transfiguration, the Last Supper, Jesus is central. While the presentation made by the Gospels reflects the encounter with him as Risen, he is nonetheless firmly the Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was “born under the law” (Gal 4:4), “a brother in all things” (Heb 2:17). This truth that we wish to underline here is of vital importance for a balanced Christology: the mysteries of light reveal Christ-the-Light who is life of the world, that is, life of the world. They reveal the incarnate Word.

The Rosary is, in the final analysis, a meditation on the Son of Mary, on the one who reveals the face of the Father and his presence in history. Consequently, after having recalled the incarnation and the hidden life of Christ (mysteries of joy), and before pausing over the sufferings of the passion (mysteries of sorrow), and over the triumph of the resurrection (mysteries of glory), John Paul II invites us to meditate also on some particularly significant moments of Jesus’ public life (mysteries of light) (cf. If the Rosary does not exhaust the Gospel, it nevertheless evokes its heart, the essential nucleus, introducing the soul “to the taste of an event of Christ that continually drinks from the pure font of the Gospel text” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 24).

A mention of the fifteen traditional mysteries, which constituted the unmistakable physiognomy of the Rosary until the promulgation of the Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, confirms this evangelical orientation. The “mysteries of joy” have their origin in the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke, the infancy narratives. The “mysteries of sorrow” are based on the episodes of the passion recounted by the four Gospels. The “mysteries of glory” reflect the conclusion of the Gospels and their prolongation in the new age of the Spirit and of the Church.

The insertion of the Luminous Mysteries, on the one hand, confirms the Rosary as a “compendium of the Gospel”; on the other, it enriches it with spiritual content, as a “true introduction to the depth of the Heart of Christ, an abyss of joy and of light, of sorrow and of glory” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 19). Such an integration confers on the Rosary that “biographical” completeness which makes it extraordinarily suited not only to contemplate but also to narrate the story of Jesus. It completes with the prayed word what the people of God have learned over the centuries through the painted word, that is, through the image. The life of Jesus, in fact, was the highest source of inspiration for artists of every century and of every culture.

In Rosarium Virginis Mariae Pope John Paul II suggests a series of acts that confer dignity and importance on the Rosary. First of all, the biblical announcement of the mystery. This may be accompanied by the contemplation of an icon that represents it, so as to concentrate attention immediately on what is about to be meditated. The Pope does not hesitate to have recourse to “perceptible elements”, for a theological reason in harmony with the incarnate Word and with our human condition: “it is a methodology that corresponds to the logic of the Incarnation: God willed to assume, in Jesus, human features. It is through his bodily reality that we are led to enter into contact with his divine mystery” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 29).

Even more important is the suggestion to follow the announcement of the mystery with “a corresponding biblical passage”. This may be “more or less extensive”, so that the priority and the primacy of the word of God may be recognized, which is living and effective (cf. Heb 4:12) and of which the Rosary constitutes an updated meditation. John Paul II says: “Other words, in fact, never attain the effectiveness proper to the inspired word. It must be listened to with the certainty that it is the word of God, spoken for today and ‘for me’. Received in this way, it enters into the methodology of repetition of the Rosary without causing the tedium that would be produced by the simple recalling of information already well acquired. It is a matter, therefore, of letting God ‘speak’” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 30).

Scripture, in communicating the Lord to us, gives us the possibility of listening to him, of establishing a dialogue with him who reveals himself, of giving him the answer that he himself suggests. Prayer develops in response to the penetration of Scripture under the mysterious action of the Spirit who dictated it and who directs every disciple of Christ to be perfected in love. This biblical approach certainly enriches the Rosary, above all when a suitable commentary makes explicit the contents of the individual mysteries and applies them to the situation of individuals and of communities.

But more than adding human words to the word of God, it is fundamental to interiorize it. For this reason it is fitting that, immediately after its proclamation, some moment of “silence” be observed in order to fix the gaze better on the mystery: “listening and meditation are nourished by silence”. The rediscovery of the value of silence is one of the secrets for practicing contemplation and meditation. Among the limits of our society, strongly specialized in technological and mass-media works, there is also the fact that silence becomes ever more difficult.

