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The Mysteries of Light 21. Moving on from the infancy and the hidden life in Nazareth to the public life of Jesus, our contemplation brings us to those mysteries which may be called in a special way “mysteries of light”. Certainly the whole mystery of Christ is a mystery of light. He is the “light of the world” (Jn 8:12). Yet this truth emerges in a special way during the years of his public life, when he proclaims the Gospel of the Kingdom. In proposing to the Christian community five significant moments – “luminous” mysteries – during this phase of Christ's life, I think that the following can be fittingly singled out:
(1) his Baptism in the Jordan, (2) his self-manifestation at the wedding of Cana, (3) his proclamation of the Kingdom of God, with his call to conversion, (4) his Transfiguration, and finally, (5) his institution of the Eucharist, as the sacramental expression of the Paschal Mystery. Each of these mysteries is a revelation of the Kingdom now present in the very person of Jesus. The Baptism in the Jordan is first of all a mystery of light. Here, as Christ descends into the waters, the innocent one who became “sin” for our sake (cf. 2Cor 5:21), the heavens open wide and the voice of the Father declares him the beloved Son (cf. Mt 3:17 and parallels), while the Spirit descends on him to invest him with the mission which he is to carry out.
Another mystery of light is the first of the signs, given at Cana (cf. Jn 2:1- 12), when Christ changes water into wine and opens the hearts of the disciples to faith, thanks to the intervention of Mary, the first among believers. Another mystery of light is the preaching by which Jesus proclaims the coming of the Kingdom of God, calls to conversion (cf. Mk 1:15) and forgives the sins of all who draw near to him in humble trust (cf. Mk 2:3-13; Lk 7:47- 48): the inauguration of that ministry of mercy which he continues to exercise until the end of the world, particularly through the Sacrament of Reconciliation which he has entrusted to his Church (cf. Jn 20:22-23).
The mystery of light par excellence is the Transfiguration, traditionally believed to have taken place on Mount Tabor. The glory of the Godhead shines forth from the face of Christ as the Father commands the astonished Apostles to “listen to him” (cf. Lk 9:35 and parallels) and to prepare to experience with him the agony of the Passion, so as to come with him to the joy of the Resurrection and a life transfigured by the Holy Spirit. A final mystery of light is the institution of the Eucharist, in which Christ offers his body and blood as food under the signs of bread and wine, and testifies “to the end” his love for humanity (Jn 13:1), for whose salvation he will offer himself in sacrifice. In these mysteries, apart from the miracle at Cana, the presence of Mary remains in the background. The Gospels make only the briefest reference to her occasional presence at one moment or other during the preaching of Jesus (cf. Mk 3:31-5; Jn 2:12), and they give no indication that she was present at the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist. Yet the role she assumed at Cana in some way accompanies Christ throughout his ministry. The revelation made directly by the Father at the Baptism in the Jordan and echoed by John the Baptist is placed upon Mary's lips at Cana, and it becomes the great maternal counsel which Mary addresses to the Church of every age: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). This counsel is a fitting introduction to the words and signs of Christ's public ministry and it forms the Marian foundation of all the “mysteries of light”. The Sorrowful Mysteries
22. The Gospels give great prominence to the sorrowful mysteries of Christ. From the beginning Christian piety, especially during the Lenten devotion of the Way of the Cross, has focused on the individual moments of the Passion, realizing that here is found the culmination of the revelation of God's love and the source of our salvation. The Rosary selects certain moments from the Passion, inviting the faithful to contemplate them in their hearts and to relive them. The sequence of meditations begins with Gethsemane, where Christ experiences a moment of great anguish before the will of the Father, against which the weakness of the flesh would be tempted to rebel. There Jesus encounters all the temptations and confronts all the sins of humanity, in order to say to the Father: “Not my will but yours be done” (Lk 22:42 and parallels). This “Yes” of Christ reverses the “No” of our first parents in the Garden of Eden. And the cost of this faithfulness to the Father's will is made clear in the following mysteries; by his scourging, his crowning with thorns, his carrying the Cross and his death on the Cross, the Lord is cast into the most abject suffering: Ecce homo!
