The Five MAJOR

EVENTS
in the LIFE of JESUS
The Five MAJOR EVENTS in the
LIFE of JESUS

The
The Baptism The Wedding The The Institution
Proclamation
of Jesus at Cana Transfiguration of the Holy
of the Kingdom Eucharist
of God
The LUMINOUS MYSTERY
Moving on from the infancy and the
hidden life in Nazareth to the public life of
Jesus, our contemplation brings us to those
mysteries which may be called in a special way
“mysteries of light". Certainly the whole
mystery of Christ is a mystery of light. He is the
“light of the world" (Jn 8:12). Yet this truth
emerges in a special way during the years of
his public life, when he proclaims the Gospel of
the Kingdom....  Each of these mysteries is a
revelation of the Kingdom now present in the
very person of Jesus. (Pope John Paul II)
 THE
01 BAPTISM
OF JESUS
After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and
behold, the Heavens were opened for him and He saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to Him. 
And a voice came from Heaven saying "This is my beloved
Son, with whom I am well pleased." (Mt.3:16-17)
 The Baptism of
Jesus
What John the Baptist was conferring on the
banks of the Jordan was a baptism of repentance
for conversion and the forgiveness of sins. But he
announced: "After me comes one who is mightier
than I.... I have baptized you with water, but he
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Mk 1:7-8). He
proclaimed this to a multitude of penitents who
flocked to him confessing their sins, repenting
and preparing to correct their lives.
The Baptism given by Jesus, which the
Church, is quite different. This Baptism frees man
from original sin and forgives his sins, saves him
from slavery to evil and is a sign of his rebirth in
the Holy Spirit; it imparts to him a new life. The
event of Christ's Baptism is not only a revelation
of his divine sonship, but at the same time a
revelation of the whole Blessed Trinity.
 The Baptism of Jesus
As Christ descends into the waters,” writes
Pope John Paul II, “the heavens open wide and the
voice of the Father declares him the beloved Son
(Mt. 3:17) while the Spirit descends on him to
invest him with the mission he is to carry out.”
Jesus’ Baptism in the Jordan not only
illuminates Jesus’ identity as God’s beloved Son,
but reveals with bright clarity his mission as the
Messiah as well.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church
(#438) points out, Jesus’ messianic consecration
was revealed during the time of his earthly life at
the moment of his baptism by John when God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit
that he might be revealed as the Messiah.”
The Baptism of Jesus

What does Jesus’

Baptism teach us
about our own
baptism?
 The Baptism of Jesus
What does Jesus’ Baptism teach us
about our own baptism?
It emphasizes the permanence of the
relationship between God’s Spirit and us.
When God pours new life into us at
baptism through the life-giving Spirit, it is a
permanent relationship that is given to us.

Our Baptism is not a one-time event that

happened in the past and has stopped
being active. As in the case of Jesus, the
Spirit descends upon us and remain with
us.
Application to my life today

Meditating on this
mystery is helpful at those
times when we feel unloved.

Can you recall a situation

wherein you feel that you feel
rejected in your family? Or
being rejected by your friends?
Application to my life
today
Meditating on this
mystery is helpful at those
times we feel unloved.
God is always ready to
embrace us as beloved
children.
Indeed, God’s Spirit is a
river of life and love
overflowing within us.
 THE WEDING
02 AT CANA
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and
the mother of Jesus was there... When the wine ran short Mary
said to Him, "They have no wine." Jesus said to her, "Woman,
how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come."
His mother told the servers, "Do whatever He tells you."
(John 2:1-11)
 The Wedding at Cana
At the wedding feast of Cana Jesus merely told
the servants to draw out the water and take it to
the chief steward, He did not say a prayer over the
water or touch it, He merely willed that it be
changed from water to wine, Only God can create
or change by an act of His Will alone.
These kinds of miracles were performed by
Jesus to impress upon the minds of the crowd that
His power was the Power of God.These particular
gestures of compassion were wrought as a symbol
of something greater to come. Their hearts were
prepared to accept a greater mystery that He would
reveal before His death.
 The Wedding at Cana
Jesus caused quite a stir at Cana when
he changed water into wine. “This was the
first of the signs given by Jesus (Jn. 2:11). A
footnote of the Jerusalem Bible tells us: “
every true prophet must have ‘signs’ or
wonders worked in God’s name to stimulate
faith in his divine mission.
The evangelist John writes that Jesus “let
his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in
him.”
The word glory in John’s gospel refers to
the manifestation of God’s presence. The
glory of God has been manifested during
Jesus’ Baptism, Transfiguration and his “first
sign” at the wedding at Cana.
 Application to my life
today
No situation of human need is
outside the scope of God’s
healing interest and care.

