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Introduction
1.
The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second
millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved
by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet
profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a
prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of
holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian
life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness
of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to “set
out into the deep” (duc in altum!) in order once more to
proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord
and Saviour, “the way, and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6),
“the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of
history and civilization turn”.1
The
Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a
Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be
said to be a compendium.2 It is an echo of the prayerof
Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive
Incarnation which began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the
Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to
contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the
depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant
grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer.
The
Popes and the Rosary
2.
Numerous predecessors of mine attributed great importance to this
prayer. Worthy of special note in this regard is Pope Leo XIII who on
1 September 1883 promulgated the Encyclical
Supremi
Apostolatus Officio,3 a document of great worth,
the first of his many statements about this prayer, in which he
proposed the Rosary as an effective spiritual weapon against the evils
afflicting society. Among the more recent Popes who, from the time of
the Second Vatican Council, have distinguished themselves in promoting
the Rosary I would mention Blessed John XXIII4 and above
all Pope Paul VI, who in his Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus
emphasized, in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, the Rosary's
evangelical character and its Christocentric inspiration. I myself
have often encouraged the frequent recitation of the Rosary. From my
youthful years this prayer has held an important place in my spiritual
life. I was powerfully reminded of this during my recent visit to
Poland, and in particular at the Shrine of Kalwaria. The Rosary has
accompanied me in moments of joy and in moments of difficulty. To it I
have entrusted any number of concerns; in it I have always found
comfort. Twenty-four years ago, on 29 October 1978, scarcely two weeks
after my election to the See of Peter, I frankly admitted: “The
Rosary is my favourite prayer. A marvellous prayer! Marvellous in its
simplicity and its depth. [...]. It can be said that the Rosary is, in
some sense, a prayer-commentary on the final chapter of the Vatican II
Constitution
Lumen
Gentium, a chapter which discusses the wondrous presence of
the Mother of God in the mystery of Christ and the Church. Against the
background of the words Ave Maria the principal events of the
life of Jesus Christ pass before the eyes of the soul. They take shape
in the complete series of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious
mysteries, and they put us in living communion with Jesus through
– we might say – the heart of his Mother. At the same time
our heart can embrace in the decades of the Rosary all the events that
make up the lives of individuals, families, nations, the Church, and
all mankind. Our personal concerns and those of our neighbour,
especially those who are closest to us, who are dearest to us. Thus
the simple prayer of the Rosary marks the rhythm of human life”.5
With
these words, dear brothers and sisters, I set the first year of my
Pontificate within the daily rhythm of the Rosary. Today, as I
begin the twenty-fifth year of my service as the Successor of Peter,
I wish to do the same. How many graces have I received in these years
from the Blessed Virgin through the Rosary: Magnificat anima mea
Dominum! I wish to lift up my thanks to the Lord in the words of
his Most Holy Mother, under whose protection I have placed my Petrine
ministry: Totus Tuus!
October
2002 – October 2003: The Year of the Rosary
3.
Therefore, in continuity with my reflection in the Apostolic Letter
Novo
Millennio Ineunte, in which, after the experience of the
Jubilee, I invited the people of God to “start afresh from
Christ”,6 I have felt drawn to offer a reflection on
the Rosary, as a kind of Marian complement to that Letter and an
exhortation to contemplate the face of Christ in union with, and at
the school of, his Most Holy Mother. To recite the Rosary is nothing
other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ. As a
way of highlighting this invitation, prompted by the forthcoming 120th
anniversary of the aforementioned Encyclical of Leo XIII, I desire
that during the course of this year the Rosary should be especially
emphasized and promoted in the various Christian communities. I
therefore proclaim the year from October 2002 to October 2003 the
Year of the Rosary.
I
leave this pastoral proposal to the initiative of each ecclesial
community. It is not my intention to encumber but rather to complete
and consolidate pastoral programmes of the Particular Churches. I am
confident that the proposal will find a ready and generous reception.
The Rosary, reclaimed in its full meaning, goes to the very heart of
Christian life; it offers a familiar yet fruitful spiritual and
educational opportunity for personal contemplation, the formation of
the People of God, and the new evangelization. I am pleased to
reaffirm this also in the joyful remembrance of another anniversary:
the fortieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council on October 11, 1962, the “great grace”
disposed by the Spirit of God for the Church in our time.7
Objections
to the Rosary
4.
