The Joyful Mysteries - Meditations by Bl. Card. Wyszyński - Version 2
The Annunciation
It was only at the moment of the Annunciation that we came to know the Mother of Jesus Christ, but we did not yet know that She would be our Mother. We could feel, however, that the Mother of God must also be the Mother of men. Besides, She herself would say: “All generations will call me blessed.” We approach this mystery with the great reverence of curious children of God. Children always rejoice when they see their mother, they want to be as close to her as possible, they try to get to know her.
The Messenger of God revealed the Mother to us. We rejoice greatly in Her. We listen closely to Her every word. For the first time we hear Her voice. Her every sentence is of great significance to us. We thank Her for being willing to become the Mother of the Son of God and our Mother. We are glad that She called herself the Handmaid of the Lord, because in this way we have gained a Mother and we have an example of how to behave before God, responding to every Divine call with a fiat-let it be to me.
The Visitation
Mary is sensitive to human needs and desires to remedy them immediately. Therefore, she does not wait for Elizabeth's invitation, but immediately hastens to Ein Karem. She enters the house of the expectant mother and stays with her. She serves her with help, supports her, and attends to various needs. In a word, she becomes a Servant, the Handmaid of people.
And at the same time, while serving, she brings joy to Elizabeth, John, and Zechariah. The whole house is then filled with joy. Mary teaches us to serve with joy and in joy. She is wonderfully submissive to people. Although they are Her relatives, She is aware of Her elevation. After all, Elizabeth, welcoming Her at the threshold of the house, reveals Her greatness, saying: “The mother of my Lord comes to me.” And Mary-humbly serves.
The Nativity of Jesus
“All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” Even more clearly was He seen by the shepherds watching over their flocks, people occupied with small, everyday matters. The great God entered into minor human affairs, and that in a very detailed, meticulous way.
Mary brought God into the world. She brought Him to Bethlehem, to the stable. She introduced Him into the everyday routine of life. The Son of God, who “for us men and for our salvation became Man,” found Himself in the midst of human affairs thanks to Mary.
People were used to seeking God somewhere on high. Gloria in excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the highest). From the moment of the coming of the God-Man to earth, we also seek Him among us, in the everyday routine of life, in our every matter. Mary helped us in this, because she did not place the Son of God on lofty altars, on Zion, but precisely in a stable, in a manger, so that we, living from day to day with our minor affairs and troubles, might always see God, who entered into the minutiae of human life and filled them with Himself.
As in Bethlehem, so throughout the course of His life on earth, the Lord Jesus will enter into details, into small human affairs, because He wants to be in all the affairs of man. Mary helps Him in this, just as she did in Cana. The Mother of God is close to our daily affairs, hence our great familiarity with Her. In all our troubles, even the smallest ones, we run to Her, asking for help and advice.
The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
Not only into the stable and into all human affairs, but also into the temple and into the affairs of God does Mary bring Jesus. She is the first to begin offering the sacrifice of Jesus, as if she were anticipating the Holy Mass. She is the first, bringing Him to the temple, to place Him into the hands of the priest, as if she wanted to say in this way that priests receive the Body of Christ precisely from Her hands. Thanks to Her, their hands are full of God; thanks to Her sacrifice, they have someone to offer to the Heavenly Father.
So when we rejoice so often in Jesus in our temples today, we must not forget that it was Mary who introduced Him into the temple in Jerusalem and that we owe it to Her that Jesus is in our churches. She clothed Him with flesh, and yet in the Eucharist, Christ is present with soul and body. She taught us to give everything that is dearest to God. What was dearer to Her than Her Son, and such a Son! And yet she gave Him to God, to teach us all how we are to continually give ourselves and all that is ours to God.
The Finding of Jesus in the Temple
Mary teaches us to seek God perseveringly, on all roads and streets, among friends and acquaintances-everywhere to inquire about God. And yet He cannot be found so easily. Ultimately, Mary finds Him in the temple.
When we sometimes, being lost ourselves, wonder where to find God, let us remember that we can always find Him in the Church of Christ. Mary, seeking Jesus in the temple, involuntarily gives us an indication that we too must direct our steps to the temple.
Rightly, then, do we call Her the Queen of Apostles, because She was the first to find Christ in the Church of God and showed this way to others. She is the Patroness of all who seek God, an example of perseverance in the search for Christ.