Recently on Trending with Timmerie, Timmerie offered a brief guide to meditating on the Seven Joys of Mary. Just as St. Joseph has a set of seven joys and seven sorrows, Mary has seven of her own as well. Her joys took place at the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of Jesus, the Adoration of the Magi, the Finding of Jesus in the Temple, the Resurrection, and her Coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth.
Timmerie made a couple of suggestions for how best to meditate on these joys and get the most out of our prayer. “It’s so simple. So, what I like to do when I pray the seven sorrows, for example, is just pray one Hail Mary for each one and slowly meditate upon that sorrow. Today though, we’re talking about the seven joys. So same thing, just pray one Hail Mary and meditate for just a moment.”
The first joy is the Annunciation, a great example of one praying for the humility to submit to God’s will. “Be it done unto me according to thy word.” Mary committed herself to one of the most difficult roles at the behest of the Lord. We should be the same way. We should constantly be asking for the grace to follow Him because what He asks of us may be very difficult, but with His help, we can find joy in it.
The second joy of Our Lady is when she went to visit and help her cousin Elizabeth. Timmerie points to the Magnificat as the example we should follow. In a time of great change and probably stress, Our Lady found it within herself to sacrifice her time and efforts for her cousin. And at her meeting with her cousin, she praised God for his blessings. May we too find the blessings in our lives and thank the Lord for each and every one.
Mary’s third joy is the Nativity, the Birth of Jesus Our Savior. “Glory to God in the Highest!” All ordinary birth is extraordinary. But the birth of Christ? Surely this would have been a moment of purest joy, supernatural elation! God sent His only Son to save us lowly sinners on earth and He came to us in a manger. It is fitting that our greatest hope came to us in the purest form of life: a baby. Glory to God in the Highest.
The fourth joy of Mary came at the Adoration of the Magi. The magi, also known as the three kings or the wise men, came to give the greatest of their riches to Jesus. Men of wealth and means followed the star in the sky to pay homage to the true king, Our Lord Jesus Christ. “Lord, help us to see you as the light of our lives. And Lord, help us to come to worship you in every act, in every moment of our lives,” prayed Timmerie.
The fifth joy is the Finding of Jesus on the Temple. “Lord help me to be amazed when I see you and receive you in the Eucharist.” We should encounter God in all that we do, but no more than we do when we receive his body and blood in Holy Communion. He humbled Himself by coming down to us in the form of a baby surrounded by animals and filth. He humbled Himself by submitting to Jewish law, and He humbled Himself in the Passion and His death. Let us never take that for granted.
Mary’s sixth joy is the Resurrection of Jesus. According to tradition, Mary was the first person Jesus appeared to after His Resurrection, and rightfully so, for He was her son. “That’s why some people say the burial cloths were already in the corner. Because that’s where Our Lady would have been and she discovered that He had already resurrected.” After such a traumatic day of witness to the torture and death of her son, such tremendous joy would have overcome Our Lady at the validation of her beliefs and hopes in the Resurrection.
And the last joy of Our Lady is her Coronation in Heaven as Queen of Heaven and Earth. It is amazing that Mary lived a life of pure humility, pure submission, and pure sacrifice and now she is crowned queen of heaven and earth. It is the greatest example of how God justly rewards those who follow His will. He has a plan of salvation for each one of us and we need only humble ourselves to find our place in His eternal presence.
Listen to the whole meditation below:
Tune in to Trending with Timmerie weekdays at 6pm CT