The timeliness of this proposal is evident from a number of
considerations. First, the urgent need to counter a certain crisis of
the Rosary, which in the present historical and theological context
can risk being wrongly devalued, and therefore no longer taught to the
younger generation. There are some who think that the centrality of
the Liturgy, rightly stressed by the Second Vatican Ecumenical
Council, necessarily entails giving lesser importance to the Rosary.
Yet, as Pope Paul VI made clear, not only does this prayer not
conflict with the Liturgy, it sustains it, since it serves as
an excellent introduction and a faithful echo of the Liturgy, enabling
people to participate fully and interiorly in it and to reap its
fruits in their daily lives.
Perhaps
too, there are some who fear that the Rosary is somehow unecumenical
because of its distinctly Marian character. Yet the Rosary clearly
belongs to the kind of veneration of the Mother of God described by
the Council: a devotion directed to the Christological centre of the
Christian faith, in such a way that “when the Mother is
honoured, the Son ... is duly known, loved and glorified”.8
If properly revitalized, the Rosary is an aid and certainly not
a hindrance to ecumenism!
A
path of contemplation
5.
But the most important reason for strongly encouraging the practice of
the Rosary is that it represents a most effective means of fostering
among the faithful that commitment to the contemplation of the
Christian mystery which I have proposed in the Apostolic Letter
Novo
Millennio Ineunte as a genuine “training in
holiness”: “What is needed is a Christian life
distinguished above all in the art of prayer”.9 Inasmuch
as contemporary culture, even amid so many indications to the
contrary, has witnessed the flowering of a new call for spirituality,
due also to the influence of other religions, it is more urgent than
ever that our Christian communities should become “genuine
schools of prayer”.10
The
Rosary belongs among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of
Christian contemplation. Developed in the West, it is a typically
meditative prayer, corresponding in some way to the “prayer of
the heart” or “Jesus prayer” which took root in the
soil of the Christian East.
Prayer
for peace and for the family
6.
A number of historical circumstances also make a revival of the Rosary
quite timely. First of all, the need to implore from God the gift
of peace. The Rosary has many times been proposed by my
predecessors and myself as a prayer for peace. At the start of a
millennium which began with the terrifying attacks of 11 September
2001, a millennium which witnesses every day innumerous parts of the
world fresh scenes of bloodshed and violence, to rediscover the Rosary
means to immerse oneself in contemplation of the mystery of Christ who
“is our peace”, since he made “the two of us one,
and broke down the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph 2:14).
Consequently, one cannot recite the Rosary without feeling caught up
in a clear commitment to advancing peace, especially in the land of
Jesus, still so sorely afflicted and so close to the heart of every
Christian.
A
similar need for commitment and prayer arises in relation to another
critical contemporary issue: the family, the primary cell of
society, increasingly menaced by forces of disintegration on both the
ideological and practical planes, so as to make us fear for the future
of this fundamental and indispensable institution and, with it, for
the future of society as a whole. The revival of the Rosary in
Christian families, within the context of a broader pastoral ministry
to the family, will be an effective aid to countering the devastating
effects of this crisis typical of our age.
“Behold,
your Mother!” (Jn 19:27)
7.
Many signs indicate that still today the Blessed Virgin desires to
exercise through this same prayer that maternal concern to which the
dying Redeemer entrusted, in the person of the beloved disciple, all
the sons and daughters of the Church: “Woman, behold your
son!” (Jn19:26). Well-known are the occasions in the
nineteenth and the twentieth centuries on which the Mother of Christ
made her presence felt and her voice heard, in order to exhort the
People of God to this form of contemplative prayer. I would mention in
particular, on account of their great influence on the lives of
Christians and the authoritative recognition they have received from
the Church, the apparitions of Lourdes and of Fatima;11 these
shrines continue to be visited by great numbers of pilgrims seeking
comfort and hope.
Following
the witnesses
8.
It would be impossible to name all the many Saints who discovered in
the Rosary a genuine path to growth in holiness. We need but mention
Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, the author of an excellent
work on the Rosary,12 and, closer to ourselves, Padre Pio
of Pietrelcina, whom I recently had the joy of canonizing. As a true
apostle of the Rosary, Blessed Bartolo Longo had a special charism.
