The Monday Rosary is a Christian meditation on the five Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. The Joyful Mysteries focus on the Immaculate Conception, the Incarnation, and the early life of Jesus Christ.
What are the Joyful Mysteries of the Monday Rosary?
Each of the Joyful Mysteries is a passage of scripture from the New Testament. They are:
- The First Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary: The Annunciation.
- The Second Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary: The Visitation.
- The Third Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary: The Nativity of Jesus Christ.
- The Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary: The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
- The Fifth Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary: The Finding of Jesus at the Temple.
When did Christians begin meditating on the Life of Jesus?
The practice of meditating on the life, works, death, and resurrection of Our Precious Lord dates back to the Apostles. It is a tradition that has been passed down through the ages.
The custom of using a knotted rope as an aid in Christocentric meditation is first recorded among The Desert Fathers, monks who practiced asceticism in Egypt in the third century.
What is the origin of the Holy Rosary?
The Rosary as we know it today was revealed to St. Dominic of Osma (also known as Dominic of Caleruega, Dominic de Guzmán and Domingo Félix de Guzmán) by an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The incident took place at the Notre-Dame-de-Prouille monastery in 1208, when the Carthusian monk was praying for intercession from the Immaculate Heart of Mary. because he felt disappointed about the rise of heresy in the church and the difficulties he was experiencing in changing people’s minds about the schisms.
St. Dominic witnessed an apparition of Our Lady, who gave him the following message:
“Wonder not that you have obtained so little fruit by your labors, you have spent them on barren soil, not yet watered with the dew of Divine Grace. When God willed to renew the face of the earth, He began by sending down on it the fertilizing rain of the Angelic Salutation. Therefore preach my Psalter composed of 150 Angelic Salutations and 15 Our Fathers, and you will obtain an abundant harvest.”
After the apparition St. Dominic preached what he called The Life of Jesus Rosary and he enjoyed great progress with conversions.
In 1216, he founded the Order of Preachers which came to be known as the Dominicans.
Who made the Monday Rosary?
St. Dominic organized the Holy Rosary into three mysteries: the Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the Glorious Mysteries.
To tell the story of the Life of Jesus, he added a selection of scripture to each of the five decades of the Holy Rosary to illustrate the divinity of Jesus Christ. Each collection of mysteries was assigned to specific days of the week.
He designated Monday as the day to meditate on the Joyful Mysteries. Therefore, St. Dominic made the Monday Rosary by divine inspiration from the Our Lady of the Rosary apparition.
