Taking Heart: The Hopeful Mysteries of the Rosary

The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in Florida has taken Pope Francis’ message of hope to heart and developed a devotion that is sure to encourage others to do the same–The Hopeful Mysteries of the Rosary. 

These mysteries focus on the Old Testament and were first conceived by Bruce Conroy of Tallahassee, who brought his idea to Fr. Chris Winkeljohn and Dr. Tom Neal in 2018. After some years of prayer and contemplation, the idea came to fruition and the group approached Bishop Wack of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, who announced the devotion via press release on December 8, 2024, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception–just weeks prior to the Jubilee Year of Hope. 

THE HOPEFUL MYSTERIES
The First Hopeful Mystery: Creation | Original Sin and the “First Gospel”
The Second Hopeful Mystery: The Flood | God’s Universal Covenant
The Third Hopeful Mystery: Abraham’s Sacrifice | God’s Promise of Fruitfulness
The Fourth Hopeful Mystery: Passover | God Saves His People, the Exodus
The Fifth Hopeful Mystery: The Immaculate Conception | God Prepares a Mother for His Son

The Hopeful Mysteries enrich the four other sets of mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary by inviting us to reflect on key moments in the history of salvation prior to the Annunciation. Each mystery shows God’s people beginning to hope for salvation in God alone, and helps us see how Providence prepares the way for the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, who is God with us. 

– The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee

In a touching conversation on the Sharing the Faith podcast with Dr. Neal, Fr. Winkeljohn details the profound logic beyond the devotion’s focus on the Old Testament. He expands on Augustine’s statement that “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old becomes manifest in the New” by further referencing the Catechism: “Different as the books which compose it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God’s plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since his Passover” (CCC, 112). Winkeljohn goes on to say that Jesus would have “seen the Old Testament as referring to Him,” and then asks what scriptures Mary would have been meditating on in her own prayer life. Like the question itself, the answer is simple yet carries a beautiful weight: it has to be the scriptures of the Old Testament that would have focused “on God’s acting in the history of the people of Israel […] that would have prepared her heart to receive Jesus.” By meditating on these Old Testament mysteries, we meet Mary anew in the rosary in a deeply personal manner–we enter her time. We join her to “contemplate the face of Jesus” in ways that she herself may have done over two thousand years ago, when she was the “first one to experience the grace of Christ” and His redemption.

Dr. Neal adds that these mysteries take us “from creation to coronation”–from Adam and Eve to the new creation that is promised and set in motion by the Immaculate Conception. The mysteries present the story of Salvation from the beginning–the Word–and our understanding of them is intrinsically linked to our understanding of the New Testament mysteries that we pray on a more regular basis. By making evident these intrinsic scriptural connections, the devotion can deepen our engagement with Christ’s presence and love for us as it exists beyond space and time. The devotion can help inspire a sense of hope that is similarly ceaseless, boundless, and atemporal, encouraging us to become more Christlike in the way we comprehend and revere the act of hope itself. 

I highly recommend the conversation between Dr. Neal and Fr. Winkeljohn and pray that it may leave you encouraged, stimulated, and indeed hopeful about the beauty imparted by this devotion. It touches on the history of the rosary as well as the development of this devotion and its theological underpinnings. 

Stay tuned for an upcoming episode of A Resounding Yes! about the Hopeful Mysteries and this recent announcement.

The more I pray these mysteries, the deeper I am drawn into the mystery of salvation. Indeed, praying these mysteries truly imparts hope for all who pray them with an open heart. This hope is very real, and it is ongoing as well. Amid personal sin and trials of all kinds, I live in hope of forgiveness and eternal life.

 – Bishop Wack

The devotion has received “nihil obstat (nothing obstructs) and imprimatur (let it be printed) indicating that there are no theological errors that would prevent their diffusion among the faithful,” according to the diocese’s website. The diocese invites all faithful to share any testimony they may have of their experience praying the mystery by emailing a statement to communications@ptdiocese.org. 

More Resources:

Bilingual Prayer Card – A portion of all proceeds will go towards developing Tallahassee’s only Catholic cemetery at the future Mary, Queen of the Martyrs Shrine. Learn more here.

Click for Audio Recording in English

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Writer and editor Franci Revel Eckensberger holds a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Cornell University. With years of experience as a copyeditor for academics, fellow writers, and various small businesses, she takes pride in maintaining clarity, consistency, and beauty in each client’s voice. 

Franci finds grace and insight in the Catholic Church’s rich relationship to language and invites that relationship to influence both her literary and editorial work. Saint Cecilia and Catherine of Siena continue to play a vital role in her journey to the faith as an artist. She lives in coastal Delaware with her husband.