Just as moments of silence are recommended in the Liturgy, so too in the recitation of the Rosary a brief pause is opportune after the hearing of the word of God, while the soul fixes itself on the content of a particular mystery (cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae 31). Here too, the Pope on the one hand directs attention to the word of God that is to be meditated and interiorly personalized, and on the other, to the society of our time, where so many messages overlap, leaving little room for silence. It is therefore more than opportune to rediscover moments of silence, filled with the saving Word.

The prayer of the Rosary as the breathing of the Gospel: the biblical basis of the Hail Mary (Lk 1:28, 42) and of the Our Father (Mt 6:9-13)

The evangelical prayers of the Rosary, as has been mentioned: both the prayers and the formulation of the mysteries of the Rosary are derived from the Gospel.

The “Our Father”, because of its immense value, is the basis of Christian prayer and comes to us directly from Jesus. Its recitation at the beginning of each mystery places the one who prays in a filial attitude before the Father, always present in the mysteries of Christ. “The Father who is in heaven, we read in Dei Verbum, comes with great tenderness to meet his children and enters into conversation with them” (Dei Verbum 21).

After the listening to the Word and the focusing on the mystery, it is natural that the soul should rise to the Father. Jesus, in each of his mysteries, always leads us to the Father, to whom he continually turns, since it is in his ‘bosom’ that he rests (cf. Jn 1:18) (cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae 32). Christ desires to introduce us into the intimacy of the Father, so that we may repeat with Him “Abbà, Father” (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). Saint Cyprian says: “He who gave us the life of grace as Savior taught us to pray as Master”.

And Jesus, in the Our Father, reveals the very heart of the Father, making known to us the petitions and sentiments that He desires of His children. “It is in relation to the Father that He makes us His brothers and brothers among ourselves, communicating to us the Spirit who is His and the Father’s at the same time” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 32).

Moreover, it is notable that the Rosary, as an expression of popular piety, does not follow liturgical usage, but proceeds according to its own nature. Whereas in the liturgical celebration of Lauds in the morning and of Vespers in the evening the Our Father is placed at the end of the invocations of the faithful, at the summit of the celebration, here the same prayer is positioned at the base of the meditation on the mysteries of salvation, in order to emphasize that the Father is at the origin of the saving plan that unfolds throughout the Rosary. “The Our Father, placed almost as the foundation of the Christological-Marian meditation that develops through the repetition of the Hail Mary, makes the meditation on the mystery, even when carried out in solitude, an ecclesial experience” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 32).

The recitation of the Hail Mary, repeated ten times, makes the Rosary a “Marian prayer par excellence”. Drawn from the words addressed to Mary by the angel Gabriel and by Elizabeth, the Hail Mary has a strictly biblical character and therefore one necessarily oriented toward Christ: it is the contemplation of the mystery that is accomplished in Him. The repetition of the Hail Mary in the Rosary becomes jubilation, wonder, acknowledgment of the greatest miracle of history and fulfillment of Mary’s prophecy: “From now on all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48).

Understood and wisely appreciated, one perceives in the Hail Mary that “the Marian character is not opposed to the Christological one, but sublimates and exalts it” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 33). Moreover, applying a procedure used in the book of Judith, where what comes after counts more than what comes before, the blessing of Mary prepares the blessing of Jesus, who is the ultimate reason why the Mother is blessed. This is well demonstrated by the parallelism between the acclamation of Uzziah addressed to Judith and that of Elizabeth to Mary: “Blessed are you […] above all the women who live upon the earth, and blessed be the Lord God who created heaven and earth” (Jdt 13:18). “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:42).

