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Brief "History": Long ago and far away, monks used to recite all 150 Psalms each day. To aid them with this, they would use a rope with 150 knots tied in it. Because the laity wanted to imitate this piety, the "Psalter of Our Lady", developed into The Rosary.

The 150 beads were grouped into sets of 10 Hail Marys, preceded by an Our Father, and concluded with a Doxology, (the Glory-be). The 15 decades were each assigned an image from the story of our salvation as a mystery to be contemplated during the recitation. The Mysteries were grouped into 3 sets of 5 each, the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious, giving us the more common 5 decade chaplet we see today. Recently, Pope John Paul II provided us with another set of five mysteries to contemplate, calling them the "Luminous" mysteries. The four sets point to different parts of the story of our redemption:

• Joyful - contemplating the Incarnation and early life of Jesus,
  1. The Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
  2. The Visitation of Mary to her kinswoman Elizabeth.
  3. The Birth of our Lord and Savior.
  4. The Presentation of the Christ Child in the temple.
  5. The finding of the Child Jesus amidst the Scribes and Pharisees.
• Luminous - contemplating the public ministry of Jesus,
  1. The Baptism of the Lord in the Jordan.
  2. The Marriage feast at Cana.
  3. The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God.
  4. The Transfiguration.
  5. The institution of the Eucharist.
• Sorrowful - contemplating the passion and death of Jesus,
  1. The Agony in the Garden.
  2. The Scourging at the pillar.
  3. The Crowning with thorns.
  4. The Journey to Calvary.
  5. The Crucifixion and Death of our Lord.
• Glorious - contemplating the Resurrection and the birth of the Church.
  1. The Resurrection of Our Lord from the dead.
  2. The Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven.
  3. The Decent of the Holy Spirit on Our Lady and the Apostles.
  4. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven.
  5. The Crowning of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of heaven.

For years, many folks thought the "Luminous" part was "missing". I was one of them, and I welcomed this development. After all, that's a big gap, from Finding the Child Jesus in the Temple to the Agony in the garden. Whether 5, 15 or 20 decades, the primary focus of the rosary is meditation on the gospel story of our salvation, and it is a devotion rather than a liturgical celebration of the Church.