"Jesus' circumcision, on the eighth day after his birth, is the sign of his incorporation into Abraham's descendants, into the people of the covenant. It is the sign of his submission to the Law" (CCC, 527).
QUESTIONS FOR CONVERSATION WITH THOSE NEW TO THE 4TH JOYFUL MYSTERY (PODCAST EPISODE BY: AMELIA, Fr. Thad, Fr. Elias, Fr. Anthony and the Spiritual Directors of the Rosary Hour Podcast 1st Edition)
22 DECEMBER 2024
Father Thaddaeus Lancton, MIC helped me this past Friday to assist in completing the next decade in this series of Season 3 posts on the Joyful Mysteries.
Here is the editable document for all joining this Rosary Family Broadcast today:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vauour_-ePk-rI6_DPlpwPZ9IUeIIhcWzTAeMJJFiG8/edit?usp=sharing1
“THE PRESENTATION” | CONVERSATION WITH ALL CHILDREN OF GOD
The next focus on “The Presentation” — “My Very First Second Rosary Decade”. This includes the following questions for conversation with young children:
AMELIA: Father Thad, we are praying the 4th Joyful Mystery
Q1: What is this Mystery all about and what should I be thinking about when I am praying this decade?
Q2: When I ask for purity, what am I asking for when I offer this Mystery?2
Q3: Fr. Thad, can you talk about the Joy of Simeon in discovering the Christ child?
SCRIPTURE TO MEDITATE UPON FOR THE RECITATION OF THE
4TH JOYFUL MYSTERY: “THE PRESENTATION”
"And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, 'Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord') and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, 'a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons"' (Luke 2:21-24).
ABOUT THIS VIDEO
“THE PRESENTATION”
(1st Edition)
As we present some recent Christmas interviews led by the Spiritual Directors who visited the Rosary Hour Podcast throughout December 2024, we hope this “2nd decade” of the Rosary will provide a support to those families with young children (or with family members learning to pray the Holy Rosary for the first time), especially as we continue this special journey to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on December 24 and Jan 1.
Follow this journey through January 5th here: https://rosary365.substack.com.
xoxo
Amelia3
HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE PRAYERS ADDED TO THIS SECOND DECADE
“MY VERY FIRST SECOND DECADE” post adds to the last video presentation the “Come Holy Spirit” prayer recommended to be said before the Rosary by the author of “The Secret of the Rosary”, the Rosary Saint — St. Louis Marie de Montfort and St. Pope John Paul II. (See the WORD DOCUMENT to help others learn the text — click the yellow button below to challenge yourself to read a chapter a day as part of your desire to become a “Pilgrim of Hope”)
ON THE PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL IN THE HOLY MASS & HOLY ROSARY
“MY VERY FIRST SECOND DECADE” also includes the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel led by Fr. Elias Mary Mills, FI in a session co-directed by Children’s Rosary. One might explain to young children that this prayer was composed by Pope Leo XIII and that it was he who ordered this prayer be recited after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass along with other prayers.
SEE: https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/b009rpMichael.htm
EVER WONDER ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE ROSARY’S CONCLUDING FORMAT?So often the prayers of the Rosary are recited by a prayer group based on a text that is published by a specific author of a prayer book, etc. Sometimes, however, we might wonder how those prayers came to be — and why they are even inserted into that Rosary tradition in a specific geographical location.
If you take a moment to extrapolate the following the rubric of the prayers “ordered by Pope Leo XIII, said kneeling after Low Mass” and you will see why the Rosary in Portugal and other parts of the world replicates (more or less) the first part of this Papal order:
Note that the Latin above reflects how Pope LEO XIII felt an urgent need that all the faithful pray 3 Avé Marias, kneeling after the Low Mass followed by the recitation of the Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina).
One can see, therefore, where the concluding prayers of the decades of the Terço originate (3 Avé Marias in Portugal and why St. Jacinta easily linked that set of prayers as an intention for the Pope, “The Holy Father” after her vision — the model was already in place).
Note that this format is still followed to this day in the Chapel of the Apparitions in Fátima, Portugal and other parts of Portugal, and in some parts of the world, though it is quite unique to Fátima and the surrounding regions.