John Paul II concludes that the Hail Mary is a Marian prayer, but above all a Christological one, because its “center” is the name of Jesus. Saint John Paul II emphasizes:

“At times, in hurried recitation, this center escapes, and with it also the bond with the mystery of Christ that is being contemplated. But it is precisely from the prominence given to the name of Jesus and to his mystery that a meaningful and fruitful recitation of the Rosary is distinguished […]. It expresses with force the Christological faith, applied to the different moments of the life of the Redeemer. It is a profession of faith and, at the same time, an aid for keeping meditation awake, making it possible to live the assimilating function, inherent in the repetition of the Hail Mary, in relation to the mystery of Christ”.

Rosarium Virginis Mariae 33

To repeat the name of Jesus constitutes a path of assimilation, which aims to make us enter ever more deeply into the life of Christ. Precisely in order to emphasize this Christological character further, John Paul II affirms that it is “a praiseworthy usage, especially in public recitation” to add to the name of Jesus “a clause evocative of the mystery that is being meditated”. This clause has the function of fixing the mind on the mystery, preventing the one who prays from being lost in distraction.

The “Glory be to the Father”, which concludes each decade of Hail Marys, is considered the summit of the meditation. It develops the Trinitarian formula pronounced by Jesus when he sent the disciples into the world: “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19). John Paul II says:

“the Trinitarian doxology is the goal of Christian contemplation. Christ is the way that leads us to the Father in the Spirit. If we travel this way to the end, we find ourselves continually before the mystery of the three divine Persons to be praised, adored, thanked. It is important that the Glory be, the summit of contemplation, be well brought out in the Rosary. In public recitation it could be sung […]. From Hail Mary to Hail Mary, the Trinitarian glorification at each decade, far from being reduced to a hurried conclusion, acquires its proper contemplative tone, until it makes us in some way relive the experience of Tabor, an anticipation of the contemplation to come: ‘It is good for us to be here’ (Lk 9:33)”.

Rosarium Virginis Mariae 34

The mysteries of light (Rosarium virginis mariae §21): John Paul II 2002 and the biblical foundation of the five new mysteries
Biblical character of the mysteries of light: references in Jn 2:1-11. Lk 4:43. Mk 9:2-8. Mt 26:26-28

In the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Pope John Paul II proposes the integration into the meditation on the mysteries of Christ of those that refer to his public life. They may be called in a special way “mysteries of light”, since they are moments of the luminous revelation of the Kingdom, already present in the very person of Jesus. The Pope identifies five of them:

1. The Baptism in the Jordan.
2. The miracle at Cana in Galilee.
3. The proclamation of the Kingdom of God.
4. The Transfiguration.
5. The institution of the Eucharist.

In this new series, the biblical-theological character of the Rosary has been enriched in an original way. It is not without importance to consider first of all the term “mystery”. In common usage, “mystery” means something hidden, to be investigated, not immediately discernible. In the catechesis of the past, “mystery” defined a revealed truth that we cannot comprehend.

In biblical usage, and it is this that guides us here, mysterion is not something mysterious. A “mystery” is an intention of God or a plan of His, hidden, it is true, in the past, but now revealed (cf. Rom 11:25-26). Paul’s letter to the Colossians speaks of a “mystery” kept hidden by God for a long time, but now “manifested to His saints” (Col 1:26). From this it follows that “mystery” is identified with the person of Christ. In short: it is revelatory. The mysteries of the Rosary reveal Christ, they guide us to understand him more deeply. This is what we wish to highlight, bringing out the biblical character of the “mysteries of light”.

The baptism in the Jordan

The passage of the Baptism in the Jordan is of great importance for the three synoptic Gospels, but it takes on special prominence in the Gospel of Mark (Mk 1:9-11), since it is with this event that the evangelist begins his presentation of Jesus. Mark does not propose a genealogy or episodes of the infancy, and so the first encounter with Jesus coincides with the moment in which he goes to the Jordan to be baptized by John.

Many hasten to hear the Baptist, who speaks of an imminent visitation of God to his people, and they perform the penitential gesture of baptism, confessing their sins. Among this crowd, penitent and desirous of welcoming God into their lives, there appears an unknown figure, Jesus of Nazareth. He begins his “career” among sinners and will end his venture crucified between two evildoers. “In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan” (Mk 1:9).