This abject suffering reveals not only the love of God but also the meaning of man himself. Ecce homo: the meaning, origin and fulfilment of man is to be found in Christ, the God who humbles himself out of love “even unto death, death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). The sorrowful mysteries help the believer to relive the death of Jesus, to stand at the foot of the Cross beside Mary, to enter with her into the depths of God's love for man and to experience all its life-giving power.
The Glorious Mysteries
23. “The contemplation of Christ's face cannot stop at the image of the Crucified One. He is the Risen One!” The Rosary has always expressed this knowledge born of faith and invited the believer to pass beyond the darkness of the Passion in order to gaze upon Christ's glory in the Resurrection and Ascension. Contemplating the Risen One, Christians rediscover the reasons for their own faith (cf. 1Cor 15:14) and relive the joy not only of those to whom Christ appeared – the Apostles, Mary Magdalene and the disciples on the road to Emmaus – but also the joy of Mary, who must have had an equally intense experience of the new life of her glorified Son. In the Ascension, Christ was raised in glory to the right hand of the Father, while Mary herself would be raised to that same glory in the Assumption, enjoying beforehand, by a unique privilege, the destiny reserved for all the just at the resurrection of the dead. Crowned in glory – as she appears in the last glorious mystery – Mary shines forth as Queen of the Angels and Saints, the anticipation and the supreme realization of the eschatological state of the Church.
At the centre of this unfolding sequence of the glory of the Son and the Mother, the Rosary sets before us the third glorious mystery, Pentecost, which reveals the face of the Church as a family gathered together with Mary, enlivened by the powerful outpouring of the Spirit and ready for the mission of evangelization. The contemplation of this scene, like that of the other glorious mysteries, ought to lead the faithful to an ever greater appreciation of their new life in Christ, lived in the heart of the Church, a life of which the scene of Pentecost itself is the great “icon”. The glorious mysteries thus lead the faithful to greater hope for the eschatological goal towards which they journey as members of the pilgrim People of God in history. This can only impel them to bear courageous witness to that “good news” which gives meaning to their entire existence.
From “mysteries” to the “Mystery”: Mary's way 24. The cycles of meditation proposed by the Holy Rosary are by no means exhaustive, but they do bring to mind what is essential and they awaken in the soul a thirst for a knowledge of Christ continually nourished by the pure source of the Gospel. Every individual event in the life of Christ, as narrated by the Evangelists, is resplendent with the Mystery that surpasses all understanding (cf. Eph 3:19): the Mystery of the Word made flesh, in whom “all the fullness of God dwells bodily” (Col 2:9). For this reason the Catechism of the Catholic Church places great emphasis on the mysteries of Christ, pointing out that “everything in the life of Jesus is a sign of his Mystery”.(30) The “duc in altum” of the Church of the third millennium will be determined by the ability of Christians to enter into the “perfect knowledge of God's mystery, of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:2-3). The Letter to the Ephesians makes this heartfelt prayer for all the baptized: “May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power... to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (3:17-19). The Rosary is at the service of this ideal; it offers the “secret” which leads easily to a profound and inward knowledge of Christ. We might call it Mary's way. It is the way of the example of the Virgin of Nazareth, a woman of faith, of silence, of attentive listening. It is also the way of a Marian devotion inspired by knowledge of the inseparable bond between Christ and his Blessed Mother: the mysteries of Christ are also in some sense the mysteries of his Mother, even when they do not involve her directly, for she lives from him and through him. By making our own the words of the Angel Gabriel and Saint Elizabeth contained in the Hail Mary, we find ourselves constantly drawn to seek out afresh in Mary, in her arms and in her heart, the “blessed fruit of her womb” (cf Lk 1:42). Mystery of Christ, mystery of man 25. In my testimony of 1978 mentioned above, where I described the Rosary as my favourite prayer, I used an idea to which I would like to return. I said then that “the simple prayer of the Rosary marks the rhythm of human life”. In the light of what has been said so far on the mysteries of Christ, it is not difficult to go deeper into this anthropological significance of the Rosary, which is far deeper than may appear at first sight. Anyone who contemplates Christ through the various stages of his life cannot fail to perceive in him the truth about man. This is the great affirmation of the Second Vatican Council which I have so often discussed in my own teaching since the Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis: “it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man is seen in its true light”. The Rosary helps to open up the way to this light. Following in the path of Christ, in whom man's path is “recapitulated”, revealed and redeemed, believers come face to face with the image of the true man. Contemplating Christ's birth, they learn of the sanctity of life; seeing the household of Nazareth, they learn the original truth of the family according to God's plan; listening to the Master in the mysteries of his public ministry, they find the light which leads them to enter the Kingdom of God; and following him on the way to Calvary, they learn the meaning of salvific suffering. Finally, contemplating Christ and his Blessed Mother in glory, they see the goal towards which each of us is called, if we allow ourselves to be healed and transformed by the Holy Spirit. It could be said that each mystery of the Rosary, carefully meditated, sheds light on the mystery of man. At the same time, it becomes natural to bring to this encounter with the sacred humanity of the Redeemer all the problems, anxieties, labours and endeavours which go to make up our lives. “Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you” (Ps 55:23). To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and his Mother. Twenty-five years later, thinking back over the difficulties which have also been part of my exercise of the Petrine ministry, I feel the need to say once more, as a warm invitation to everyone to experience it personally: the Rosary does indeed “mark the rhythm of human life”, bringing it into harmony with the “rhythm” of God's own life, in the joyful communion of the Holy Trinity, our life's destiny and deepest longing. CHAPTER
III “FOR ME, TO LIVE IS CHRIST” The
Rosary, a way of assimilating the mystery 26.
Meditation on the mysteries of Christ is proposed in the Rosary by means
of a method designed to assist in their assimilation. It is a method based on repetition. This applies above all to the
Hail Mary, repeated ten times in each mystery. If this repetition is
considered superficially, there could be a temptation to see the Rosary
as a dry and boring exercise. It is quite another thing, however, when
the Rosary is thought of as an outpouring of that love which tirelessly
returns to the person loved with expressions similar in their content
but ever fresh in terms of the feeling pervading them. In
Christ, God has truly assumed a “heart of flesh”. Not only does God
have a divine heart, rich in mercy and in forgiveness, but also a human
heart, capable of all the stirrings of affection. If we needed evidence
for this from the Gospel, we could easily find it in the touching
dialogue between Christ and Peter after the Resurrection: “Simon, son
of John, do you love me?” Three times this question is put to Peter,
and three times he gives the reply: “Lord, you know that I love you”
(cf. Jn 21:15-17). Over and
above the specific meaning of this passage, so important for Peter's
mission, none can fail to recognize the beauty of this triple repetition,
in which the insistent request and the corresponding reply are expressed
in terms familiar from the universal experience of human love. To
understand the Rosary, one has to enter into the psychological dynamic
proper to love. One thing is clear: although the repeated Hail Mary is addressed directly to Mary, it is to Jesus that the act of love is ultimately directed, with her and through her. The repetition is nourished by the desire to be conformed ever more completely to Christ, the true programme of the Christian life. Saint Paul expressed this project with words of fire: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). And again: “It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). The Rosary helps us to be conformed ever more closely to Christ until we attain true holiness. A
valid method... 27.
We should not be surprised that our relationship with Christ makes use
of a method. God communicates himself to us respecting our human nature
and its vital rhythms. Hence, while Christian spirituality is familiar
with the most sublime forms of mystical silence in which images, words
and gestures are all, so to speak, superseded by an intense and
ineffable union with God, it normally engages the whole person in all
his complex psychological, physical and relational reality. This becomes apparent in the Liturgy. Sacraments and sacramentals are structured as a series of rites which bring into play all the dimensions of the person. The same applies to non-liturgical prayer. This is confirmed by the fact that, in the East, the most characteristic prayer of Christological meditation, centred on the words “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” is traditionally linked to the rhythm of breathing; while this practice favours perseverance in the prayer, it also in some way embodies the desire for Christ to become the breath, the soul and the “all” of one's life. ...which
can nevertheless be improved 28.
I mentioned in my Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte that
the West is now experiencing a
renewed demand for meditation, which at times leads to a keen
interest in aspects of other religions.
