The word Rosary means “Crown of Roses,” and each prayer in the Rosary
is considered a flower presented to Mary. It is called the “Breviary of
the common people” and the “Psalms of the Illiterate.” The prayers we
repeat are Biblical and hence “inspired,” and the mysteries we meditate
upon are taken from the lives of Jesus and Mary. The prayer “Our
Father” was taught by Jesus himself. The “Hail Mary” is also rooted in
the Scriptures. Its first half echoes the words of the Archangel Gabriel
and those of Elizabeth, both addressed to Mary. The third prayer — the
“Glory be to the Father” — ancient in its wording, surely reflects the
unceasing prayer of adoration and praise found in the Book of
Revelation. The various events in the lives of Jesus and Mary on which
we meditate during the Rosary are expressions of the Paschal Mystery,
that is, the suffering, death and Resurrection of Jesus, in which Mary
shared.
How to pray the Rosary: The ideal is to recite at least five decades of the rosary (and if possible, the entire twenty), with one’s whole family daily. We need to say the Rosary slowly enough to make its recitation devout and reverent. We are to reflect for a minute or two on the mystery, and then concentrate on the meaning of the prayers as we say them, to avoid distractions. Besides saying the rosary with others in the family before bedtime, let us make it a habit of reciting the rosary during our journey to the workplace and during our exercises.
The feast in memorial of a rosary miracle: The first major Rosary miracle, and one of the most impressive, is the one that occurred at the Battle of Lepanto. This historic battle took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of southern European Catholic maritime states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire in five hours of fighting at Lepanto, on the northern edge of the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece. The defeat was attributed to the effect rosaries recited by the soldiers and their respective countrymen for the sole purpose of preventing the Muslim army invading Europe and destroying Christianity as they did in the Byzantine Empire. The Turks had nearly three times more troops. The winds were against the Christians and the conditions were poor. But after the rosary recitals by the soldiers ended, the winds aided the Christians who gained a colossal victory against the Turks. This was one of the greatest naval upsets in history from which the Turks never fully recovered and their threat in the Mediterranean Sea ended. Following this victory, Pope Pius V established the Feast of Our Lady of Victories on October 7th. The name was later changed to its present form – the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The purpose was to thank God for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto—a victory attributed to the praying of the rosary. Pope Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church in 1716 and it is celebrated on the 7th of October, observing October as the month of the rosary.
Importance: The word Rosary means “crown of roses” or “garland of roses” in medieval Latin, and each prayer in the Rosary is considered a flower presented to Mary. In the opening pages of his spiritual classic, The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis Marie de Montfort describes the Rosary as “a veritable school of Christian life” because of its beauty, power and value. It is a humble, a practical and a powerful means of contemplation, and a great source of blessing for those who pray and for the whole world. It is called the “Breviary of the common people” and the “Psalms of the Illiterate.” The prayers we repeat are Biblical and, hence, “inspired,” and the mysteries we meditate upon are taken from the lives of Jesus and Mary. As we are saying the Rosary, we are, in fact, in contact with two of the most basic prayers in our Christian tradition: the Lord’s Prayer (the Our Father), and the Angelic Salutation (the Hail Mary). The first is fully rooted in the Scriptures, taught by Jesus Himself. The second is largely rooted in the Scriptures, its first half echoing the words of the Archangel Gabriel and of Elizabeth as each addressed Mary. The third prayer — the “Glory be to the Father” — ancient in its wording — surely reflects the unceasing prayer of adoration and praise found in the Book of Revelation.
The Rosary is described as a compendium of the life of Jesus and Mary and a summary of the liturgical year. During the recitation of the Rosary, we meditate on the saving mysteries of our Lord’s life and the faithful witness of our Blessed Mother. Journeying through the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries of the Rosary, we bring to mind our Lord’s Incarnation, His public ministry, His passion and death, and His Resurrection from the dead. The various events in the lives of Jesus and Mary on which we meditate during the Rosary are expressions of the one basic and foundational mystery of the Christian faith: the Paschal Mystery, that is, the suffering, death and Resurrection of Jesus in which Mary shared. Hence, by praying the Rosary, we come to live out the Paschal Mystery in our lives, thereby becoming authentic disciples of Jesus, people who really follow in his footsteps, dying with him so as to rise with him. We also ask for the prayers of our Blessed Mother, the exemplar of faith, who leads all believers to her Son. Hence, we as modern-day Catholic Christians need to pray the Rosary and live the Rosary.
What about repetitions of Hail Marys? Is it not this the kind of repetitious prayer Jesus condemned—a superficial, mechanical way of praying to God, characteristic of pagans -while true prayer is talking to God and listening to Him? The answer is no. Jesus taught a prayer: “Our Father,” and he intended that we repeat it. In the garden of Gethsemane, he said the same prayer three times (Matt. 26:44). In the Old Testament, parts of Psalm 118 are structured around the repeated phrase “His steadfast love endures forever,” and the book of Daniel presents the three men in the fiery furnace constantly repeating the phrase “Sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever” (Dan. 3:52–88). In the New Testament, the book of Revelation describes how the very worship of God in heaven includes words of holy praise that are repeated without end. The four living creatures, gathered around God’s throne, “never cease to sing, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’” (Rev. 4:8). Although trying to manipulate God by vain repetition is always wrong, proper repetitious prayer is very Biblical and pleasing to God.