After the occurrence of Miracle of the Sun on October 13, 1917, which Fr. Elias reminded us can be categorized not as private revelation but as “public prophecy”, the tradition of including five decades of the Holy Rosary with the Holy Mass mirrors St. Jacinta, St. Francisco, and Venerable Lúcia’s obedience to Our Lady’s request that we “Pray the Rosary Every Day” for peace in the world and to end the war” (“Rezem o Terço, todos os dias, para alcançarem a paz para o mundo”, Nossa Senhora 1917)
SEE THE HISTORY HERE: https://www.fatima.pt/en/pages/narrative-of-the-apparitions-
LEO XIII and the ORIGIN OF THE CONCLUDING ROSARY PRAYERS?
Of equal importance to the “Prayers after Low Mass” in Pope Leo XIII’s papal order is the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel4 which he composed after a vision (private revelation) and can be read about here:
see https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/b009rpMichael.htm.
The original is located in the Roman Raccolta, July 23, 1898, supplement approved July 31, 1902, London: Burnes, Oates & Washbourne Ltd., 1935, 12th edition:
See: https://www.prayinglatin.com/st-michael-prayers/
THE TIMELINESS OF “DILEXIT NOS” & POPE LEO XIII’S PAPAL ORDER
Pope Leo XIII’s final instruction to recite three times on one’s knees “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us” can be added to the Rosary decades as suggested back in our November posts in the Advent Consecration Journey.
Note, however, that this order was then evolved by the Chaplet to the Divine Mercy, which many parishes began to implement more readily after the Marians of the Immaculate Conception assisted St. Pope John Paul II in the Canonization of St. Faustina in 2000 April 30 as well as the the Feast of the Divine Mercy to be celebrated at the end of the Easter Octave. To this day after the Holy Mass and along with the recitation of the Holy Rosary, some parishes include this tradition, which might be viewed as a sort of extension of the original order of Pope Leo XIII.
(NOTE: Fr. Thad will discuss in the next posts how we can pray for Holy Souls on 24 December and through the Christmas Octave.)
ABOUT THE INTERCESSIONS
Notice that the prayer in Pope Leo XIII’s order preceding these prayers to St. Michael the Archangel and the Sacred Heart of Jesus also echo and contextualize the why of the tradition of intercessory prayer so often added by the Rosary Leader, and which once again, allows us to call upon St. Joseph, St. Peter, St. Paul, etc. as part of the Rosary recitation.
HAVE MERCY ON US AND ON THE WHOLE WORLD!
As we approach the Canonization of Saint Carlo Acutis which takes place on April 27, 2025 on Divine Mercy Sunday, we might pray about creative ways of re-discovering this tradition of praying on our knees, if physically possible, the Rosary, the prayers of the Hail Mary, the Hail Holy Queen, the Chaplet, somehow, back into the Holy Mass or our private prayers — and this can be done easily by making the decades of the Rosary part of your Jubilee 2025 Daily Mass visits, visits to Adoration, or your Jubilee 2025 Sunday Mass schedule, either before or after the Holy Mass, and even led by members of your community in the Jubilee year.5 How can your Rosary leadership allow you to become a pilgrim of hope in 2025?
PRAY THE ROSARY EVERY DAY
SERMON SPOTLIGHT FOR the 4th SUNDAY OF ADVENT
“WHY OUR LADY MATTERS” | BISHOP ROBERT BARRON, SUNDAY SERMON
LINK TO THE O ANTIPHON FOR DECEMBER 22nd here or click above.
FOOTNOTES
Here is the link to the earlier Document #1, “The Nativity” (2nd edition)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TjIpGzgtst9POJwPAVOHxRQsqwhnyf1pmqDn7XnemuM/edit?usp=sharing
Link to the YouTube version of the above video here:
COLLECT FOR 4th SUNDAY OF ADVENT: “Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”
YT reviewed by GK, Izzy, Karen, and etc.
Fr. Chris Alar. He notes in this video, in the first 5 minutes, the importance of forgiveness — as we are reminded for this Consecration Journey and for Five First Saturdays to go to confession as well as the importance of forgiving others.
SOURCE: Ubi Caritas Press, “Latin English Missal” (ISBN 9781539764830), LARGE PRINT EDITION
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