Holy Rosary

The Holy Rosary is a meditative prayer. As we repeat the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary, we think about the life of the Lord Jesus. Each week we choose one of the three traditional "themes" of the Rosary - the joyful, the sorrowful, or the glorious life-events (called "mysteries") of Chris's. Printed prayer cards are available which make it easy to join in even with no previous experience of the Holy Rosary.

Joyful mysteries: 1 - Mary, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, conceives in her womb Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Annunciation); 2 - Mary carries Jesus in her womb as she visits her cousin, Elizabeth (Visitation); 3 - Mary gives birth to Jesus (Nativity); 4 - Mary, following the Jewish Law, presents Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem when he is 40 days old (Presentation); 5 - After thinking of having lost him in the crowd, Mary finds the twelve year old Child Jesus teaching in the Temple of Jerusalem (Invention of the Child)

Sorrowful mysteries: 1 - The Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane; 2 - The Scourging of Jesus at the Pillar; 3 - The Crowning of Jesus with Thorns; 4 - The Carrying of the Cross; 5 - The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus.

Glorious mysteries: 1 - Jesus rises from the dead, victorious over death and sin (Resurrection); 2 - Jesus ascends into heaven with his risen and glorified human body (Ascension); 3 - Jesus sends the Holy Spirit from heaven on Mary and on his disciples (Pentecost); 4 - After her death, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is taken up into heaven in body and soul (Assumption); 5 - Jesus crowns his Mother in heaven as Queen of Heaven and Earth (Coronation).