Rosary Meditations for Moms (Joyful)

UPDATE: I have turned this blog post into a free printable PDF guide to praying the Joyful Mysteries for your family. Here is a link to the item in our shop.

It’s been on my heart to write about the mysteries of the rosary for months… But thoughts like these have prevented me: what could I possibly share that hasn’t already been said?

Although all of my musings have most likely been written about before, I still want to share with you all what has been stirring my heart and soul regarding this powerful Catholic practice.

First-why are they called mysteries? It’s not like we are trying to figure out whodunit like an Agatha Christie novel.

In the Christian understanding of a mystery, it’s that there are levels of meaning, most of which are hidden deep within the obvious. I feel like that’s where so much of God’s gentle work is done: hidden deep within the obvious.

Lately I’ve come to search for and uncover these hidden spaces within the life around me. I’ve met the Lord intimately in the garden, at the gym, on dates with my husband, even in the chores around the house.

But today I want to speak specifically about the mysteries of the rosary and how God has gently tended the heart of my motherhood upon praying them.

I’m sure everyone has their favorite set of mysteries. And of course, it depends on what’s on your heart during that rosary. For example, praying the sorrowful mysteries just hits different when you are suffering. Likewise, when life is peaceful and your heart brims with gratitude, the sorrowful mysteries can feel like a bummer. (At least for me).

As a mother, I’m most drawn to the joyful mysteries. Walk with me this week as I share what these mysteries have done to accompany my mothers heart. Tomorrow will be the First Mystery: The Annunciation.

Joyful Mysteries: Meditations for Moms

First mystery-The Annunciation

“Can you not see that if Christ himself willed to be physically formed in her for nine months and then be spiritually formed by her for 30 years, it is to her that we must go to learn how to have Christ formed in us?” -Ven. Fulton Sheen

Who wants more joy in their life? Specifically, who wants more joy in their motherhood? It’s been incredible to pray over my children and my role as their mother while praying the Joyful Mysteries. God has so much joy in store for us in the gift of motherhood, sometimes it’s just hidden deep within.

The first mystery is the Annunciation. God’s messenger comes to Mary and announces she will bear the Son of God. Here I always ask God for the grace to be like Mary-to be open and attentive to God’s will for my life, especially when his will may differ from my own.

How many times as mothers have we faced this reality: reconciling the hopes and expectations of our children with the reality of God's will for their lives and how different that may look.

So often God reaches down to us through this unexpected annunciation. For me, His annunciation is often a gentle redirection, pointing me toward a path of deeper encounter with Him.

In following the path he paves, He calls us to carry and nourish Him within us, a reality women can distinctly understand. This can look so different, depending on who you are and what stage of life you are in.

Lately God has used messengers like you to guide me toward Him via a path of writing, an unexpected way I discover joy and carry and nourish His presence in my life.

Let us pray:

“Lord, help me to become more like Your Mother. Help break open my heart and the hearts of my children. Create in us a profound desire to know and choose Your will for our lives. I pray we discover the immense joy you have in store for us in accepting, carrying, and nourishing Your presence in our hearts. We ask this through the intercession of your Blessed Mother, Amen.”

Joyful Mysteries: The Second Mystery-The Visitation

“A Woman’s soul is fashioned as a shelter in which other souls may unfold.” Edith Stein

Oh the joy found in female friendship!

I’m not just talking fruity drinks sipped on ladies night out, but also those deep, soul bearing talks on the couch after the kids have gone to sleep, with unfolded laundry at our sides.

I’m talking about the women in your life who can be a refuge for your tired heart to find rest, comfort, and encouragement. THAT friendship is sacred and a calling for all of us moms.

While praying the second joyful mystery, The Visitation, we remember when after hearing from the angel Gabriel that her once barren cousin is pregnant, freshly pregnant Mary visits and stays with Elizabeth “with great haste” (Lk 1:39). God knew Mary and Elizabeth needed one another’s friendship or else Gabriel wouldn’t have mentioned it.

Mary and Elizabeth so perfectly model the joy to be cherished in female friendship.

Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit and was a walking monstrance of God. Her greeting, in turn, was evangelization of its purest form and in turn, Elizabeth (and her son) were filled with the Holy Spirit and it’s fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gelations 5:22).

Both women, filled with the Holy Spirit are perfectly living out their femininity: openness to God’s will, seeking to live for and serve the other, and being a “shelter in which other souls may unfold.”

It’s during this mystery I thank God for the women he has placed in my life. In a particular way, I pray for my sisters and their intentions, my female friends who may be struggling, and that all my friendships continue to grow in the Holy Spirit.

“Lord, I thank you for my female friends (call them out by name). I pray for their intentions (list what they are). Help me bring Christ’s love and joy to my friends. Help keep our friendship rooted in your Holy Spirit.”

The Third Joyful Mystery: The Nativity

As a woman, I cannot help but give thanks for this mystery. It’s one that I have experienced. I count myself blessed to have given birth 5 times to 6 children.

Meditating on The Nativity brings joy to my mama heart. It’s remembering that Mary not only said Yes to God at the Annunciation, it’s also seeing the fruit of her yes burst into life here on earth! It’s remembering that one woman’s yes can change the world.

As mothers, we are invited into this mystery in a deep and profound way. We have not only given birth to our children, we also get to give birth to the ways God has called us to bring His Son into the world.

As we pray the Annunciation, giving God our yes, we allow him to enter our hearts. Through prayer, service, and the sacraments, he grows, changing us from the inside out. When we share what God has done in our own lives, we are bringing Christ into the world. When we pray the mysteries of the rosary, we are invited to prayerfully participate in the life of Mary and her Son in an incredibly intimate way.

It’s during this mystery I pray that whatever He wants me to do to bring more of Him into this world, let it be done. I ask for His courage to be outspoken when truth needs to be said. I ask for His strength to help others carry their crosses. I ask for His mercy when others need forgiveness.

“Lord Jesus. I am so thankful for your presence in my life. I’m so thankful you became man so that you could know us and enter into our lives. Please help me to bring You into the world through my prayers, my actions, especially in the way I try to love others.

Fourth Joyful Mystery: The Presentation

Although we no longer present our children in the temple like Mary did in her day, I like to take this mystery as an invitation to present my children to the Lord.

There is so much joy in presenting my children and their purpose to God. There is only so much I can do as their mother, so much of who they are and what they will become is out of my control. One thing I can do is present the good things (their talents, their compassion, their way they love) to Jesus as well as their not so good (where they struggle and need help).

When I get to the fourth joyful mystery, I take my time, talking to Jesus about each of my children, calling to mind who they are and why I love them. I thank God for them and ask that God helps them use their gifts to serve Him.

It’s such a good reminder for me to pray for them as well as remember the good things about them (especially when they have been particularly hard to love).

“Lord, I present my son (or daughter) ——- and all the good things about him (her) like ——- . I pray you use those things to bring you glory. Lately he/she has been struggling with —— and I pray you send your Holy Spirit to help guide them through it. I also pray you help me to be the mother they need to become saints, if it be your will. Amen”

The Fifth Joyful Mystery: Finding Jesus in the Temple

This mystery used to confuse me a bit as to why it was in the Joyful Mysteries. I mean, what’s joyful about almost losing your kid!? Lol

Upon further reflection, I believe there is true joy to be found in stepping aside and letting God be the primary parent. Let me explain…

Sometimes as moms we take our children’s actions as direct reflections of our own parenting. If our children are well behaved and preform well in school, we as mothers get props. Likewise if our kids misbehave, often we moms are blamed. There is not denying that our parenting influences our children’s actions yet along with our husbands, God reigns as a our children’s Father

This mystery reminds us that our children belong to God, they are just on loan to us. There is so much joy in discovering and striving for this order.

If I find that my children sought God first instead of me, although there may be a bit of surprise, what joy!

“Lord, help me to actively invite you into my child’s life. Help my children to seek you first. Help me to let go and let you enter into our family dynamic.”

Are these meditations helpful for you? Would it be helpful for me to pray the rosary out loud with these meditations for you to listen to on YouTube? Let me know in the comments below!