The Rosary

From Lou Mazzucca:

Anyone who knows six easy prayers can pray a Rosary. You do not have to be a Catholic!

The Rosary is a meditation on the Scriptures. Our Lady asks members of all faiths to pray it. True devotees of the Rosary find that praying to Mary brings them closer to Jesus. When Catholics pray to Mary (or, more accurately, through her), we are asking her to ask her Son for us. It is a matter of Mary taking our place before Christ.

When the Rosary is well said, it gives Jesus and Mary more glory and is more meritorious for the soul than any other prayer. But it is also the hardest prayer to say well and to persevere in, owing especially to the distractions which almost inevitably attend the constant repetition of the same words.

Being human, we easily become tired and slipshod, but the devil, who never tires of trying to distract us and keep us from praying, makes these difficulties worse when we are saying the Rosary. There is more merit in praying when it is hard than when it is easy.

You can't complete a rosary without involuntary distractions. It is even difficult to finish one Hail Mary without your imagination rushing to bring something to your attention. The rosary's repetition of the same prayer makes the avoidance of distraction particularly difficult. Keep on to the end even if your whole rosary is filled with "extravagant thoughts" that you did your best to chase away. Your prayer will be all the more meritorious.

Before making the Sign of the Cross to start the rosary, say a prayer to the Holy Spirit that you may recite the rosary well and put yourself in the presence of God. Before beginning the decade, pause a moment to consider the mystery you are celebrating in the decade; and ask for one of the virtues which shines out in the mystery or the virtue of which you have most need.

The Rosary is the embodiment of the important events in the lives of Jesus and Mary. Their love for us did not end when they went to heaven, and this prayer is a constant reminder of their love.

The Rosary, is a simple prayer. It's a prayer we can all say together with her, the Mother of God. With the Hail Mary, we invite Her to pray for us. Our Lady always hears our request. She joins Her prayer to ours. Therefore it becomes ever more useful, because Jesus can never say no to His Mother. In every apparition, the heavenly Mother has invited us to pray the Rosary as a powerful weapon against evil, to bring us to true peace.

The Rosary is made up of both mental and Vocal prayer. In the Holy Rosary mental prayer is none other than meditation of the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and of His Blessed Mother. While the Vocal prayer consists in saying twenty decades of the Hail Mary, each decade headed by an Our Father, while at the same time meditating and contemplating the fifteen principal virtues which Jesus and Mary Practiced in the twenty mysteries of the Holy Rosary.

The idea of the rosary is to "keep Jesus and Mary company" as we meditate on their lives. The Rosary said without meditating on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would be almost like a body without a soul: excellent matter but without the form which is meditation--this latter being that which sets it apart from all other devotions.

The first part of the Rosary contains five Joyful mysteries: the first is the Annunciation of the Archangel Saint Gabriel to Our Lady; the second, the Visitation of Our Lady to her cousin Saint Elizabeth; the third, the Nativity of Jesus Christ; the fourth, the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the temple and the Purification of Our Lady; and the fifth, the Finding of Jesus in the Temple among the doctors.

These are called the JOYFUL MYSTERIES because of the joy which they gave to the whole universe. Our Lady and the angels were overwhelmed with joy the moment when the Son of God was incarnate. Saint Elizabeth and Saint John the Baptist were filled with joy by the visit of Jesus and Mary. Heaven and earth rejoiced at the birth of Our Savior. Holy Simeon felt great consolation and was filled with joy when he took the Holy Child in his arms. The doctors were lost in admiration and wonderment at the answers which Jesus gave -- and how could anyone describe the joy of Mary and Joseph when they found the Child Jesus after He had been lost for three days?

The LUMINOUS MYSTERIES include the mysteries of Christ's public ministry between his Baptism and his Passion. The Baptism in the Jordan is first... 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.

Christ changes water into wine and opens the hearts of the disciples to faith, thanks to the intervention of Mary, the first among believers.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

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. ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

The third part of the Rosary is also composed of five mysteries which are called the SORROWFUL MYSTERIES because they show us Our Lord weighed down with sadness, covered with wounds, laden with insults, sufferings and torments. The first of these mysteries is Jesus' Prayer and Agony in the Garden of Olives; the second, His Scourging; the third, His Crowning with Thorns; the fourth, Jesus carrying His Cross; and the fifth, His Crucifixion and Death on Mount Calvary.

The fourth part of the Rosary contains five other mysteries which are called the GLORIOUS MYSTERIES when we say them we meditate on Jesus and Mary in their triumph and glory. The first is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ; the second, His Ascension into heaven; the third, the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles; the fourth, Our Lady's glorious Assumption into heaven; and the fifth, her Crowning in Heaven.

These are the twenty fragrant flowers of the Mystical Rose Tree; devout souls fly to them like wise bees, so as to gather their nectar and make the honey of a solid devotion.

The daily Rosary has so many enemies that the grace of persevering in it until death is one of the greatest favours God can give us. If we persevere in it, our fidelity will be rewarded with the wonderful crown which is prepared for us in heaven. If we are faithful until death, God will give us the "crown of life."

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