Gloria Hutchinson wasn’t sure how readers would react to the idea of connecting their everyday lives to the exalted mysteries of the rosary.

In the introduction to her book, “Praying the Rosary: New Reflections on the Mysteries,” she describes the work as “an attempt to breathe life into the rosary for readers who, like me, are doing their Vatican II best to see how this traditional devotion relates to their contemporary lives.”

Yet in the dozen years since the book was first published, readers told her that by following her advice, the mysteries “began to open up to them in new ways, helping them to value their personal experiences of God-with-Us.”

Hutchinson has written more than a dozen books on prayer and spirituality. In addition to her writing, Hutchinson conducts workshops and retreats throughout the Northeast.

In her latest book, Hutchinson, 64, helps readers understand that the prayers in the rosary are founded on a contemplative awareness of the mysteries. “Without that awareness,” she writes, “the rosary is as mechanical as a grandfather clock, as soulless as a commercial Christmas ditty.”

Hutchinson, who recently moved from Carthage, Maine, to Milton, N.H., updated her book to include the “luminous mysteries” added to the rosary last year by Pope John Paul II. They focus on the public ministries of Jesus Christ: his baptism, his turning water into wine at Cana, the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, the Transfiguration and the institution of the Eucharist.

She devotes a chapter to each of the mysteries – joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious. Hutchinson breaks down each chapter into five sections, each devoted to one of the events in the mystery. First she relates a personal and modern version of the biblical event as a reflection, then cites the scripture. She suggests a meditation that tells the story in almost cinematic terms, then concludes with a suggested response.

The reflection for the second luminous mystery tells the story of a wedding at a fictitious parish. Members of the band hired to play are in a minor car accident on their way to the church, leaving the reception without music. The mother of the groom, however, talks her son and his best man into playing, even though they felt they weren’t ready to perform in public.

The scripture section cites John 2:3-11 and begins when the mother of Jesus says to him, “They have no wine.” The meditation elaborates on the story of Christ’s attendance at a wedding where the host ran out of wine. Hutchinson describes his dilemma as Jesus asks himself, “Had the time already come for him to give his newly acquired disciples a sign of his identity?”

The section concludes with Hutchinson suggesting that readers “recall a time when someone called you out of yourself to go beyond what you felt prepared to do for others at the time. What were the consequences of your response to this request?”

The addition of the “luminous mysteries” has increased interest in the rosary, according to Hutchinson, whose advice includes how to hold the beads and pray.

“Picture a mother or father lovingly touching each of a child’s fingers as though he or she had all the time in the world,” she says.