Wherever you are, see the room that you are in exactly as it is, with your eyes closed, use your imagination to build the picture in your mind. Still imagine, if you are in your room, picture it, so that if you were to close your eyes you still see it. Or you can picture a specific location anywhere. The Joyful Mystery is all about the announcement of the birth of Jesus, to Mary, from the Angel Gabriel. Then when she visited her cousin Elizabeth, the Nativity of the birth of Jesus, Mary taking infant Jesus to the temple to be purified, and lastly, finding Jesus at the temple when they had lost him for three days. You can picture any one of these events from what you know of in the Bible and movies you have seen and actually meet her there. Picture each scene and put yourself in each scene with her and picture it in your mind.
Sign of the Cross: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Apostles Creed: “I believe in God, the Father almighty creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father almighty. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Apostolic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.”
The Our Father: “Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.”
Three Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.” 3x
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So quietly to yourself, but out loud you are going ask Blessed Mother, “Where are you in this picture right now?” You can say “Blessed Mother, where are you in the room with me right now?” All I want you to do is to trust your very first impression. Don’t write anything off as silly or not being spiritual enough but just trust the first impression you see even if it’s vague. Don’t worry let the eyes of your heart do all the work, just go with it.
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Glory Be: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”
THE FIRST JOYFUL MYSTERY – The Annunciation
The Our Father: “Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.”
Now wherever you are, tell Blessed Mother, this is where I see you in the room, and say it quietly, out loud, to yourself. The next thing we are going to do is a basic exercise— imagine colors, clothing, expression on Blessed Mother’s face. Does she have hair—is it long or short? What garment does she have on? Is it a veil, or modern clothes? Is she sad or happy? It’s a simple yes or no, go with your first impression.
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The First 5 Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
Some of you may now think wow it’s really that easy and simple and the truth is just like Jesus, His Mother would never make it difficult for you to see her as well. The Rosary is a ladder to Jesus through Mary. She wants to comfort you, help you, and let you know that she is your Mother too. Where Jesus is all of Heaven is, so when you pray the Rosary Blessed Mother is right there ready to hear you and communicate with you at all times and she wants you to sense her presence, feel her presence and see her presence. Jesus may even be with her. Don’t be surprised if you see him too, right now.
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The Remaining 5 Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
Glory Be: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
If you are not close to Blessed Mother right now mumble to yourself. “Blessed Mother should I come close to you, or should you come close to me?” And what are your first impression and the first guess you have? And you are allowed to guess, once again. That allows you to trust the Holy Spirit.
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Oh My Jesus: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls into heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. Amen.
Just take a moment to be close.
THE SECOND JOYFUL MYSTERY – The Visitation
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The Our Father: “Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.”
The First 5 Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
So take moment just to bask in her presence, in the sounds and the scene you are in. She is the Queen of Heaven, the mother of God, but she is your mother and sees you as her tender child.
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The Remaining 5 Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
Glory Be: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Ask Her—she is Jesus’ Mother and knows more than we can know of ourselves and our future. So let’s ask her, “What is one thing, Blessed Mother, that you want to make sure I know right now?” Again trust your first impression.
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Oh My Jesus: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls into heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. Amen.
THE THIRD JOYFUL MYSTERY – The Nativity of Our Lord
And repeat it to yourself out loud, mumble to yourself, what you hear Her saying …
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The Our Father: “Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.”
And if you hear her say something, again, don’t write it off if it seems silly, or not spiritual enough. That’s not a reason to write it off. If she just told you the one thing she wants you to know today, and she said, “Spend time with the kids.” If that’s what she said, acknowledge that. Acknowledge that to yourself—what’s the one thing she wants you to know today? It doesn’t have to be super-spiritual, and it can be down to earth.
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The First 5 Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
Wherever you are, tell yourself what you heard her say. It’s good to narrate your in-the-spirit experience to yourself. If you keep it to yourself, many times the memory just goes away. So repeat to yourself what she said. It’s so amazing to hear not only what Jesus has to say about us, but what his Mother thinks. To hear her opinion of us further confirms God’s love for us. Now, let’s just ask her, “Blessed Mother, tell me one thing that you know about me that I don’t know about myself. What’s one thing that you know about me that I don’t know about myself? Say that out loud and trust your first impression.
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The Remaining 5 Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
Glory Be: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
We have the opportunity right now, and you do, wherever you are listening, to agree and believe with what She said, to look at her and say, “I believe what your opinion is of me. I’m not going to define myself to you. I’m going to let You define who I am because I am your child. So you look at Blessed Mother. I’m going to look at Her right now and say, “I agree with you.”
