The Third Mystery of Light – The Proclamation of the Kingdom and the Call to Repentance

The proclamation by Christ of the coming of the kingdom or reign of God, and his call to repentance, represent the third significant moment in the public ministry of Our Lord presented by the luminous mysteries of the Rosary. This mystery can sometimes seem a rather difficult one to contemplate since, unlike, for example, the Baptism of Jesus or the Wedding at Cana, it does not relate to one specific event in the life of Christ. Rather, Jesus’ announcement that the kingdom of God is close at hand, and his appeal to repent and believe the gospel, are central to the whole of his preaching ministry. Pope John Paul II points out in his Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, that with this third luminous mystery we contemplate ‘the inauguration of that ministry of mercy which [Christ] continues to exercise until the end of the world, particularly through the Sacrament of Reconciliation which he has entrusted to his Church’.

Perhaps one episode in the ministry of Jesus which we can focus on when contemplating this mystery is the Sermon on the Mount. This “charter of the Christian life”, it has been noted, describes the ways of the kingdom of heaven towards which the Holy Spirit wishes to lead the disciple of Jesus. The Beatitudes, for example, which are, at one level, a description of Christ’s own life, are also a list of the fundamental attributes required of the Christian disciple who seeks God and his kingdom. The kingdom of God belongs to the poor in spirit and the persecuted. Those who shall see God and enter his Kingdom are the pure in heart and the peacemakers. Jesus also teaches that it is the merciful who shall themselves have mercy shown to them. This reminds us of the 'Our Father' which occupies a central place in the Sermon on the Mount. In this prayer we seek not only the coming of the kingdom, that is, the rule of God in our lives, but also make the forgiveness we ask for in repentance conditional on our own willingness to forgive the wrongs done to us by others.