Some
Christians, limited in their knowledge of the Christian contemplative
tradition, are attracted by those forms of prayer. While the latter
contain many elements which are positive and at times compatible with
Christian experience, they are often based on ultimately unacceptable
premises. Much in vogue among these approaches are methods aimed at
attaining a high level of spiritual concentration by using techniques of
a psychophysical, repetitive and symbolic nature. The Rosary is situated
within this broad gamut of religious phenomena, but it is distinguished
by characteristics of its own which correspond to specifically Christian
requirements. In effect, the Rosary is simply a method of contemplation. As a method, it serves as a means to an end and cannot become an end in itself. All the same, as the fruit of centuries of experience, this method should not be undervalued. In its favour one could cite the experience of countless Saints. This is not to say, however, that the method cannot be improved. Such is the intent of the addition of the new series of mysteria lucis to the overall cycle of mysteries and of the few suggestions which I am proposing in this Letter regarding its manner of recitation. These suggestions, while respecting the well-established structure of this prayer, are intended to help the faithful to understand it in the richness of its symbolism and in harmony with the demands of daily life. Otherwise there is a risk that the Rosary would not only fail to produce the intended spiritual effects, but even that the beads, with which it is usually said, could come to be regarded as some kind of amulet or magic object, thereby radically distorting their meaning and function. Announcing
each mystery 29.
Announcing each mystery, and perhaps even using a suitable icon to
portray it, is as it were to open
up a scenario on which to focus our attention. The words direct the
imagination and the mind towards a particular episode or moment in the
life of Christ. In the Church's traditional spirituality, the veneration
of icons and the many devotions appealing to the senses, as well as the
method of prayer proposed by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual
Exercises, make use of visual and imaginative elements (the compositio
loci), judged to be of great help in concentrating the mind on the
particular mystery. This is a methodology, moreover, which
corresponds to the inner logic of the Incarnation: in Jesus, God
wanted to take on human features. It is through his bodily reality that
we are led into contact with the mystery of his divinity. This need for concreteness finds further expression in the announcement of the various mysteries of the Rosary. Obviously these mysteries neither replace the Gospel nor exhaust its content. The Rosary, therefore, is no substitute for lectio divina; on the contrary, it presupposes and promotes it. Yet, even though the mysteries contemplated in the Rosary, even with the addition of the mysteria lucis, do no more than outline the fundamental elements of the life of Christ, they easily draw the mind to a more expansive reflection on the rest of the Gospel, especially when the Rosary is prayed in a setting of prolonged recollection. Listening
to the word of God 30.
In order to supply a Biblical foundation and greater depth to our
meditation, it is helpful to follow the announcement of the mystery with
the proclamation of a related Biblical passage, long or short,
depending on the circumstances. No other words can ever match the
efficacy of the inspired word. As we listen, we are certain that this is
the word of God, spoken for today and spoken “for me”. If received in this way, the word of God can become part of the Rosary's methodology of repetition without giving rise to the ennui derived from the simple recollection of something already well known. It is not a matter of recalling information but of allowing God to speak. In certain solemn communal celebrations, this word can be appropriately illustrated by a brief commentary. Silence 31. Listening and meditation are nourished by silence. After the announcement of the mystery and the proclamation of the word, it is fitting to pause and focus one's attention for a suitable period of time on the mystery concerned, before moving into vocal prayer. A discovery of the importance of silence is one of the secrets of practicing contemplation and meditation. One drawback of a society dominated by technology and the mass media is the fact that silence becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. Just as moments of silence are recommended in the Liturgy, so too in the recitation of the Rosary it is fitting to pause briefly after listening to the word of God, while the mind focuses on the content of a particular mystery. The
“Our Father” 32. After listening to the word and focusing on the mystery, it is natural for the mind to be lifted up towards the Father. In each of his mysteries, Jesus always leads us to the Father, for as he rests in the Father's bosom (cf. Jn 1:18) he is continually turned towards him. He wants us to share in his intimacy with the Father, so that we can say with him: “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). By virtue of his relationship to the Father he makes us brothers and sisters of himself and of one another, communicating to us the Spirit which is both his and the Father's. Acting as a kind of foundation for the Christological and Marian meditation which unfolds in the repetition of the Hail Mary, the Our Father makes meditation upon the mystery, even when carried out in solitude, an ecclesial experience. The
ten “Hail Marys” 33.
