The CatholiCity Message

Volume VI, Number 20 – October 16, 2002

Dear CatholiCity Citizen,

If you haven't heard, then it is our extraordinary honor to be the first to inform you about the five new Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary proclaimed this very morning, October 16th, by Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter on the Rosary of the Virgin Mary. It is difficult to put a story this profound into context on such short notice, but we will give it our best shot below after the first few items. The new Mysteries wiped the slate for what we had planned to tell you about today, but only partially.

We also need to remind you that our next message will mark the beginning of our annual Tax Drive wherein we ask you to voluntarily make a one-time yearly contribution to fund the amazing and comprehensive work of CatholiCity. We are in great need this year, and we'll have more details next week.

1. JOIN OUR 54 DAY ROSARY NOVENA STARTING TODAY
For several years now CatholiCity Citizens around the globe join in a powerful 54 Day Rosary Novena that ends on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th. Today, October 16th, is the first day of this life-changing Novena. The idea is to add your intentions to those of everyone else praying with you. That our novena starts on the very day the Holy Father has proclaimed the Luminous Mysteries is beyond coincidence. What better way to get into a habit of meditating on the public life of Jesus than through the Luminous Mysteries? We have more information on the new Mysteries, the 54 Day Novena itself, and how to be a part of this Once-in-a-Lifetime novena online on a special page we designed just for this awesome occasion:

(A FREE ROSARY CD & TAPE FEATURING THE
LUMINOUS MYSTERIES IS NOW AVAILABLE ON
ON THE LINK BELOW:)

http://www.catholicity.com/rosary.html

2. PRAY WITH A FREE ROSARY TAPE OR CD
You might really need this. We know many of you have friends or relatives who need help learning the Rosary, or you yourself would love to own a tool to help you pray the Rosary every day at home or on your daily commute. The reason why the free Mary Foundation Rosary we offer is the most popular recording of its kind in North America is clear: it is designed for everyday use. It is seventeen minutes in length with simple, pleasant voices at a normal pace (not too fast, not too slow) without distracting music or non-standard meditations. Our free tape or CD also includes the Divine Mercy Chaplet, traditional Daily Prayers, and a recorded five-minute summary of the Rosary's theology and history (which we composed ourselves out of frustration after searching in vain for a common sense explanation) that most folks truly appreciate. We'll ship it the very day you ask for it; donations are optional. To request your free copy or copies online or by regular mail, go here:

(LUMINOUS MYSTERIES NOW AVAILABLE)

https://secure.catholicity.com/order.html

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer."
Pope John Paul II
Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, Today, 16 October 2002

3. FOR THE RECORD
Here is a list of the new Luminous Mysteries:

Baptism in the Jordan
Wedding at Cana
Proclamation of the Kingdom
The Transfiguration
Institution of the Eucharist

4. HE LOVES THE VIRGIN MARY
Technical and practical matters prevented us from commenting on the canonization of Saint Josemaria Escriva earlier this month. As our longtime readers know, we have great devotion to Saint Escriva. He is a powerful intercessor, and now that he is "certified," we figure he's on the job more than ever. Escriva was a great lover of the Rosary and a plain-spoken man, so perhaps it is appropriate that all 70,000 of us ask him together to help us in prayer...in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...

"Dear Saint Escriva, we turn to you with love for Christ with a childlike trust. Please help us to love Immaculate Mary with greater devotion as sons and daughters of the Church. Please ask Our Lord to enlighten the eyes of our hearts as we meditate on the Luminous Mysteries of His public life during the Rosaries we pray for the rest of our earthly lives. Please O Please, ask the Father to increase our capacity to love, our desire to love without condition, our mastery to love with courage, our ability to love without regard to self, and willingness to love in the precise and profound ways Our Creator designed us as individual persons, as families, and as Friends of Christ. Amen!"

5. HISTORY MADE ON THIS DAY
The Rosary is the most widely prayed and popular prayer in the history of the world. Perhaps with the exception of the Mass itself, the Rosary, because it is prayed by Catholics everywhere and in every culture, profoundly effects what we like to call the Mind of the Church as no other prayer can. The Mysteries of the Rosary, because we contemplate them in the heart of grace, form how and what we believe about Jesus in a gritty, dirt-on-souls-of-our-shoes kind of way.

In other words, the key reason why Pope John Paul II changed the world today is because he changed the way the entire Church will pray until the end of time. Christ is telling us through His vicar, from the very Chair in which Saint Peter sat, that the Holy Trinity wants us to focus on our Lord's public ministry. Even if you yourself refrain from praying a single "Luminous Mystery" Rosary for the rest of your life, Catholics everywhere will be meditating with Mary on the Luminous Mysteries from here on. We can't help but all be changed as a result. As just a small example, because of the Luminous Mysteries, Catholics novelists will write different things in novels. This CatholiCity Message will never be quite the same. We will tell you things about Christ that we otherwise would not have told you.

The Luminous Mysteries will not change what we believe, but rather, how we pray, how we believe, and therefore, how we act. For us, the Luminous Mysteries might as well have been given directly by Jesus Himself, in person, as if he had come into our room this morning, gently shaken our shoulder to wake us from our sleep, then looked into our eyes and said, "Here is something I want you to pray about for the rest of your life. I know it will help you. I know it will change the way you think. I know it will change the way you will act. It will change My Church through whose womb you are born to Eternal Life. I am changing the way you relate to your spouse, your children, your friends, and everything else that matters in your life. I gave John Paul to you as a gift, my friend. This is John Paul's gift to me and to the Church in return. I am the Lord, your King, and I do not throw pearls to swine. The Luminous Mysteries are a pearl of great value. Cherish them. They will draw you closer to me."

John Paul II has been called the Great Marian Pope. His official motto, as we've mentioned before, is Totus Tuus: "I am all yours, Mary, and all that I have is yours." We once wrote that authentic Marian devotion is that which brings us closer to her son Jesus. We're looking forward to a lifetime of growing closer to Christ, and therefore to you, through contemplation of His public life during our daily family Rosary.

Christ has awoken us from our slumber, and we rub our eyes, and the light–the luminous light of grace–is bringing into focus beautiful truths. What is this we see? We see a baptism–a man pouring water over the head of another man standing in a river. We see a wedding–and we hear the music, and we eavesdrop on a conversation between a mother and her son. On a mountainside, we see this man Jesus proclaim revolutionary ideas–that the meek shall inherit the earth?! What does that mean? On another day, on another mountain, we see this same man transfigured in warm light into a figure of Divine Beauty from which we cannot pull away our gaze. Yes, oh yes, now we see Jesus with His friends, around a table, holding up what appears to be a piece of bread in His hands, and we hear Him tell us, "This is My Body, which will be given up for you..."

May we never sleep again, nor close my eyes, nor be the same men. O let us spend our lives, with Mary, pondering these good things with the eyes of our souls. Thank you, Holy Father, thank you.

We remain yours, as always...

With in Christ,

Your Friends at CatholiCity