His path to holiness rested on an inspiration heard in the depths of
his heart: “Whoever spreads the Rosary is saved!”.13 As
a result, he felt called to build a Church dedicated to Our Lady of
the Holy Rosary in Pompei, against the background of the ruins of the
ancient city, which scarcely heard the proclamation of Christ before
being buried in 79 A.D. during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, only to
emerge centuries later from its ashes as a witness to the lights and
shadows of classical civilization. By his whole life's work and
especially by the practice of the “Fifteen Saturdays”,
Bartolo Longo promoted the Christocentric and contemplative heart of
the Rosary, and received great encouragement and support from Leo
XIII, the “Pope of the Rosary”.
Chapter
I
Contemplating
Christ With Mary
A
face radiant as the sun
9.
“And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like
the sun” (Mt 17:2). The Gospel scene of Christ's
transfiguration, in which the three Apostles Peter, James and John
appear entranced by the beauty of the Redeemer, can be seen as an
icon of Christian contemplation. To look upon the face of Christ,
to recognize its mystery amid the daily events and the sufferings of
his human life, and then to grasp the divine splendour definitively
revealed in the Risen Lord, seated in glory at the right hand of the
Father: this is the task of every follower of Christ and therefore the
task of each one of us. In contemplating Christ's face we become open
to receiving the mystery of Trinitarian life, experiencing ever anew
the love of the Father and delighting in the joy of the Holy Spirit.
Saint Paul's words can then be applied to us: “Beholding the
glory of the Lord, we are being changed into his likeness, from one
degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the
Spirit” (2Cor 3:18).
Mary,
model of contemplation
10.
The contemplation of Christ has an incomparable model in Mary.
In a unique way the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It was in her
womb that Christ was formed, receiving from her a human resemblance
which points to an even greater spiritual closeness. No one has ever
devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as
faithfully as Mary. The eyes of her heart already turned to him at the
Annunciation, when she conceived him by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In the months that followed she began to sense his presence and to
picture his features. When at last she gave birth to him in Bethlehem,
her eyes were able to gaze tenderly on the face of her Son, as she
“wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a
manger” (Lk2:7).
Thereafter
Mary's gaze, ever filled with adoration and wonder, would never leave
him. At times it would be a questioning look, as in the episode
of the finding in the Temple: “Son, why have you treated us
so?” (Lk 2:48); it would always be a penetrating gaze,
one capable of deeply understanding Jesus, even to the point of
perceiving his hidden feelings and anticipating his decisions, as at
Cana (cf. Jn 2:5). At other times it would be a look of
sorrow, especially beneath the Cross, where her vision would still
be that of a mother giving birth, for Mary not only shared the passion
and death of her Son, she also received the new son given to her in
the beloved disciple (cf. Jn 19:26-27). On the morning of
Easter hers would be a gaze radiant with the joy of the
Resurrection, and finally, on the day of Pentecost, a gaze
afire with the outpouring of the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).
Mary's
memories
11.
Mary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ, treasuring his every word:
“She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk
2:19; cf. 2:51). The memories of Jesus, impressed upon her heart, were
always with her, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her
life at her Son's side. In a way those memories were to be the
“rosary” which she recited uninterruptedly throughout her
earthly life.
Even
now, amid the joyful songs of the heavenly Jerusalem, the reasons for
her thanksgiving and praise remain unchanged. They inspire her
maternal concern for the pilgrim Church, in which she continues to
relate her personal account of the Gospel. Mary constantly sets
before the faithful the “mysteries” of her Son, with
the desire that the contemplation of those mysteries will release all
their saving power. In the recitation of the Rosary, the Christian
community enters into contact with the memories and the contemplative
gaze of Mary.
The
Rosary, a contemplative prayer
12.
The Rosary, precisely because it starts with Mary's own experience, is
an exquisitely contemplative prayer. Without this contemplative
dimension, it would lose its meaning, as Pope Paul VI clearly pointed
out: “Without contemplation, the Rosary is a body without a
soul, and its recitation runs the risk of becoming a mechanical
repetition of formulas, in violation of the admonition of Christ: 'In
praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they
think they will be heard for their many words' (Mt 6:7). By its
nature the recitation of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a
lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of
the Lord's life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the
Lord. In this way the unfathomable riches of these mysteries are
disclosed”.14
It
is worth pausing to consider this profound insight of Paul VI, in
order to bring out certain aspects of the Rosary which show that it is
really a form of Christocentric contemplation.
Remembering
Christ with Mary
13.