By placing himself among the crowd that goes to the Jordan to be baptized, Jesus too longs for the visitation of God, invokes forgiveness for Israel, and enters the water performing the symbolic rite. The reader of the Gospel is perplexed by all this. The answer comes when Jesus comes up out of the water: the heavens open, the Spirit descends, and a heavenly voice declares all its love for him: “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased” (Mk 1:11).

Each of us needs, in order to live, a love that makes him feel a son; he needs a recognition that declares him “unique” among so many. Here, at the Jordan, a voice is heard that comes from the heart of God. It is the manifestation and the confirmation of a special relationship already existing between Jesus and the Father. It does not merely say that Jesus is the beloved Son, but that he is Son precisely in this way, that is, in solidarity with his sinful brothers.

The sentence of the Gospel becomes the synthesis of three biblical passages. It evokes, in the first place, Psalm 2, in which God proclaims the power of his Messiah, to whom he entrusts the government of the nations, whose sovereignty is nevertheless affirmed in the midst of grave opposition. The theme of humiliation and of death is even more evident in the other biblical reference, the episode of the sacrifice of Isaac, a harsh trial which, according to Judaism, involves not only Abraham but also the son Isaac. Like Jesus, Isaac is the “only and beloved son” (Gen 22:2) and is not spared the anguish of a violent death (cf. Heb 5:7).

The third citation refers to the figure described by Isaiah of the Servant of the Lord, a personage filled with the Spirit who dies in the service of God’s plan for the salvation of Israel and of all humanity. The baptismal encounter with the ineffable fatherhood of God toward Jesus is thus the event of a love that is not exhausted in the intimacy between him and the Father, but asks to be communicated to every man. “I saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove” (Mk 1:10).

The opened heavens foreshadow the veil of the Temple that will be torn at the redeeming death of Jesus, revealing a God who no longer has secrets, since his last word is the Crucified One (Mk 15:38). The Spirit who descends like a dove recalls the end of the flood and the beginning of a new world; thus, with this Jesus baptized in the Jordan, God’s new creation begins, the one that does not die.

The miracle at Cana in Galilee

“Jesus performed his first sign at Cana in Galilee, manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him”: thus ends the Johannine account of the first miracle of Jesus (Jn 2:1-12), which for the evangelist is the “sign” of the divine revelation in him. The wedding feast that is about to fail for lack of wine represents, in the first place, the hope of Israel that awaits liberation but is threatened by the denials of history, and in the second place, it is a figure of human life, which begins as a promising feast, but in which joy quickly gives way to a harsh, disheartening reality.

The fact that Jesus begins with this singular miracle, which concludes the inaugural week of his mission (cf. Jn 1:19-2:1), means that the revelation of which He is the bearer is a new creation and brings to humanity an unfailing and complete joy. Cana, therefore, is the presence of Jesus as the epiphany of a God who is new and different from the God of our expectations. The God whom Jesus reveals does not need sacrifices, but lives among humanity in order to share its joys and concerns.

He is the God of the feast, the one who desires to make humanity share in his joy: “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Is 62:5). Cana is also the presence of Mary, that is, of a faith that waits for the fulfillment of God’s promises and becomes a trusting supplication, leaving to Him the manner and the time of the answer: “They have no more wine” (Jn 2:3). Mary is the mother of the people who have this faith, and to this faith the disciples of Jesus are the first to adhere (Jn 2:11).

The Mother of Jesus is the concrete personification of the people of God, who cultivate hope in the promise and faithfully await the fulfillment of the Covenant: she exercises her maternal concern, her intercession for these spouses. The traditional figure of Mary, as the one who continually intercedes for the people of God, has its biblical roots here. Cana is above all the announcement of the “Hour” of Jesus. The whole mission of Jesus is a journey toward the decisive Hour, that of the cross.

