Reciting the rosary may seem mundane and monotonous,
but it can be an intense mystical experience. Unfortunately,
many people do not always see past its simplicity and into
its deeper realities.
The history of the rosary is long and circuitous.
Knotted strings and beaded strings have been used by
many faith traditions, i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam,
including Christianity. The practice dates back to the hermits
of the early church who fled the world to seek God alone while
living in the African desert.
Most of them prayed for long hours every day. They counted
their prayers, psalms, and meditations by moving one rock or
pebble at a time into a small pile, making notches in a wooden
stick, or tying knots with a string. However, prayer counting
became a highly evolved practice, which paralleled the Church's
growth as an institution. By the sixteenth century, the Rosary
had become a very popular devotion with the Latin Church's
official sanction.
The Rosary is not a conglomeration of meaningless prayers.
It involves vocal and mental prayers. The vocal prayers include
the Apostles' Creed, the Our Fathers, and the Hail Marys.
The mental prayers meditate on the mysteries of the life, death,
and glory of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary with the intent to
honor and imitate their virtue and grace.
The Apostles' Creed is a compendium of the truths about our faith.
The Our Father is a short and sublime prayer whose author is not a
man nor an angel, but the King of Angels and Saints, our Savior,
Jesus Christ. He prayed these words and told us to pray in the
same way. It is the "Lord's Prayer" in every sense.
The Hail Mary is a lovely hymn of praise and petition. The first
part restates the Angelic Salutation which was God's own blessing
through the Archangel Gabriel (Hail Mary, thou art full of grace,
the Lord is with thee) and her cousin Elizabeth's greeting through
the Holy Spirit's inspirations (blessed art thou among women and
blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus) which were written in
Saint Luke's Gospel (6:28-45) What a blessing to recite the very
words from the Author of Life!!!
The Hail Mary's second part petitions "Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." Of course,
you can see that we pray not to Mary, but with and through Mary
that she may intercede for our salvation.
The Rosary's transcendent nature lies in its mysteries. When we
meditate on them, we engage our thoughts, emotions, desires, and
imagination on the life, death, and glory of Jesus Christ as well
as the Virgin Mary. These mysteries are the means in which we draw
closer to the truth, wonder, and perfection of the Divine.
They are simple and yet unfathomable.
The Mysteries of the Rosary traditionally encompass the
Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the Glorious Mysteries.
The Joyful Mysteries recall the Annunciation, the Visitation,
the Nativity, the Presentation, and Finding in the Temple.
The Sorrowful Mysteries recount the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging,
the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, and the Crucifixion.
The Glorious Mysteries include the Resurrection, the Ascension,
the Pentecost, the Assumption, and the Coronation.
Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has recently introduced
the Luminous Mysteries when he released his Apostolic Letter On
the Most Holy Rosary on October 16, 2002. The Luminous Mysteries
recall the miraculous revelation of Jesus Christ's public ministry:
the Baptism of our Lord, the Wedding Feast at Cana, the Proclamation
of the Kingdom, the Transfiguration of our Lord, and the Last Supper.
The Rosary provides a wealth of sanctification and a means of perfection.
The spiritual rewards are limitless. You receive peace, solace, courage,
purity, humility, sustenance, and perseverance in the faith.
It refreshes and fortifies the mind. It protects you from wickedness.
It also sweetens your "daily bread" in this life.
If you have never prayed the Rosary or have thought about starting again,
you will have more than a spiritually rewarding experience. You will begin
a wonderfully rich, new way of life in the spirit.
Saint Louis De Montfort declared "the works of Jesus and Mary can also
be called wonderful flowers; but their perfume and beauty can only be
appreciated by those who study them carefully-and who open them and drink
in their scent by diligent and sincere meditation." When you take up this
Crown of Roses or Rosarius, you will begin to "imitate what it contains
and obtain what it promises."
Pope John Paul II has declared October 2002-October 2003 as the Year of
the Rosary. For more information about the Holy Rosary, please check out
http://www.vatican.va/special/rosary/index_rosary.htm.
