The Rosary can help us meditate on the world which awaited Christ, writes Pedro Esteva
The first time I encountered the Hopeful Mysteries, my immediate reaction was – can they do that?
I was casually browsing Catholic blogs and articles when I stumbled upon this devotion recently approved for public prayer in the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. Upon investigation, I discovered that these mysteries had been granted a Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur by Bishop William Wack, meaning it have been reviewed for doctrinal soundness and formally approved for use in prayer.
In his letter introducing the devotion, Bishop Wack wrote, “This is the result of a great deal of prayer and deliberation among some members of our local Church and now it is a gift for the universal Church as well.”
Intrigued, I reached out to Dr Tom Neal, director of evangelisation for the diocese and one of the men behind the Hopeful Mysteries – a devotion that, as he explained, emerged not from innovation for its own sake, but from friendship and a shared love of Mary and Scripture.
Love
Back in 2017, Dr Neal along with Bruce Conroy (a Catholic lawyer), Peter Bond (founder of CatholicPrayerCards.org), and Fr Chris Winklejohn united over a shared love for the scripture and a devotion to Mary. Together, they began to ask a question: What if the Rosary could illuminate the Old Testament in the same way the Luminous Mysteries illuminated Christ’s public ministry?
This question was born from a growing interest in the Old Testament within Catholic circles, thanks in part to figures like Scott Hahn and Jeff Cavins. Through conversation, prayer, and discernment, the group identified five pivotal covenant moments in the history of Israel that prefigured the life of Christ:
- The Creation of Adam and Eve
- The Great Flood
- The Sacrifice of Isaac
- The Exodus from Egypt
- The Immaculate Conception
At first, I was confused by the addition of the Immaculate Conception among these pivotal Old Testament moments. However, in our conversation, Dr Neal clarified the reason for its inclusion. “You begin with the creation of Eve and end with the creation of the New Eve. Then you begin the Joyful Mysteries with the New Adam. There’s a fullness there.”
He made it clear that the Immaculate Conception wasn’t an outlier but a hinge. Without Israel’s long preparation – generations upon generations of covenants and longing – there would be no Joachim and Anne to receive Mary.
The more we spoke, the more I began to see these mysteries not as a break with tradition but a deepening of it – a way of connecting the life of Christ with the covenants that came before.
Pyramid
I began to picture them as an upward pyramid, rising from Creation through covenant and deliverance toward the Immaculate Conception. And from that high point, the mysteries ascend, drawing us upward through Mary into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
In this view, the Rosary allows us to meditate not only on the life of Jesus, but also the yearning of the world which awaited Him and still does.
When Dr Neal officially joined the diocese in 2023, the group presented the devotion to Bishop Wack, who brought it with him on pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago. In his letter, the bishop described praying these mysteries daily, eventually discerning that they were a movement of the Spirit.
On August 15, 2024 — the Feast of the Assumption — Bishop Wack granted the Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat. He formally promulgated the devotion on December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Then, just weeks later, the Vatican announced the Jubilee Year of Hope for 2025 — a moment that seemed to confirm all the group’s work
“The more I pray these mysteries,” he later wrote, “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.”
Dr Neal echoed this by saying, “the Hopeful Mysteries aren’t abstract theology. They are our story. We all experience waiting, longing, the silence of God, the struggle to believe. That’s Israel’s story. And through it, we can see how Christ has always been with us.”
We’re not replacing anything. This isn’t a mandate — it’s an offering. And it’s rooted deeply in Scripture, covenant theology, and the life of the Church”
In his own life, one mystery became especially personal. He and his wife, having suffered multiple miscarriages, found in the story of Abraham and Isaac a spiritual lifeline. “Unless you give him back to me,” he said, paraphrasing God’s voice to Abraham, “you will never receive him as gift.” And it didn’t erase the pain but it sanctified it.
Returning to my original question – can they do that? A question others have wondered as well, with some Catholics asking whether its appropriate to create new mysteries of the Rosary.
But as Dr Neal explained, “We’re not replacing anything. This isn’t a mandate — it’s an offering. And it’s rooted deeply in Scripture, covenant theology, and the life of the Church.”
Pope John Paul II paved the way with the Luminous Mysteries, which filled a gap between Christ’s childhood and Passion. The Hopeful Mysteries fill a different gap — the longing that came before.
Bishop Wack summed it up simply, “The Holy Spirit works through the local Church for the sake of the universal Church.”
Spread
Since their approval, the Hopeful Mysteries have spread rapidly throughout the diocese. Pamphlets are in high demand in both English and Spanish, with all proceeds supporting the Mary, Queen of Martyrs Shrine. Most movingly, Dr Neal described people writing in to share how these mysteries have helped them glimpse hope in seasons of despair.
As I prayed them myself, I found a new freedom. First, these mysteries helped shake me from my complacency – my tendency to just go through the motions in prayer. Second, they offered me a way to pray the Old Testament step by step as I began to see its shape in my own life.
That’s the deeper invitation Dr Neal kept returning to: to find Christ not only throughout the Bible but throughout our own story as well.