There, to the one who brought new wine to humanity vinegar will be offered, but there too the Mother of Jesus will again be present, who becomes the mother of the people begotten by the cross of the Son. And if He calls her “woman”, it is precisely in order to point out in her the New Eve, the woman of the new creation. Mary understands the answer of Jesus and, in the certainty of the splendor of so great a love, which will be shown in that Hour, exhorts the servants to obey his command. This is her first and last word in the Gospel of John and her spiritual testament communicated to the disciples of the Son: “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5).

The proclamation of the kingdom of God

The third mystery of light invites us to meditate on the first moment of Jesus’ mission, which is summed up in the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel of Mark synthesizes this moment, introducing the activity of Jesus in Galilee: “After John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of God and saying: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel’” (Mk 1:14-15).

First of all, the connection between the beginning of Jesus’ mission and the arrest of the Baptist is evident. The Gospel text reads literally: “after John was handed over…”. This is a well-known biblical way of expressing oneself, alluding to the mysterious intervention of God in human events. There is, therefore, a divine plan that is fulfilled in the handing over of the Baptist. God, in His unfathomable will, hands the just John over into the hands of the wicked, but even this dramatic “handing over” becomes a source of salvation! Men can imprison the just, even eliminate them, but the divine plan for the good of humanity advances inexorably.

In order to appreciate what Mark says about the preaching of Jesus, it is good to recall what we know of Jesus up to this point in his Gospel. So far, we have heard two fundamental things about Jesus: at the Baptism in the Jordan, God proclaims him His beloved Son, and during the subsequent period of testing, that is, the temptations, Jesus remains totally faithful to His identity as Son. For the Pharisees and the Essenes, the coming of the Kingdom depends on their effort.

They believed that it would come only when they had fulfilled their part, that is, observed the whole law. Jesus says the contrary: “The Kingdom has come”, it is already there, among them, independently of the effort made. When Jesus affirms: “The Kingdom has come”, he is not saying that it is about to come at that moment, but that it is already present. What everyone was awaiting was already present in the midst of the people, and they did not know it, nor did they perceive it (cf. Lk 17:21). Jesus reveals and announces to the poor of his land this hidden presence of the Kingdom among the people.

In order to welcome the Kingdom of God present in the world, superhuman efforts are not necessary, nor lofty religious and moral qualities, but a decision accessible to all: to believe and to be converted. To believe: Jesus does not ask only that one believe his words, but that one entrust oneself to him with faith, recognizing the announcement of the coming of the Kingdom as truly “good” news for life. The assent of faith is made concrete by giving a new form to one’s being and acting: this is precisely “conversion”, the other condition required by Jesus for the welcoming of the Kingdom.

The transfiguration

The Transfiguration is the mystery of light par excellence (Mk 9:2-10). In it, the glory of the Father radiates on the face of Jesus, while the divine voice confirms him, before the chosen witnesses, as the beloved Son. The first Christian community would refer to the Transfiguration as a kind of synthesis of Jesus’ public ministry (cf. 2 Pet 1:16-19). The Gospel of Mark uses texts of the Old Testament to describe the scene of the Transfiguration.

The evangelist situates the event at the beginning of the journey to Jerusalem (Mk 9:2-10) and relates it to a precise choice of Jesus: “He took with him Peter, James, and John and led them up alone to a high mountain. And he was transfigured before them” (v. 2). “To go up the mountain” in biblical language is to open the heart to the love of that God who on Mount Sinai established the Covenant with his people. In this horizon of faith in the Covenant, the experience of the three disciples with Jesus on the mountain, alone, makes sense. In the solitude of the mountain, they see Jesus transfigured, wrapped in a dazzling light. Beside him appear the two greatest authorities of the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah: the first represents the law, the other prophecy.

The prophet Malachi had announced that Elijah was to return in order to prepare the way of the Messiah (Mal 3:23-24). The same announcement is found in the book of Sirach (Sir 48:10). How, then, can Jesus be the Messiah, if Elijah has not yet returned? Hence the question of the disciples: “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” (Mt 9:11). Jesus’ answer is clear: “Elijah has already come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him” (Mt 9:13). Jesus is speaking of John the Baptist, killed by Herod (Mt 17:13).