How to pray the Rosary: The ideal is to have the whole family recite at least five decades of the Rosary daily. We need to say the Rosary slowly enough to make its recitation devout and reverent. We are to reflect for a minute on the mystery and then concentrate on the meaning of the prayers as we say them to avoid distractions. Besides saying the Rosary with others in the family before bedtime, let us make a habit of reciting the Rosary during our journey to the workplace and during our exercises. If we do so, we shall experience for ourselves the truth of these words: “Meditating on the mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.
Credits : Father Tony Kadavil, Mobile, Alabama
How to pray the Rosary: The ideal is to recite at least five decades of the rosary (and if possible, the entire twenty), with one’s whole family daily. We need to say the Rosary slowly enough to make its recitation devout and reverent. We are to reflect for a minute or two on the mystery, and then concentrate on the meaning of the prayers as we say them, to avoid distractions. Besides saying the rosary with others in the family before bedtime, let us make it a habit of reciting the rosary during our journey to the workplace and during our exercises.
The feast in memorial of a rosary miracle: The first major Rosary miracle, and one of the most impressive, is the one that occurred at the Battle of Lepanto. This historic battle took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of southern European Catholic maritime states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire in five hours of fighting at Lepanto, on the northern edge of the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece. The defeat was attributed to the effect rosaries recited by the soldiers and their respective countrymen for the sole purpose of preventing the Muslim army invading Europe and destroying Christianity as they did in the Byzantine Empire. The Turks had nearly three times more troops. The winds were against the Christians and the conditions were poor. But after the rosary recitals by the soldiers ended, the winds aided the Christians who gained a colossal victory against the Turks. This was one of the greatest naval upsets in history from which the Turks never fully recovered and their threat in the Mediterranean Sea ended. Following this victory, Pope Pius V established the Feast of Our Lady of Victories on October 7th. The name was later changed to its present form – the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The purpose was to thank God for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto—a victory attributed to the praying of the rosary. Pope Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church in 1716 and it is celebrated on the 7th of October, observing October as the month of the rosary.
Importance: The word Rosary means “crown of roses” or “garland of roses” in medieval Latin, and each prayer in the Rosary is considered a flower presented to Mary. In the opening pages of his spiritual classic, The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis Marie de Montfort describes the Rosary as “a veritable school of Christian life” because of its beauty, power and value. It is a humble, a practical and a powerful means of contemplation, and a great source of blessing for those who pray and for the whole world. It is called the “Breviary of the common people” and the “Psalms of the Illiterate.” The prayers we repeat are Biblical and, hence, “inspired,” and the mysteries we meditate upon are taken from the lives of Jesus and Mary. As we are saying the Rosary, we are, in fact, in contact with two of the most basic prayers in our Christian tradition: the Lord’s Prayer (the Our Father), and the Angelic Salutation (the Hail Mary). The first is fully rooted in the Scriptures, taught by Jesus Himself. The second is largely rooted in the Scriptures, its first half echoing the words of the Archangel Gabriel and of Elizabeth as each addressed Mary. The third prayer — the “Glory be to the Father” — ancient in its wording — surely reflects the unceasing prayer of adoration and praise found in the Book of Revelation.
The Rosary is described as a compendium of the life of Jesus and Mary and a summary of the liturgical year. During the recitation of the Rosary, we meditate on the saving mysteries of our Lord’s life and the faithful witness of our Blessed Mother. Journeying through the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries of the Rosary, we bring to mind our Lord’s Incarnation, His public ministry, His passion and death, and His Resurrection from the dead. The various events in the lives of Jesus and Mary on which we meditate during the Rosary are expressions of the one basic and foundational mystery of the Christian faith: the Paschal Mystery, that is, the suffering, death and Resurrection of Jesus in which Mary shared. Hence, by praying the Rosary, we come to live out the Paschal Mystery in our lives, thereby becoming authentic disciples of Jesus, people who really follow in his footsteps, dying with him so as to rise with him. We also ask for the prayers of our Blessed Mother, the exemplar of faith, who leads all believers to her Son. Hence, we as modern-day Catholic Christians need to pray the Rosary and live the Rosary.
What about repetitions of Hail Marys? Is it not this the kind of repetitious prayer Jesus condemned—a superficial, mechanical way of praying to God, characteristic of pagans -while true prayer is talking to God and listening to Him? The answer is no. Jesus taught a prayer: “Our Father,” and he intended that we repeat it. In the garden of Gethsemane, he said the same prayer three times (Matt. 26:44). In the Old Testament, parts of Psalm 118 are structured around the repeated phrase “His steadfast love endures forever,” and the book of Daniel presents the three men in the fiery furnace constantly repeating the phrase “Sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever” (Dan. 3:52–88). In the New Testament, the book of Revelation describes how the very worship of God in heaven includes words of holy praise that are repeated without end. The four living creatures, gathered around God’s throne, “never cease to sing, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’” (Rev. 4:8). Although trying to manipulate God by vain repetition is always wrong, proper repetitious prayer is very Biblical and pleasing to God.
How to pray the Rosary: The ideal is to have the whole family recite at least five decades of the Rosary daily. We need to say the Rosary slowly enough to make its recitation devout and reverent. We are to reflect for a minute on the mystery and then concentrate on the meaning of the prayers as we say them to avoid distractions. Besides saying the Rosary with others in the family before bedtime, let us make a habit of reciting the Rosary during our journey to the workplace and during our exercises. If we do so, we shall experience for ourselves the truth of these words: “Meditating on the mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.
Credits : Father Tony Kadavil, Mobile, Alabama
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