This is the most substantial element in the Rosary and also the one
which makes it a Marian prayer par
excellence. Yet when the Hail
Mary is properly understood, we come to see clearly that its Marian
character is not opposed to its Christological character, but that it
actually emphasizes and increases it. The first part of the Hail
Mary, drawn from the words spoken to Mary by the Angel Gabriel and
by Saint Elizabeth, is a contemplation in adoration of the mystery
accomplished in the Virgin of Nazareth. These words express, so to speak,
the wonder of heaven and earth; they could be said to give us a glimpse
of God's own wonderment as he contemplates his “masterpiece” – the
Incarnation of the Son in the womb of the Virgin Mary. If we recall how,
in the Book of Genesis, God “saw all that he had made” (Gen
1:31), we can find here an echo of that “pathos with which God, at
the dawn of creation, looked upon the work of his hands”.
The repetition of the Hail Mary
in the Rosary gives us a share in God's own wonder and pleasure: in
jubilant amazement we acknowledge the greatest miracle of history.
Mary's prophecy here finds its fulfilment: “Henceforth all generations
will call me blessed” (Lk
1:48). The
centre of gravity in the Hail Mary,
the hinge as it were which joins its two parts, is the
name of Jesus. Sometimes, in hurried recitation, this centre of
gravity can be overlooked, and with it the connection to the mystery of
Christ being contemplated. Yet it is precisely the emphasis given to the
name of Jesus and to his mystery that is the sign of a meaningful and
fruitful recitation of the Rosary. Pope Paul VI drew attention, in his
Apostolic Exhortation Marialis
Cultus, to the custom in certain regions of highlighting the name of
Christ by the addition of a clause referring to the mystery being
contemplated.
This is a
praiseworthy custom, especially during public recitation. It gives
forceful expression to our faith in Christ, directed to the different
moments of the Redeemer's life. It is at once a
profession of faith and an aid in concentrating our meditation,
since it facilitates the process of assimilation to the mystery of
Christ inherent in the repetition of the
Hail Mary. When we repeat the name of Jesus – the only name given
to us by which we may hope for salvation (cf. Acts
4:12) – in close association with the name of his Blessed Mother,
almost as if it were done at her suggestion, we set out on a path of
assimilation meant to help us enter more deeply into the life of Christ. From Mary's uniquely privileged relationship with Christ, which makes her the Mother of God, Theotókos, derives the forcefulness of the appeal we make to her in the second half of the prayer, as we entrust to her maternal intercession our lives and the hour of our death. The
“Gloria” 34.
Trinitarian doxology is the goal of all Christian contemplation. For
Christ is the way that leads us to the Father in the Spirit. If we
travel this way to the end, we repeatedly encounter the mystery of the
three divine Persons, to whom all praise, worship and thanksgiving are
due. It is important that the Gloria, the high-point of
contemplation, be given due prominence in the Rosary. In public
recitation it could be sung, as a way of giving proper emphasis to the
essentially Trinitarian structure of all Christian prayer. To the extent that meditation on the mystery is attentive and profound, and to the extent that it is enlivened – from one Hail Mary to another – by love for Christ and for Mary, the glorification of the Trinity at the end of each decade, far from being a perfunctory conclusion, takes on its proper contemplative tone, raising the mind as it were to the heights of heaven and enabling us in some way to relive the experience of Tabor, a foretaste of the contemplation yet to come: “It is good for us to be here!” (Lk 9:33). The
concluding short prayer 35.
In current practice, the Trinitarian doxology is followed by a brief
concluding prayer which varies according to local custom. Without in any
way diminishing the value of such invocations, it is worthwhile to note
that the contemplation of the mysteries could better express their full
spiritual fruitfulness if an effort were made to conclude each mystery
with a prayer for the fruits
specific to that particular mystery. In this way the Rosary would
better express its connection with the Christian life. One fine
liturgical prayer suggests as much, inviting us to pray that, by
meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary, we may come to “imitate
what they contain and obtain what they promise”. Such a final prayer could take on a legitimate variety of forms, as indeed it already does. In this way the Rosary can be better adapted to different spiritual traditions and different Christian communities. It is to be hoped, then, that appropriate formulas will be widely circulated, after due pastoral discernment and possibly after experimental use in centres and shrines particularly devoted to the Rosary, so that the People of God may benefit from an abundance of authentic spiritual riches and find nourishment for their personal contemplation. The
Rosary beads 36.