Mary's contemplation is above all a remembering. We need to
understand this word in the biblical sense of remembrance (zakar)
as a making present of the works brought about by God in the history
of salvation. The Bible is an account of saving events culminating in
Christ himself. These events not only belong to
“yesterday”; they are also part of the
“today” of salvation. This making present comes about
above all in the Liturgy: what God accomplished centuries ago did not
only affect the direct witnesses of those events; it continues to
affect people in every age with its gift of grace. To some extent this
is also true of every other devout approach to those events: to
“remember” them in a spirit of faith and love is to be
open to the grace which Christ won for us by the mysteries of his
life, death and resurrection.
Consequently,
while it must be reaffirmed with the Second Vatican Council that the
Liturgy, as the exercise of the priestly office of Christ and an act
of public worship, is “the summit to which the activity of the
Church is directed and the font from which all its power flows”,15
it is also necessary to recall that the spiritual life “is
not limited solely to participation in the liturgy. Christians, while
they are called to prayer in common, must also go to their own rooms
to pray to their Father in secret (cf. Mt 6:6); indeed,
according to the teaching of the Apostle, they must pray without
ceasing (cf.1Thes 5:17)”.16 The Rosary, in its
own particular way, is part of this varied panorama of
“ceaseless” prayer. If the Liturgy, as the activity of
Christ and the Church, is a saving action par excellence, the
Rosary too, as a “meditation” with Mary on Christ, is a
salutary contemplation. By immersing us in the mysteries of the
Redeemer's life, it ensures that what he has done and what the liturgy
makes present is profoundly assimilated and shapes our existence.
Learning
Christ from Mary
14.
Christ is the supreme Teacher, the revealer and the one revealed. It
is not just a question of learning what he taught but of “learning
him”. In this regard could we have any better teacher than
Mary? From the divine standpoint, the Spirit is the interior teacher
who leads us to the full truth of Christ (cf. Jn 14:26; 15:26;
16:13). But among creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary; no
one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better
than his Mother.
The
first of the “signs” worked by Jesus – the changing
of water into wine at the marriage in Cana – clearly presents
Mary in the guise of a teacher, as she urges the servants to do what
Jesus commands (cf. Jn 2:5). We can imagine that she would have
done likewise for the disciples after Jesus' Ascension, when she
joined them in awaiting the Holy Spirit and supported them in their
first mission. Contemplating the scenes of the Rosary in union with
Mary is a means of learning from her to “read” Christ, to
discover his secrets and to understand his message.
This
school of Mary is all the more effective if we consider that she
teaches by obtaining for us in abundance the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
even as she offers us the incomparable example of her own
“pilgrimage of faith”.17 As we contemplate each
mystery of her Son's life, she invites us to do as she did at the
Annunciation: to ask humbly the questions which open us to the light,
in order to end with the obedience of faith: “Behold I am the
handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word” (Lk
1:38).
Being
conformed to Christ with Mary
15.
Christian spirituality is distinguished by the disciple's commitment
to become conformed ever more fully to his Master (cf. Rom 8:29;
Phil 3:10,12). The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Baptism
grafts the believer like a branch onto the vine which is Christ (cf. Jn
15:5) and makes him a member of Christ's mystical Body (cf.1Cor
12:12; Rom 12:5). This initial unity, however, calls for a
growing assimilation which will increasingly shape the conduct of the
disciple in accordance with the “mind” of Christ:
“Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ
Jesus” (Phil 2:5). In the words of the Apostle, we are
called “to put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (cf. Rom 13:14;
Gal 3:27).
In
the spiritual journey of the Rosary, based on the constant
contemplation – in Mary's company – of the face of Christ,
this demanding ideal of being conformed to him is pursued through an
association which could be described in terms of friendship. We are
thereby enabled to enter naturally into Christ's life and as it were
to share his deepest feelings. In this regard Blessed Bartolo Longo
has written: “Just as two friends, frequently in each other's
company, tend to develop similar habits, so too, by holding familiar
converse with Jesus and the Blessed Virgin, by meditating on the
mysteries of the Rosary and by living the same life in Holy Communion,
we can become, to the extent of our lowliness, similar to them and can
learn from these supreme models a life of humility, poverty,
hiddenness, patience and perfection”.18
In
this process of being conformed to Christ in the Rosary, we entrust
ourselves in a special way to the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin.
She who is both the Mother of Christ and a member of the Church,
indeed her “pre-eminent and altogether singular member”,19
is at the same time the “Mother of the Church”. As
such, she continually brings to birth children for the mystical Body
of her Son. She does so through her intercession, imploring upon them
the inexhaustible outpouring of the Spirit. Mary is the perfect
icon of the motherhood of the Church.
