Yesterday I said that “to love well is to suffer well.” I was pondering that today in the context of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, and realized that each of the Joyful Mysteries is shot through with suffering. The events themselves are joyful, indeed, especially in their significance for us, but there is significant suffering for the principles—especially when we remember that suffering is relative, and that little things can sometimes throw us more out of kilter than big ones.

In the Annunciation, we celebrate the coming of the messiah, and Mary’s amazing “Yes” to God. But Mary had to risk censure from her intended, Joseph, and no doubt from both his family and her own. I expect there were some tense moments. No sure does this happen than Mary travels off to her cousin Elizabeth’s house. Note this: Mary went way out of her way to help Elizabeth. Then, about seven months after the birth of John the Baptist, while on the verge of giving birth herself, Mary has to travel with Joseph to Bethlehem, there to be housed with farm animals. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches us, I am given to understand, that Mary (being sinless) would have had an easy pregnancy and delivery, not bringing forth her child in pain and tears as Eve did; and if so, one can assume that Mary wouldn’t have had to deal with morning sickness, either. Nevertheless, I can’t imagine that travelling (on a donkey if she were lucky) in the last week of pregnancy can have been all that comfortable. Eight days later, she and Joseph bring Jesus to Jerusalem to be presented in the temple. Travelling with a newborn, what fun. But this time, there’s pain to spread around. Simeon and Anna had been waiting for their entire lives for the messiah to come, and no doubt wondering if he ever would, and of course it all ended in a circumcision. And then, finally, we have the discovery of Jesus in the temple, following days of concern, worry, and anxiety.

Note that in every case, the pain or inconvenience is a necessary part of the event. If Simeon and Anna had not been waiting, they would not have rejoiced so when the messiah was before them.

Now, I admit that we aren’t talking about major torment. In these five mysteries we don’t see Jesus being flogged at the pillar, or carrying his cross to Calvary. St. Therese of Lisieux said that it isn’t necessary to do great things for God; it is simply necessary to do little things with great love. And that’s the key to each of these events: the pain, the inconvenience, the heartache, all are borne with great love, for God’s sake. And so they are ennobled; and so the joy is all the sweeter, because it came at a cost.