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First Glorious Mystery
The Resurrection
But at daybreak on the first
day of the week
they took the spices they had prepared and
went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled
away from the tomb; but when they entered,
they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were puzzling over this, two men in
dazzling garments appeared to them, "Why do you
seek the living among the dead? He is not here,
but he has been raised. Remember what he said
to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son
of Man must be handed over to sinners and be
crucified, and rise on the third day."
And they remembered his words.
Luke 24: 1-8
654
The
Paschal mystery has two aspects:
by his death, Christ liberates us from sin;
by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way
to a new life. This new life is above all justification
that reinstates us in God's grace, "so that as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
we too might walk in the newness of life." Justification
consists in both victory over death caused by sin and
a new participation in grace. It brings about filial
adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as
Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection:
"Go and tell my brethren." We are brethren
not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that
adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of
the only Son, which was fully revealed
in his Resurrection.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 654
Second Glorious Mystery
The Ascension
When they had
gathered together they
asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to
restore the kingdom to Israel?" He answered them,
"It is not for you to know the times or seasons that
the Father has established by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the holy Spirit
comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and
to the ends of the earth."
When he had said this, as they were looking on, he
was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he
was going, suddenly two men dressed in white
garments stood beside them. They said, "Men of
Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him
going into heaven."
Acts 1: 6-12
662"And
when I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw all men to myself." The lifting up of Jesus
on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by
his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus
Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant,
"entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands...
but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God
on our behalf." There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood,
for he "always lives to make intercession" for "those who draw
near to God through him." As "high priest of the good things to come"
he is the center and principal actor of the liturgy
that honors the Father in heaven.
663 Henceforth Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father: "By
`the Father's right hand' we undertsand the glory and honor
of divinity, where he who exists as Son of God before all ages,
indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily
after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified.
664 Being seated at the Father's right hand signifies the inauguration
of the Messiah's kingdom, the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel's
vision concerning the Son of man: "To him was given dominion
and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him; his dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that will not be destroyed."
After this event the apostles became witnesses
of the "kingdom [that] will have no end."
Catechism of the Catholic Church 662, 663, 664
Third Glorious Mystery
The Descent of the Holy Spirit
When the time
for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came
from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled
the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them
tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of
them.
And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak
in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Acts 2: 1-4
731 On
the day of Pentecost when the seven weeks
of Easter had come to an end, Christ's Passover is fulfilled
in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifested, given,
and communicated as a divine person: of his fullness,
Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in abundance.
732 On that day, the Holy Trinity is fully revealed. Since
that day, the Kingdom announced by Christ has been
open to those who believe in him: in the humility of the
flesh and in faith, they already share in the communion
of the Holy Trinity. By his coming, which never ceases,
the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into "the last days,"
the time of the Church, the Kingdom already inherited
though not yet consummated:
We have seen the true Light, we have received the
heavenly Spirit, we have found the true faith:
we adore the indivisible Trinity, who has saved us.
726
At the end of this mission of the Spirit, Mary became the Woman,
the
new Eve ("mother of the living"), the mother of the "whole
Christ." As such, she was present with the Twelve, who "with
one accord devoted themselves to prayer," at the dawn of
the "end time" which the Spirit was to inaugurate on
the morning of Pentecost with the manifestation of the Church.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church 731, 732,
726
Fourth Glorious Mystery
The Assumption of the Virgin
The queen takes her place
at your
right hand in the gold of Ophir.
All glorious is the king's daughter as she enters;
her raiment is threaded with spun gold.
In embroidered apparel she is borne in to the king.
Psalms 45: 10,14,15
966 "Finally
the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free
from all stain of original sin, when the course of
her earthly life was finished, was taken up body
and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord
as Queen over all things, so that she might be
the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords
and conqueror of sin and death. The Assumption
of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in
her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the
resurrection of other Christians:
In giving birth you kept your virginity;
in your Dormition you did not leave the world,
O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life.
You conceived the living God and, by your prayers,
will deliver our souls from death.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 966
Fifth Glorious Mystery
The Coronation of the Virgin
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman
clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child
and wailed aloud in pain as her labored to give birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
Revelation 12: 1-2, 5
972 After speaking of the Church, her origin,
mission,
and destiny, we can find no better way to conclude
than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate what
the Church already is in her mystery on her own
"pilgrimage of faith," and what she will be in the homeland
at the end of the journey. There, "in the glory of the
Most Holy Trinity," "in the communion of all the saints,"
the Church is awaited by the one she venerates as
Mother of her Lord and as her own mother.
In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory
which she possesses in body and soul in heaven,
is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be
perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth
on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign
of certain and comfort to the pilgrim People of God.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 972
Hail Holy Queen 
Hail,
Holy Queen.
Mother of Mercy,
Our life, our sweetness,
And our hope.
To you do we cry,
Poor banished children of Eve.
To you do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping
In this valley of tears.
Turn, then, Most Gracious Advocate,
Your eyes of mercy towards us,
And after this, our exile,
Show unto us
The blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.
O clement, o loving, o sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
That we may be made worthy of
The promises of Christ.
Amen.
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