Editor’s Note: This series on the Bible is from the book Catholicism & Scripture. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. See contact information at the end of this column.
Special Course On Catholicism And Scripture (Chapter 18)
The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary cover the events in the life of Jesus from His conception in the womb of His Mother Mary to His finding in the Temple at the age of twelve.
The story begins with the appearance of the Angel Gabriel to a young Jewish girl named Mary in the town of Nazareth. The daughter of Anne and Joachim, Mary was startled by the angel, but he told her not to be afraid. He didn’t call her by her name, but addressed her as “full of grace” (Luke 1:28). That could only mean that Mary was full of God’s divine life and was therefore free of Original Sin. This special privilege we call her Immaculate Conception.
Gabriel told Mary that she would “conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:31-32). Mary, who was married to a man named Joseph, asked the angel how she could conceive a child since she had vowed not to have marital relations with her husband. Gabriel replied that “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”
Satisfied that she would not be breaking her vow of virginity, Mary responded, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (1:35, 38).
Gabriel had told Mary that her elderly relative Elizabeth “has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God” (1:36-37). Mary immediately left Nazareth and traveled for about four days to visit Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice, she ran to the door and greeted her, “Most blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy” (1:42-44). The child Elizabeth was carrying was John the Baptist.
Mary stayed with Elizabeth until John was born three months later and then returned to Nazareth. Joseph soon discovered that she was pregnant and, not wanting to expose her to an accusation of adultery, he “decided to divorce her quietly” (Matt. 1:19). An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that Mary had done nothing wrong and not to be afraid to take her as his wife, “for it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins” (1:20-21).
Jesus should have been born in Nazareth, but the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus had ordered a census of all the people in his empire, and Joseph and Mary had to travel ninety miles to Bethlehem, the town where Joseph’s family came from. Upon arriving in Bethlehem, the couple could find no suitable lodging, so they had to stay in a stable for animals in a hillside cave. Shortly after Jesus was born, angels announced the “good news” to some shepherds watching their sheep in a nearby field, that “today in the City of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord” (Luke 2:11). The shepherds hastened to visit the newborn Child and then returned to the fields “glorifying and praising God” (2:20).
After being circumcised eight days after His birth, Jesus was taken to Jerusalem on the fortieth day to be consecrated to God, according to the law of Moses. While in the Temple, two elderly people whom the Holy Spirit had promised would not die before seeing the Messiah approached Mary and Joseph. The man, Simeon, took Jesus in his arms and said that “this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel.” He then told Mary that a sword of sorrow would pierce her heart (2:34-35). The woman, Anna, “spoke to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem” (2:38).
Mary and Joseph returned to Bethlehem, where they were visited by three kings who presented the Child with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, symbols of Jesus’ kingship, divinity, and death. The kings, or Magi, had told King Herod they were going to visit a “newborn king of the Jews,” and Herod asked them to report back to him about where the Child was staying. But being warned in a dream that Herod wanted to kill the Child, the Magi returned to their country by another route.
An angel warned Joseph about Herod’s plan, so the Holy Family fled to Egypt and remained there until Herod had died, and then settled in Nazareth.
When Jesus was twelve years old, He went with Mary and Joseph to celebrate the feast of Passover in Jerusalem and stayed behind after they left for home. They went back looking for Him and found Him in the Temple, conversing with religious teachers, who were astounded at His knowledge. When Mary asked why He had worried them so, Jesus replied, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). Even at age twelve, Jesus knew that He was God. He then returned to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph and lived and worked quietly there until He was thirty years of age.
List of Answers:
BETHLEHEM
EGYPT
ELIZABETH
GABRIEL
HEROD
IMMACULATE
JOSEPH
MAGI
ORIGINAL
SHEPHERDS
SIMEON
SWORD
TEMPLE
Quiz:
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