He is the light in this World and in us.

 

The Luminous mysteries are not original to the Rosary given to St. Dominic de Guzman, founder of the Order of Preachers, a.k.a. the Dominicans. St. Pope John Paul II put forth the five additional mysteries that can be used in the private devotions of the Most Holy Rosary. The Church promulgates the Luminous mysteries with the other fifteen mysteries, and as such I have put them here. 

That said they are not required for the Rosary to be a Rosary, but they are supported by the Church and many religious orders such as the Dominicans. The mysteries are about the public ministry of Jesus Christ, and they were put forth during a time of spurious biblical interpretation and modernistic devaluation of the public events and miracles of Jesus' time, and at some point even a denial of His miracles. These mysteries were a world wide attempt to combat these errors and to help people grow in understanding these things in a familiar manner, the Rosary. 

The Luminous mysteries are as follows:

1. The Baptism of Jesus:
1. Jesus being without sin needed not baptism. So why did He do it? Well, He took something and sanctified it to make it sanctifying to everyone else. Baptism was the moment the Holy Ghost descended down onto Jesus, and God the Father declared in a loud and public voice to all in attendance: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matt 3:17).
2. Wedding at Cana:
1. Once again Jesus took something that had religious and ritual significance, marriage. Much like Baptism which was similar to the ritual bathing done to to the Levitical priests so that they can minister in the temple, marriage had the religious significance in that it was done before the Lord by one of His minister priests, and then the husband and wife raised children to worship and honor God. Jesus took the legalistic nature of the marriage at the time, and sanctified it, making it, like baptism, a sacrament. 
3. Proclamation of the Kingdom:
1. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom, namely how near it is. Many of the people at the time expected the Messiah to come and establish an earthly kingdom and rule vanquishing and subjugating all of the foes of Israel. Jesus then said, the Kingdom is already here, it is in our hearts. This is where Jesus can reign if we let him. We must repent and turn towards Jesus so that He can reign within us. And if we mortally sin, we must seek absolution and forgiveness so that He can reign in out hearts once more.
4. The Transfiguration:
1. He shows His divine nature to three of His Apostles, namely Peter, James, and John. At His transfiguration the apostles clamored to build a tabernacle/tent for Him, and the apparitions of Moses and Elijah (New Testament proofs of their assumptions into heaven).
5. Institution of the Holy Eucharist:
1. At His Last Supper, queue the famous DaVinci painting, Jesus instituted two things. First He instituted the Eucharist in the form of the bread, and second He instituted His Precious Blood in the form of wine. This event occurs every day at every Mass (with those that have valid orders). The bread is His Body, and the wine is His Precious Blood. The two separated shows the sacrificial nature of the Sacrament. Body and Blood separated means someone (the sacrificial victim) has been slain in offering to God. And yet when Jesus said Hoc est enim Corpus Meum and Hoc est enim Calix Sanguinis Mei we believe that they truly became His Body and His Blood, respectively, and context supports the claim. 

These are the Luminous Mysteries, and let's get to work on knowing them, and the scripture behind them all.