The Joyful Mysteries deal with five scenes from the first two chapters of the Gospel of St. Luke: the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Elizabeth, the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple, and the Finding of the Christchild in the Temple. Traditionally, the Joyful Mysteries are prayed on Monday and Thursday, and the Sundays from Advent until Ash Wednesday.
The Annunciation is the scene in the Gospel in which St. Gabriel appears to the Blessed Virgin and announces the coming of Christ in her womb. This is also the scene where we get the first part of the Hail Mary: "And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee" (Lk. 1:28). The fruit of the Annunciation is humility. In meditating on this mystery, we reflect upon the immense humility of the Blessed Virgin: submitting to the will of God immediately, with no questions, because of her deep love and devotion to her Lord, and the humility that it took to have this childlike obedience.
The Visitation is the scene in which our Lady visits St. Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant with St. John the Baptist at the time, and then gives the Magnificat ("My soul doth magnify the Lord..."). This is where we get the second part of the Hail Mary: "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb" (Lk. 1:42). In this we see the deep love that our Lady had for her cousin: she had just been given the announcement that she would bear the Son of God, the promised Messiah, the Lord of lords, in her very womb. In other words, not only is she pregnant, but her pregnancy has infinite priority. As soon as this happens, she drops everything to go and visit her cousin and minister to her in her time of need. Because of Mary's selfless act of service for Elizabeth, the fruit of this mystery is love of neighbor.
The Nativity is the birth of Christ. In this mystery, the Word is made flesh, and the God of gods becomes Incarnate. This is one of the central mysteries of the entire Christian faith. St. Paul says of the Incarnation "For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man" (Phil. 2:5-7). As such, the fruit of this mystery is the spirit of poverty. God the Son, in taking on our humanity, impoverished Himself, setting aside His immaterial glory for our eternal salvation. In meditating on this, we aim to imitate Christ's poverty, if not materially in ridding ourselves of our riches, then spiritually by aiming towards detachment from the world and developing a strong sense of charity.
The Presentation is when our Lady and St. Joseph present Christ in the Temple to be circumcised and dedicated to the Lord in accordance with the Old Testament Law. It is also when Simeon blesses Christ and prophesies the sorrow of Mary at the Passion of Christ (Lk. 2:35). According to Catholic theology, Christ as the God-Man had no sin, and it was impossible for Him to have even the slightest inclination toward sin. Mary, as the Mother of God and in virtue of her fullness of grace, was preserved from the stain of all sin, original and personal, by a singular privilege and grace. St. Paul tells us that the Law "is not made for the just man, but for the unjust and disobedient, for the ungodly, and for sinners, for the wicked and defiled..." (1 Tm. 1:9), and as such the Law is not for Christ and His Mother. However, in an act of loving obedience to God, both of them submitted perfectly to the Law of God. In imitation of them, the fruit of this mystery is obedience.
The Finding in the Temple is when, after unknowingly leaving Christ in Jerusalem following the feast of the Passover, our Lady and St. Joseph return to Jerusalem to find their twelve-year-old Son teaching the Rabbis in the Temple. Imagine how fervently that the Lord's Holy Mother and Foster Father searched after Christ when they recognized that they had lost Him on their way back to Galilee. Imagine the terror in their minds and hearts when they noticed Him missing among their family and the desperation they had in searching Him out in Jerusalem. Finally, imagine their utter relief when they finally found Him in the Temple and the soothing and calming of their fears at this finding. This is what we are to imitate and meditate on here. Just as our Lady and St. Joseph dropped everything to find Christ, so must we make finding Christ and keeping Him at the center of our lives our first priority. This, at heart, is what piety is: prizing Christ above all things and doing whatever you can to be with Him, and to find Him again as quickly as possible should you be separated from Him. Thus, the fruit of this mystery is piety.
The Joyful Mysteries are a meditation on the childhood of Christ. The first five mysteries of the Rosary bring us to the beginning of the Gospel: God being made man for our salvation at the fiat of the Virgin Mary, and growing in wisdom and grace with God and man.
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