That Jesus who is on the way toward a destiny of death and whose appearance will be disfigured by the sorrowful passion suddenly reveals himself in his most secret identity. This is what the three disciples are granted to glimpse for a few instants. Peter’s request to build three tents and thus to prolong the spiritual experience of the mountain offers us a valuable insight: it is necessary to keep, in the routine, in the wear of daily life, the truth about ourselves and about God that in certain moments of listening, of recollection, shone in the heart.

Preserving the memory of the Transfiguration was meant to give the three “privileged” disciples the strength to remain close to Jesus in the most difficult moments, as at Gethsemane. On the mountain, Peter, James, and John are called to discover the meaning of all discipleship as an obeying of God, listening to the Word of Jesus as his beloved Son and following him until they are conformed to the unattainable beauty that shines on his disfigured and transfigured face of the Son of God. Tabor is for the Christian not so much the place of the discovery of God through the contemplation of the beauty of nature, but the mountain of revelation to which one has access only through faith, which becomes prayer and obedience. It is the mountain of the invitation to know how to see the divine plan for man, manifested in Christ, and to persevere on that altar of faith.

The institution of the Eucharist

The fifth mystery of light is dedicated to the contemplation of the institution of the Eucharist. The biblical texts that speak explicitly of it are the Synoptics and 1 Cor 10-11. The words of institution in Mark and Matthew probably reached us through the mediation of the Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem, while in Luke and Paul they are mediated by the Liturgy of the community of Antioch.

Mark’s concern is to connect this farewell supper to the Jewish Passover (Mk 14:12-25): in v. 14 he speaks explicitly of a paschal banquet. This means that, in his chronology, Jesus dies during the feast of Passover. On this point, Mark is followed by Matthew and Luke. The Fourth Gospel states with equal clarity that Jesus dies on the eve of Passover (Jn 18:28). In truth, it seems that the last supper was a solemn farewell supper and not a traditional paschal supper.

This was the summit of a series of meals shared by Jesus with his disciples. Jesus follows the practice of the head of a family at a Jewish festive meal, breaking a bread and distributing the pieces. He “took the bread”, “blessed”, “broke”, and “gave”: these are the same gestures and the same words in the two accounts in which Jesus feeds the multitudes (Mk 6:41; 8:6). Undoubtedly, the correspondence is intentional. At that time, the disciples “had not understood the meaning of the loaves” (Mk 6:52). Now the mystery is revealed. Jesus is “the one bread” (Mk 8:14) for Jews and Gentiles; his body is given and his blood is poured out for all.

Paul and Luke (1 Cor 11:24-25; Lk 22:19) add the command to do in memory of him what Jesus did on that night. The command is addressed not to individuals, but to the community of disciples, for to celebrate the Eucharist is the high point of the community’s gathering and the source of ecclesial life. The Church is aware that the Eucharistic celebration, seen as the place of sacramental appropriation of the death and resurrection of Christ, constitutes her in her essence as the “Body of Christ” (1 Cor 10:17) and as the community of the time of salvation convoked by her Lord as a sign of hope in the world.

Of the five mysteries, only this last one does not seem, at first sight, a luminous event. The Eucharist appears as a mystery of hiddenness and of kenosis of the presence of Christ under the sacramental signs of bread and wine. But when one considers that the Eucharist announces the death and resurrection of the Lord, it is possible to perceive beneath the simplicity of the sign the glory of the paschal mystery, with all its charge of grace, love, and hope.

We can truly conclude that the Rosary leaves behind it a luminous trail of Gospel, guiding thousands upon thousands of men and women to Jesus Christ and to the holy and adorable Trinity.

Deepen your studies: explore MariologyMarian TheologyMarian apparitions and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.

On the Rosary and its biblical and Mariological foundations, see the Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus of Pope Paul VI.

Learn to pray the Rosary in our guide: How to Pray the Rosary, step by step.