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Oh My Jesus: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls into heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. Amen.
THE FOURTH JOYFUL MYSTERY – The Presentation
The Our Father: Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.”
Now as one fun, final step for this exercise, let’s look at the Blessed Mother and say, “Blessed Mother can I accompany you in this Rosary? Would you take me with you to that time and place when you and Joseph had to present the Lord at the temple? Would you let me get just a peek of what it was like that day?” And voice that to her, mumble it out loud, “Blessed Mother, right now, would you let me walk with you and Joseph to the temple?” And I want you, wherever you are, to trust your very first impressions. What’s the first thing that happens when you say that out loud? Take in the scene, what are you wearing, are you a servant to Mary accompanying them, or are you a bystander watching them enter into the temple with Baby Jesus?
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The First 5 Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
Just tell yourself, what do you have the impressions of? What did you see? I know you saw something, it’s like we instantly start imagining it and we imagine being there with her in that time, with Joseph and the busyness in the temple. You can hear the goats, and the sheep and people yelling, talking, and selling items. The first thing that I saw was Blessed Mother on a donkey, holding Jesus, and Joseph pulling the donkey gently and trying to make his way through the busy crowd. I guarantee you I’m not the only person listening to this who saw that. And then the next thing you ask yourself is, “What do I smell?” Because your imagination works with all of your senses. What do you imagine this place would smell like? And what are your first impressions? I smelled the animal. How about your first impressions of sounds?
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The Remaining 5 Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
Glory Be: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Immediately I imagined myself as a servant girl to Blessed Mother. Although the busyness of the temple was much, I just couldn’t keep my eyes off her. She is so ordinary but so regal at the same time. Even the way she holds infant Jesus just staring at him. At times she would look at me with glances and smiles, which pierced my heart with joy. As I carried the doves, Joseph brought in a cage. I see him taking glances from time to time looking back at us, Blessed Mother and Jesus. It is as if nothing else mattered in all the world and everyone disappeared from the temple, and it was just us three. So sweet is the presence of God among us. So wherever you are, whatever you’re seeing, hold on to that impression. If you’re like, “Mother Elisha, I’m not seeing anything.” I know, you have the impression of it in your imagination. You’re not going to see it with biological eyes, these are the internal eyes of your heart. And when you read Paul’s words when he said, “Fix your eye, not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen—because what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” All you’re doing is fixing our eyes, right now on the unseen and you’re allowing the impressions to work with your imagination. Your imagination shows you the picture. I had the impression of Blessed Mother riding on the donkey first, then my imagination showed her on the donkey and what she was doing and who was pulling the donkey.
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Oh My Jesus: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls into heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. Amen.
THE FIFTH JOYFUL MYSTERY – Finding Jesus in the Temple
The Our Father: Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.”
If it ever feels like the experience— pauses or stops, and you’re like, “Okay, I don’t know what happened, it just all went blank— Go back to your first impression you had and start there again. Just keep asking yourself, what do I see the Blessed Mother doing—what is Blessed Mother saying—what am I doing—what am I saying? And keep asking yourself those questions—what do I see Mary doing? And then just keep narrating to yourself like you’re telling yourself the story of what’s happening.
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The First 5 Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
And as we come to the last mystery, I see myself now grown up about 10 years, the age of 20, with a yellow dress and white head covering, now accompanying the anxious Mary and Joseph after realizing we lost him. Mary comes up to me with tears in her eyes, as I shake my head crying as if to say I haven’t found him. We are now at the temple gates and Mary and Joseph go in. I lag behind, a little unsure, and full of anxiety as to where the adolescent Jesus could be. Then I see Mary and Joseph coming back with Jesus with a look of astonishment on their faces. Many of the rabbis have come out into the open area starring at Jesus. He gives Mary a hug and Joseph a hug and now he looks at me and runs towards me. He is about 12, wearing a white tunic, brown sandals, and his hair shoulder length. He is glowing as he embraces my waist smiling. And Joseph and Mary approach me with tears in their eyes as tears stream down my cheeks holding the adolescent Jesus. I kiss the top of his hand so happy that we found him.
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The Remaining 5 Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
Glory Be: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Oh My Jesus: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls into heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. Amen.
Hail Holy Queen: Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our Life, our Sweetness, and our hope. To thee we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then most gracious advocate, Thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this, our exile, show unto us, the blessed fruit of thy 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.
Final Prayer: Let us pray. O God, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
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