Like Jesus and his mother, we

are called to be instruments of
God’s healing mission in the
midst of everyday human
circumstances.
 Application to my life
today
Can you recall a situation in
your life where in you become
an instrument of God’s healing
care and love?
 THE
PROCLAMATI
03 ON OF THE
KINGDOM
After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee
proclaiming the gospel of God: "This is the time of
fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent,
and believe in the gospel."
(Mark 1:14-15)
 The Proclamation of the Kingdom
If there is a central image that ties
together the five Mysteries of Light, it is the
Kingdom of God. A simple way to understand
the Kingdom of God is to see it as God’s
saving presence in our world. In each of the
new mysteries, Jesus’ Baptism his sign at
Cana, the Proclamation of God’s Kingdom,
the Transfiguration and the Eucharist, we are
witnessing God’s saving love and presence
breaking into the world.
God sent his only Son into this world to
proclaim the Kingdom of God and engage in a
mission of healing and forgiveness of sins.
Each of these activities is an expression of the
saving presence of God (or of the Kingdom of
God)
 The Proclamation of the Kingdom
To accomplish his mission of healing and
forgiveness, Jesus offered himself to the service
of humanity. Our response to God’s overflowing
goodness is personal conversion and
acceptance of God’s saving power in Jesus. Jesus
proclaims the coming of the Kingdom of God,
calls to conversion (Mk. 1:15) and forgives the
sins of all who draw near to him in humble
trust.
 The Proclamation of the Kingdom and Call to
Conversion
The Greek word for conversion means:
to rethink - to question one's own and
common way of living; to allow God to enter
into the criteria of one's life; to not merely
judge according to the current opinions.
Thereby, to convert means: not to live as all
the others live, not do what all do, not feel
justified in dubious, ambiguous, evil actions
just because others do the same; begin to
see one's life through the eyes of God;
thereby looking for the good, even if
uncomfortable; not aiming at the judgment
of the majority, of men, but on the justice of
God. in other words: to look for a new style
of life, a new life. A new style of life in Jesus.
 Application to my life
today
Can you recall a situation in your
life wherein you have completely
change from your bad habit?

What is this habit? Can you share

this one to us?
 THE
04 TRANSFIGUR
ATION
While Jesus was praying His face changed in appearance
and His clothing became dazzling white. And behold
two men were conversing with Him, Moses and Elijah,
who appeared in glory and spoke of His exodus that He
was going to accomplish in Jerusalem."
(Luke 9:28-31)
 The
Transfiguration
The event of the Transfiguration marks a
decisive moment in the ministry of Jesus. It is a
revelatory event which strengthens the faith in the
disciples' hearts, prepares them for the tragedy of
the Cross and prefigures the glory of the
Resurrection. This mystery is constantly relived by
the Church, the people on its way to the
eschatological encounter with its Lord. Like the
three chosen disciples, the Church contemplates
the transfigured face of Christ in order to be
confirmed in faith and to avoid being dismayed at
his disfigured face on the Cross.
 The
Transfiguration
The disciples who have enjoyed this intimacy
with Jesus surrounded by the splendor of the
Trinitarian life caught up on the horizon of eternity
are immediately brought back to daily reality,
where they see ‘Jesus only’, in the lowliness of his
human nature. And we are invited to return to the
valley, to share with him the toil of God’s plan and
to set off courageously on the way of the cross.
 Application to my life
today
Even if we feel crushed,
oppressed or dehumanized, it is
consoling to know that nothing
can really separate us from
God’s glory.

By clinging to God in trust and

prayer, we remain with God like
the branches remaining one
with the Vine, sharing in the
divine life.
 Application to my life
today
Even if we feel crushed,
oppressed or dehumanized, it is
consoling to know that nothing
can really separate us from
God’s glory.

Can you share in the class your

experience about separation?
 THE
INSTITUTION
05 OF THE HOLY
EUCHARIST
"I am the living bread that came down
from heaven; whoever eats this bread
will live forever; and the bread that I will
give is my flesh for the life of the world."
(John 6:51)
 The Institution of the Holy
Eucharist
The other Sacraments give us grace, the Holy
Eucharist gives us not only grace but the Author of all
grace, Jesus, God and Man. It is the center of all else
the Church has and does.
As St. Mark records that, at the Last Supper, Jesus
"took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them:
"Take this, this is my Body" (Mk 14:22). That word
blessed in Greek is eucharistesas, from which the
Eucharist derives its name. Three of the four Gospels
record the institution of the Holy Eucharist: Matthew
26:25-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-23. St. Paul also
records it in First Corinthians 11:23-25. St. John's
Gospels does not report this, presumably because he
intended chiefly to fill in what the others had not
written, for he wrote probably between 90 and 100
A.D. There are small variations in the words, but the
essentials are the same in all accounts: This is my
body... this is my blood.