The traditional aid used for the recitation of the Rosary is the set of
beads. At the most superficial level, the beads often become a simple
counting mechanism to mark the succession of
Hail Marys. Yet they can also take on a symbolism which can give
added depth to contemplation. Here
the first thing to note is the way the
beads converge upon the Crucifix, which both opens and closes the
unfolding sequence of prayer. The life and prayer of believers is
centred upon Christ. Everything begins from him, everything leads
towards him, everything, through him, in the Holy Spirit, attains to the
Father. As
a counting mechanism, marking the progress of the prayer, the beads
evoke the unending path of contemplation and of Christian perfection.
Blessed Bartolo Longo saw them also as a “chain” which links us to
God. A chain, yes, but a sweet chain; for sweet indeed is the bond to
God who is also our Father. A “filial” chain which puts us in tune
with Mary, the “handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1:38) and, most of all, with Christ himself, who, though he was
in the form of God, made himself a “servant” out of love for us (Phil
2:7). A fine way to expand the symbolism of the beads is to let them remind us of our many relationships, of the bond of communion and fraternity which unites us all in Christ. The
opening and closing 37.At
present, in different parts of the Church, there are many ways to
introduce the Rosary. In some places, it is customary to begin with the
opening words of Psalm 70: “O God, come to my aid; O Lord, make haste
to help me”, as if to nourish in those who are praying a humble
awareness of their own insufficiency. In other places, the Rosary begins
with the recitation of the Creed, as if to make the profession of faith
the basis of the contemplative journey about to be undertaken. These and
similar customs, to the extent that they prepare the mind for
contemplation, are all equally legitimate. The Rosary is then ended with
a prayer for the intentions of the Pope, as if to expand the vision of
the one praying to embrace all the needs of the Church. It is precisely
in order to encourage this ecclesial dimension of the Rosary that the
Church has seen fit to grant indulgences to those who recite it with the
required dispositions. If prayed in this way, the Rosary truly becomes a spiritual itinerary in which Mary acts as Mother, Teacher and Guide, sustaining the faithful by her powerful intercession. Is it any wonder, then, that the soul feels the need, after saying this prayer and experiencing so profoundly the motherhood of Mary, to burst forth in praise of the Blessed Virgin, either in that splendid prayer the Salve Regina or in the Litany of Loreto? This is the crowning moment of an inner journey which has brought the faithful into living contact with the mystery of Christ and his Blessed Mother. Distribution
over time 38.
The Rosary can be recited in full every day, and there are those who
most laudably do so. In this way it fills with prayer the days of many a
contemplative, or keeps company with the sick and the elderly who have
abundant time at their disposal. Yet it is clear – and this applies
all the more if the new series of mysteria lucis is included – that many people will not be able to
recite more than a part of the Rosary, according to a certain weekly
pattern. This weekly distribution has the effect of giving the different
days of the week a certain spiritual “colour”, by analogy with the
way in which the Liturgy colours the different seasons of the liturgical
year. According
to current practice, Monday and Thursday are dedicated to the “joyful
mysteries”, Tuesday and Friday to the “sorrowful mysteries”, and
Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday to the “glorious mysteries”. Where
might the “mysteries of light” be inserted? If we consider that the
“glorious mysteries” are said on both Saturday and Sunday, and that
Saturday has always had a special Marian flavour, the second weekly
meditation on the “joyful mysteries”, mysteries in which Mary's
presence is especially pronounced, could be moved to Saturday. Thursday
would then be free for meditating on the “mysteries of light”. This
indication is not intended to limit a rightful freedom in personal and
community prayer, where account needs to be taken of spiritual and
pastoral needs and of the occurrence of particular liturgical
celebrations which might call for suitable adaptations. What is really
important is that the Rosary should always be seen and experienced as a
path of contemplation. In the Rosary, in a way similar to what takes
place in the Liturgy, the Christian week, centred on Sunday, the day of
Resurrection, becomes a journey through the mysteries of the life of
Christ, and he is revealed in the lives of his disciples as the Lord of
time and of history. CONCLUSION “Blessed
Rosary of Mary, sweet chain linking us to God” 39.
