The Luminous Mysteries
Jesus Proclaims the Gospel
1. Baptism of Jesus
John the Baptist is preaching and calling for repentance and baptism. Suddenly Jesus appears, and John announces the Lamb of God. John reluctantly baptizes Jesus. The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descends upon the Son and the voice of the Father from heaven proclaims, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17
God’s love and his baptism
The Old Testament prophets said that a sinless offering would be made for all of us. John the Baptist knew this and unequivocally said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” The baptism was a clear beginning point for the earthly public ministry of Jesus, and the introduction of the New Kingdom. John the Baptist told everyone then and there and now and here that God was among us and that he, the Baptist, and by implication the remainder of the Old Covenant, must now recede and diminish. God’s salvation plan was now encompassed within Jesus, as had been ordained from the beginning of time.
Just a Closer Walk with Thee
As a member of Christ’s body, when Jesus goes to the cross we go with him. When he goes into the waters of the Jordan River we go with him. When we are baptized God acknowledges us as his own children. Where Jesus walks we walk because we are indeed members of his Body here on earth. We walk in his footsteps and under his umbrella. Viewed in this light, the hymn Just a Closer Walk with Thee takes on a more profound meaning. (YouTube search words: o’donnell closer walk).
Scriptural References
Matthew 3:13-17, John 1:29-34, Mark 1:9-11, and Luke 3:21-22 describe the baptism of Jesus.
2. The Wedding at Cana
There was a wedding at Cana, and Jesus attended, along with his mother and his disciples. The supply of wine was depleted, and Mary asks her son to help. He at first apparently objects, but then complies. She tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” John 2:5. Water is poured into a container and is received as the finest wine.
God’s love at Cana
At Cana, Mary interceded and asked the Lord, not for a specific act, but a solution. He turned the water into wine! She knew that her request would start him on a journey from which there would be no turning back. Our Blessed Mother was about to lose him forever in the way she had known him for 30 years. She who had said yes 30 years earlier in Nazareth now said yes again. She said yes to surrendering the Lord to mankind. She was telling her son, “It’s time.”
The wedding at Cana is a treasure chest of revelations. We learn that the Old is giving way to the New. We learn that the transformation of the water into wine revealed the glory of God which was Jesus and that the faith and belief of his disciples was suddenly elevated to a new level.
What better way to go to Jesus than through his mother? I’m not saying that’s the exclusive way, but the Bible teaches us that it is an extraordinarily effective way. We know that he listens to her. That much was told us at the wedding in Cana. Some of us may struggle trying to establish an enduring relationship with Jesus. Why not ask his mother to help?
He Turned the Water into Wine
After visiting the Holy Land, Johnny Cash composed He Turned the Water into Wine (YouTube search words: cash turned) and recalls Cana and several other Jesus miracles.
Scriptural references
The full account of the wedding at Cana is in John 2:1-11.
3. Jesus Proclaims His Kingdom
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came 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.” Mark 1:14-15. Jesus uses parables to teach, calls for conversion and forgives sins.
God continues to reveal his love
Not only was Jesus the Messiah, but he went one step further. When Jesus, a perfect stranger, told the repenting person that his sins were forgiven, he went far beyond the pale. Since Jesus the man had not been hurt by the sinner he had no authority to forgive him, any more than a person in Indonesia could forgive someone in Mexico for stealing 20 pesos from a church charity box. Only God could forgive anyone who sinned regardless of who they were, what they did, or where they lived. Why? Because God would always be hurt by the act since this was a direct affront to God; sin is a denial of God’s sovereignty and a challenge to the Creator’s love. Consequently, only God could make that person whole again. Yet, that was precisely what Jesus did, or claimed to do. This was too much for the Jews of the time. Jesus had overstepped his authority and was pure blasphemy. It would be like someone in early 1945 telling the world that he was God, and that on behalf of all Jews and the rest of civilization, he forgave Adolf Hitler for everything he had ever done, and that he should go in peace.
Jesus forgave those who repented, and by so doing declared that he was God. Jesus was in fact Emmanuel, God with us. God’s plan of salvation tells us that he is watching over us with a love complete and profound.
