2nd = Charity towards our neighbor; sacrifice of Mary to travel and help St Elizabeth.  Baptism of St John in the womb.  Inspiration of St Elizabeth and the creation of the first part of the 'hail mary'.  Mary's also-inspired response, the beautiful prayer of the 'magnificat'.  The answer to persevering prayer in the pregnancy of St John and of the promise of a redeemer in Our Lord.

4th = Obedience and Purity.  Our Lord and Our Lady's obedience to fulfilling the law in visiting the Temple and offering sacrifice.  Obedience and sacrifice in offering Our Lord, as their first born, to God.  Purity in intention, body and soul, as Our Lady fulfilled the laws of purification, though She, as most-pure, needed no purification.  Our Lord would have been had his circuмcision done on this day too, so this is the first time He shed his blood.  

Any help here would be appreciated.

For instance, what is the "joy" and the "mystery" you are supposed to be meditating on in these 2 mysteries?

In the Second Joyful Mystery, St. John the Baptist "leapt for joy" in his mother's womb, and St. Elizabeth was (mysteriously) filled with the Holy Ghost as she exclaimed with joy, "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb!" We (mysteriously) repeat this 53 times with each 5-decade Rosary.  Our Lady joyfully cared for her cousin during her childbirth in advanced age, and she "mysteriously" did not consider her duties "drudgery" as modern feminism liberationists curiously are wont to do. The Blessed Virgin Mary joyfully traveled into the Judean hill country all by herself, and was (mysteriously) not attacked by vandals or robbers, as would likely happen today. Her joyful meeting with her cousin was profoundly moving to her, such that she spontaneously erupted with her (mysterious and joyful) Magnificat, which prophesies itself (mysteriously) that it will be repeated through the ages, from generation to generation, and it (joyfully) has been so repeated. St. John's father, Zacchary had been mysteriously struck dumb (speechless), and it was not until he wrote on a tablet "His name is John" that his tongue was joyfully and mysteriously set free for him to speak again, to the mysterious amazement and joy of all present.

Frankly, there is nothing about the Second Joyful Mystery that is NOT joyful OR mysterious.

In the Fourth Joyful Mystery, the Holy Family joyfully obey the tradition and Jєωιѕн law whereby a newborn child is taken to the temple to be presented to God.  In some Eastern Rite baptisms, the priest physically carries the baby around the altar which is a mysterious carry-over from this ancient rite.  St. Simeon and St. Anna mysteriously pronounce a prophesy upon seeing the Christ child, and St. Mary and St. Joseph are filled with joy hearing them and seeing their response to Our Lord, but we are given that the content of their prophesy was mysteriously painful to them (a sword of sorrow shall pierce thy soul). The juxtaposition of joy and sorrow is most mysterious. Whether we consider the circuмcision of Jesus or the purification of Mary, it is mysterious, because by shedding His precious blood in that ceremony, Jesus could have thereby redeemed the world from sin, but chose to follow the will of the Father by following through with His passion and crucifixion. And why should one who is sinless and even immaculately conceived so as to have never been touched by sin, need purification?  These things were mysteriously and joyfully done so as to satisfy the law and to leave no place for accusation or calumny.

Both these Mysteries are chock-full of joy and mystery, if you think about them.

You can find some helpful sentences (10 each) and nice pictures for these 2 mysteries (as well as for the other 13) in the Library section, under "Let's Pray, Not Just Say, the Rosary," by Fr. Rooney.

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Wasn't the Circuмcision 8 days after birth, and the Presentation 40?

Yes.  I noticed this as well.  However, the Circuмcision is often meditated upon as well for the
Fourth Mystery.

GREAT article!

A little known tradition is that when Ptolemy II Philadelphus commissioned the Septuagint to be translated, St. Simeon was one of the 72 elders. St. Simeon was looking over the Greek translation of Isaias when he came across chapter 7:14 and the word "parthenos" (virgin) had been put in place of the Hebrew word "‘alma" (young woman or maiden). He was about to correct it when an angel appeared to him and promised him that he would get to see the Virgin and her Child before he died if he kept the word as he found it. This was around 250 BC, so you can just imagine how old St. Simeon must have been... At least over 300 years old by the time he beheld Christ and His mother!

St. Simeon represents the first title Our Lady ever had, and the emerging role of the Greeks in laying the linguistic foundation for the new Universal and Apostolic Mission of the Church. As long as there is a Catholic remnant of Greeks, there is hope of a restoration for their culture as well. They just have to drop their schismatic Palamist ways.    

BTW, St. Simeon's body is actually very well preserved and is kept at Zadar, Croatia where his feast day is celebrated on October 8th every year. He's the only contemporary of Christ whose remains are in such good shape as far as I know.  

S2rea,

Do you have the last ten mysteries in that format?

Sometimes I use this while praying the Rosary- especially if I'm going through times where distractions are particularly pesky.

It helps me to understand the mysteries better as well.