What has been said so far makes abundantly clear the richness of this
traditional prayer, which has the simplicity of a popular devotion but
also the theological depth of a prayer suited to those who feel the need
for deeper contemplation. The
Church has always attributed particular efficacy to this prayer,
entrusting to the Rosary, to its choral recitation and to its constant
practice, the most difficult problems. At times when Christianity itself
seemed under threat, its deliverance was attributed to the power of this
prayer, and Our Lady of the Rosary was acclaimed as the one whose
intercession brought salvation. Today
I willingly entrust to the power of this prayer – as I mentioned at
the beginning – the cause of peace in the world and the cause of the
family. Peace 40.
The grave challenges confronting the world at the start of this new
Millennium lead us to think that only an intervention from on high,
capable of guiding the hearts of those living in situations of conflict
and those governing the destinies of nations, can give reason to hope
for a brighter future. The Rosary is by its nature a prayer for peace,
since it consists in the contemplation of Christ, the Prince of Peace,
the one who is “our peace” (Eph
2:14). Anyone who assimilates the mystery of Christ – and this is
clearly the goal of the Rosary – learns the secret of peace and makes
it his life's project. Moreover, by virtue of its meditative character,
with the tranquil succession of Hail Marys, the Rosary has a peaceful effect on those who pray it,
disposing them to receive and experience in their innermost depths, and
to spread around them, that true peace which is the special gift of the
Risen Lord (cf. Jn 14:27;
20.21). The
Rosary is also a prayer for peace because of the fruits of charity which
it produces. When prayed well in a truly meditative way, the Rosary
leads to an encounter with Christ in his mysteries and so cannot fail to
draw attention to the face of Christ in others, especially in the most
afflicted. How could one possibly contemplate the mystery of the Child
of Bethlehem, in the joyful mysteries, without experiencing the desire
to welcome, defend and promote life, and to shoulder the burdens of
suffering children all over the world? How could one possibly follow in
the footsteps of Christ the Revealer, in the mysteries of light, without
resolving to bear witness to his “Beatitudes” in daily life? And how
could one contemplate Christ carrying the Cross and Christ Crucified,
without feeling the need to act as a “Simon of Cyrene” for our
brothers and sisters weighed down by grief or crushed by despair?
Finally, how could one possibly gaze upon the glory of the Risen Christ
or of Mary Queen of Heaven, without yearning to make this world more
beautiful, more just, more closely conformed to God's plan? In a word, by focusing our eyes on Christ, the Rosary also makes us peacemakers in the world. By its nature as an insistent choral petition in harmony with Christ's invitation to “pray ceaselessly” (Lk 18:1), the Rosary allows us to hope that, even today, the difficult “battle” for peace can be won. Far from offering an escape from the problems of the world, the Rosary obliges us to see them with responsible and generous eyes, and obtains for us the strength to face them with the certainty of God's help and the firm intention of bearing witness in every situation to “love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col 3:14).
41.
As a prayer for peace, the Rosary is also, and always has been, a
prayer of and for the family. At one time this prayer was
particularly dear to Christian families, and it certainly brought them
closer together. It is important not to lose this precious
inheritance. We need to return to the practice of family prayer and
prayer for families, continuing to use the Rosary. In
my Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte I encouraged the
celebration of the Liturgy of the
Hours by the lay faithful in the ordinary life of parish communities
and Christian groups;
I now wish to
do the same for the Rosary. These two paths of Christian contemplation
are not mutually exclusive; they complement one another. I would
therefore ask those who devote themselves to the pastoral care of
families to recommend heartily the recitation of the Rosary. The family that prays together stays together. The
Holy Rosary, by age-old tradition, has shown itself particularly
effective as a prayer which brings the family together. Individual
family members, in turning their eyes towards Jesus, also regain the
ability to look one another in the eye, to communicate, to show
solidarity, to forgive one another and to see their covenant of love
renewed in the Spirit of God. Many of the problems facing contemporary families, especially in economically developed societies, result from their increasing difficulty in communicating. Families seldom manage to come together, and the rare occasions when they do are often taken up with watching television. To return to the recitation of the family Rosary means filling daily life with very different images, images of the mystery of salvation: the image of the Redeemer, the image of his most Blessed Mother. The family that recites the Rosary together reproduces something of the atmosphere of the household of Nazareth: its members place Jesus at the centre, they share his joys and sorrows, they place their needs and their plans in his hands, they draw from him the hope and the strength to go on. ...and
children 42.