Make Me a Channel of Your Peace (The Prayer of Saint Francis)
Perhaps some of what Jesus taught and wants from us is summarized in this favorite Catholic hymn, Make Me a Channel of Your Peace. (YouTube search words: channel o’donnell).
Scriptural references
The beginning of Jesus’ ministry is described in Matthew 4:12-17; Mark 1:14-20; Luke 4:14-30; and John 1:35-51.
4. The Transfiguration
The transcendent glory of Jesus is revealed: “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light.” Matthew 17:2. Elijah the great prophet and Moses the lawgiver are in heaven. They appear on the mountain, but are replaced by Jesus, who appears with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The voice of God the Father declares that Jesus is his beloved Son, and that we are to listen to him.
God’s Love and the Transfiguration
The Transfiguration took place about a week after Jesus made his first prediction that he would be rejected by the Jewish leaders, be killed and then be raised from the dead. It confirmed to the disciples and to us the dual nature of Jesus. He was fully human and fully divine. He had appeared to the disciples as a man but now the Apostles see that he is transfigured by a blaze of Divinity. The glory of God became the glory of Jesus. The suffering he would endure would conclude with enduring evidence of his Divinity.
Place yourself in the company of the three apostles as the transcendent glory of Jesus is revealed. View the event from 15-20 feet and see and hear Elijah, Moses, a voice from heaven, the eternal brightness of Jesus! Then come down off the mountain with them and try to understand the strict instructions from Jesus not to tell anyone until he had risen from the dead.
How Great Thou Art
The words to How Great Thou Art (YouTube search words: priests great) was originally a poem written by a Swedish pastor in 1885 following a thunderstorm and the subsequent quietude and beauty of the Swedish countryside.
Scriptural references
The Transfiguration accounts are in Matthew 17:1-13, Luke 9:28-36 and Mark 9:2-13.
5. The Last Supper
At the Last Supper: “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’” Matthew 26:26.
God’s love and the Eucharist
Was Jesus speaking literally or metaphorically? The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox have always taught that Jesus was present, body, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist. This is called the Real Presence. Other Christians, however, reject this teaching and believe that when you receive communion you receive only symbols or something other than the full body and blood of Christ.
Who is correct, and how can we tell? Consider the possibility that perhaps at the Last Supper Jesus meant that his body and blood would be physically and divinely present in the Eucharist whenever the Apostles and their successors gathered with full power as given to them by Jesus to re-present this Eucharistic Meal for all Christians whenever and wherever gathered. Consider also the proposition that perhaps in his mercy he understood that there would be those who loved God with all their heart, mind, and soul, who loved Jesus, who tried the best they could to love their neighbors, and accepted Jesus as their savior. They kept his commandments as they understood them, but could not accept the teaching of the Real Presence.
I submit that to receive communion other than through the Catholic or Orthodox churches can still be something very special. It can never be the Real Presence because the presenter does not have the apostolic authority to lead in the Transubstantiation. With the proper spiritual focus and gratitude, however, the communion recipient will indeed be receiving a gift from God by recalling the sacrifice of our Lord. God in his mercy makes himself available to everyone and the intensity of the non-Apostolic communion you receive depends in large measure on you.
Panis Angelicus
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) wrote Sacris Solemniis in honor of the body and divinity of Jesus within the Eucharist. The last two stanzas are the text for the hymn Panis Angelicus. (YouTube search words: panis Bocelli). Here is Andrea Bocelli singing this powerful and ancient hymn. Note: A Panis Angelicus translation can be found at Chant CD, a site devoted to Catholic hymns and Gregorian chants.
Scriptural references
Direct accounts of the Last Supper are contained in Matthew 26:17-30; Luke 22:7-23; Mark 14:12-26; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34; and John Chapter 13. See also John 6:25-71.
Footnotes and Attributions
- Baptism of Jesus retrieved from the Canção Nova website.
- The Wedding at Cana retrieved from the Tabor Blog.
- Icon of the Parable of the Sower retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
- Transfiguration of Christ by Carl Bloch (1834-1890) retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
- The Last Supper by Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (1852-1929) retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
Last modified August 2, 2019