Rosary #19 & Rosary 20 Holiness of Mary

Mary, All Holy

FIRST MYSTERY: Mary, "full of grace", has been recognized by the Church as "all holy and free from every stain of sin", "enriched from the first instant of her conception with the splendour of an entirely unique holiness" (Lumen gentium, n. 56).

SECOND MYSTERY:  The Council recalls that the Church Fathers alluded to this truth when they called Mary the "all-holy one", affirming at the same time that she was "fashioned as it were by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature" (Lumen gentium, n. 56).

THIRD MYSTERY:  Grace, understood in the sense of "sanctifying grace" which produces personal holiness, brought about the new creation in Mary, making her fully conformed to God's plan (Pope John Paul II,  May 22, 1996).

FOURTH MYSTERY:  …Indeed, she who was destined to become the Saviour's Mother had to have had a perfectly holy, completely stainless origin (Pope John Paul II, May 22, 1996).

FIFTH MYSTERY: "Today humanity, in all the radiance of her immaculate nobility, receives its ancient beauty. The shame of sin had darkened the splendour and attraction of human nature; but when the Mother of the Fair One par excellence is born, this nature regains in her person its ancient privileges and is fashioned according to a perfect model truly worthy of God.... The reform of our nature begins today and the aged world, subjected to a wholly divine transformation, receives the first fruits of the second creation" (St. Andrew of Crete, Serm. I on the Birth of Mary).

 

The Holiness of Mary

 Mary's pure and immaculate conception is thus seen as the beginning of the new creation. It is a question of a personal privilege granted to the woman chosen to be Christ's Mother, who ushers in the time of abundant grace willed by God for all humanity (Pope John Paul 11 – May 22 1996).

 

FIRST MYSTERY: [Gen 3:15]  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.

 

SECOND MYSTERY: [Luke 1:28] And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." Mary is called by her name, "favored one", full of grace. This is who she is, fashioned by grace as the object of God who chose her.

 

THIRD MYSTERY: [Luke 1:42] Elizabeth cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

 

FOURTH MYSTERY: [Eph 1:3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will,

 

FIFTH MYSTERY: [Col 1:15-16}From before time, Mary was prepared to be Mother of God. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.