Rearranging the Rosary: The Fifth Mysteries (Consummation)

Previously:
Rearranging the Rosary: An Introduction
The First Mysteries (In the Beginning)
The Second Mysteries (Discipleship)
The Third Mysteries (Kingdom of God)
The Fourth Mysteries (Pilgrimage)

Today is my favourite. I wish I had time to write a whole essay on this, but I'll have to settle for brevity.

The Fifth Joyful Mystery: The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple

• Foreshadowing Christ's return to Jerusalem, in which He will again be "missing" for three days, after His death. The "finding" itself also constitutes a reunion with Him, which is what Heaven will be.

Finding of the Child Jesus
in the Temple

The Fifth Luminous Mystery: The Institution of the Blessed Eucharist

• In the Eucharist we meet the Risen Christ, and thus experience a foretaste of Heaven, the fulfilment of all our desires, in which Christ and His Bride become one flesh, the Body of Christ. But also it is mysteriously one and the same sacrifice of Calvary, which Christ is offering before the Father for all eternity.

The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery: The Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord

• Before He gave up His spirit, Christ said "it is finished", probably better translated as "it is consummated." (Jn. 19:30) Scott Hahn has a great discussion of this, where he argues that the "it" that is completed is the Passover sacrifice, begun at the Last Supper (which is the Institution of the Eucharist).

The Fifth Glorious Mystery: The Coronation of Our Lady Queen of Heaven

• Since today is the feast of the Assumption, the readings for today were very much linked to this. The Mother of God takes her place in Heaven (Rev. 12:1), reflected also in Psalm 45. In this, as she begins her eternal life with her Divine Father, Son and Spouse, as a fully redeemed human person, she shows us the glory to which we are called. We see this in Christ, but He is not a human person, He is a Divine Person, and had no need of salvation. Mary is the first one for whom salvation is fully realised, and thus in this Mystery we see the climax of what all the other Mysteries have been building up to. The salvation of humanity is possible, because it has been accomplished in one person already.

So what's the point?

We begin our lives as disciples of Christ, becoming a part of and working towards the complete fulfilment of the Kingdom of God whilst on our pilgrimage to Heaven, which will be the consummation of our marriage with God, so to speak; the realisation of the end for which we were created, which is to live in a communion of love with the Trinity for all eternity.

Next time: Wrapping it up

+AMDG