Yesterday, I said the Joyful Mysteries were kinda down-to-earth; today, we will contemplate the Glorious Mysteries (text, video), which are pretty much the opposite.
For large chunks of the gospels, you can imagine Jesus was a wise man like Aristotle or a spiritual leader like Elijah. You can even try to explain away some miracles through natural phenomena ("The 5,000 shared what they had in their pockets! Yeah, that's the ticket!"). But with the Glorious Mysterious, you're forced to confront the difference between Christianity and any other religion. Jesus rose from the dead. Not metaphorically, not a ghost (he ate dinner with the disciples at Emmaus because he hadn't eaten in three days!).
To be a Christian is to believe in miracles generally, and the defeat of death in particular.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
Lord God, we thank You for all the ways You have blessed and assisted us in our lives. We humbly ask You today to bring healing to all who are sick.
You have blessed us with many medical advances in recent years, but there are still a lot of illnesses that do not have medical cures, including metachromatic leukodystrophy. Those who have been diagnosed with terminal illness suffer greatly. You are able to bring healing even to those whose illness is leading them toward death.
We ask You to heal all the sick, and we particularly ask You today to bring healing to all sick people who have been diagnosed as terminal.
Help us to grow in our faith in You each day. Help us to come before You with all of our needs, even when we feel discouraged.
And we especially ask in this novena to cure Amelia of her metachromatic leukodystrophy.
Lord, hear our prayers!