It is also beautiful and fruitful to entrust to this prayer the
growth and development of children. Does the Rosary not follow the
life of Christ, from his conception to his death, and then to his
Resurrection and his glory? Parents are finding it ever more difficult
to follow the lives of their children as they grow to maturity. In a
society of advanced technology, of mass communications and globalization,
everything has become hurried, and the cultural distance between
generations is growing ever greater. The most diverse messages and the
most unpredictable experiences rapidly make their way into the lives of
children and adolescents, and parents can become quite anxious about the
dangers their children face. At times parents suffer acute
disappointment at the failure of their children to resist the seductions
of the drug culture, the lure of an unbridled hedonism, the temptation
to violence, and the manifold expressions of meaninglessness and despair. To
pray the Rosary for children,
and even more, with children,
training them from their earliest years to experience this daily
“pause for prayer” with the family, is admittedly not the solution
to every problem, but it is a spiritual aid which should not be
underestimated. It could be objected that the Rosary seems hardly suited
to the taste of children and young people of today. But perhaps the
objection is directed to an impoverished method of praying it.
Furthermore, without prejudice to the Rosary's basic structure, there is
nothing to stop children and young people from praying it – either
within the family or in groups – with appropriate symbolic and
practical aids to understanding and appreciation. Why not try it? With
God's help, a pastoral approach to youth which is positive, impassioned
and creative – as shown by the World Youth Days! – is capable of
achieving quite remarkable results. If the Rosary is well presented, I
am sure that young people will once more surprise adults by the way they
make this prayer their own and recite it with the enthusiasm typical of
their age group. The
Rosary, a treasure to be rediscovered 43.
Dear brothers and sisters! A prayer so easy and yet so rich truly
deserves to be rediscovered by the Christian community. Let us do so,
especially this year, as a means of confirming the direction outlined in
my Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, from which the
pastoral plans of so many particular Churches have drawn inspiration as
they look to the immediate future. I
turn particularly to you, my dear Brother Bishops, priests and deacons,
and to you, pastoral agents in your different ministries: through your
own personal experience of the beauty of the Rosary, may you come to
promote it with conviction. I
also place my trust in you, theologians: by your sage and rigorous
reflection, rooted in the word of God and sensitive to the lived
experience of the Christian people, may you help them to discover the
Biblical foundations, the spiritual riches and the pastoral value of
this traditional prayer. I
count on you, consecrated men and women, called in a particular way to
contemplate the face of Christ at the school of Mary. I
look to all of you, brothers and sisters of every state of life, to you,
Christian families, to you, the sick and elderly, and to you, young
people: confidently take up the Rosary once again. Rediscover the Rosary in
the light of Scripture, in harmony with the Liturgy, and in the context
of your daily lives. May
this appeal of mine not go unheard! At the start of the twenty-fifth
year of my Pontificate, I entrust this Apostolic Letter to the loving
hands of the Virgin Mary, prostrating
myself in spirit before her image in the splendid Shrine built for her
by Blessed Bartolo Longo, the apostle of the Rosary. I willingly
make my own the touching words with which he concluded his well-known Supplication
to the Queen of the Holy Rosary: “O Blessed Rosary of Mary, sweet
chain which unites us to God, bond of love which unites us to the angels,
tower of salvation against the assaults of Hell, safe port in our
universal shipwreck, we will never abandon you. You will be our comfort
in the hour of death: yours our final kiss as life ebbs away. And the
last word from our lips will be your sweet name, O Queen of the Rosary
of Pompei, O dearest Mother, O Refuge of Sinners, O Sovereign Consoler
of the Afflicted. May you be everywhere blessed, today and always, on
earth and in heaven”. From the Vatican, on the 16th day of October in the year 2002, the
beginning of the twenty- fifth year of my Pontificate. JOHN PAUL II Next:
How to say the Rosary |
The
First Sorrowful Mystery:
The
family: parents...