The
Rosary mystically transports us to Mary's side as she is busy watching
over the human growth of Christ in the home of Nazareth. This enables
her to train us and to mold us with the same care, until Christ is
“fully formed” in us (cf. Gal 4:19). This role of
Mary, totally grounded in that of Christ and radically subordinated to
it, “in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of
Christ, but rather shows its power”.20 This is the
luminous principle expressed by the Second Vatican Council which I
have so powerfully experienced in my own life and have made the basis
of my episcopal motto: Totus Tuus.21 The motto is of
course inspired by the teaching of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de
Montfort, who explained in the following words Mary's role in the
process of our configuration to Christ: “Our entire
perfection consists in being conformed, united and consecrated to
Jesus Christ. Hence the most perfect of all devotions is
undoubtedly that which conforms, unites and consecrates us most
perfectly to Jesus Christ. Now, since Mary is of all creatures the one
most conformed to Jesus Christ, it follows that among all devotions
that which most consecrates and conforms a soul to our Lord is
devotion to Mary, his Holy Mother, and that the more a soul is
consecrated to her the more will it be consecrated to Jesus
Christ”.22 Never as in the Rosary do the life of
Jesus and that of Mary appear so deeply joined. Mary lives only in
Christ and for Christ!
Praying
to Christ with Mary
16.
Jesus invited us to turn to God with insistence and the confidence
that we will be heard: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek,
and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Mt
7:7). The basis for this power of prayer is the goodness of the
Father, but also the mediation of Christ himself (cf. 1Jn 2:1)
and the working of the Holy Spirit who “intercedes for us”
according to the will of God (cf. Rom 8:26-27). For “we
do not know how to pray as we ought” (Rom 8:26), and at
times we are not heard “because we ask wrongly” (cf. Jas
4:2-3).
In
support of the prayer which Christ and the Spirit cause to rise in our
hearts, Mary intervenes with her maternal intercession. “The
prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary”.23
If Jesus, the one Mediator, is the Way of our prayer, then Mary,
his purest and most transparent reflection, shows us the Way.
“Beginning with Mary's unique cooperation with the working of
the Holy Spirit, the Churches developed their prayer to the Holy
Mother of God, centering it on the person of Christ manifested in his
mysteries”.24 At the wedding of Cana the Gospel
clearly shows the power of Mary's intercession as she makes known to
Jesus the needs of others: “They have no wine” (Jn
2:3).
The
Rosary is both meditation and supplication. Insistent prayer to the
Mother of God is based on confidence that her maternal intercession
can obtain all things from the heart of her Son. She is
“all-powerful by grace”, to use the bold expression, which
needs to be properly understood, of Blessed Bartolo Longo in his
Supplication to Our Lady.25 This is a conviction which,
beginning with the Gospel, has grown ever more firm in the experience
of the Christian people. The supreme poet Dante expresses it
marvellously in the lines sung by Saint Bernard: “Lady, thou art
so great and so powerful, that whoever desires grace yet does not turn
to thee, would have his desire fly without wings”.26 When
in the Rosary we plead with Mary, the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit
(cf. Lk 1:35), she intercedes for us before the Father who
filled her with grace and before the Son born of her womb, praying
with us and for us.
Proclaiming
Christ with Mary
17.
The Rosary is also a path of proclamation and increasing knowledge,
in which the mystery of Christ is presented again and again at
different levels of the Christian experience. Its form is that of a
prayerful and contemplative presentation, capable of forming
Christians according to the heart of Christ. When the recitation of
the Rosary combines all the elements needed for an effective
meditation, especially in its communal celebration in parishes and
shrines, it can present a significant catechetical opportunity which
pastors should use to advantage. In this way too Our Lady of the
Rosary continues her work of proclaiming Christ. The history of the
Rosary shows how this prayer was used in particular by the Dominicans
at a difficult time for the Church due to the spread of heresy. Today
we are facing new challenges. Why should we not once more have
recourse to the Rosary, with the same faith as those who have gone
before us? The Rosary retains all its power and continues to be a
valuable pastoral resource for every good evangelizer.
Chapter
II
Mysteries
of Christ –
Mysteries of His Mother
The
Rosary, “a compendium of the Gospel”
18.
The only way to approach the contemplation of Christ's face is by
listening in the Spirit to the Father's voice, since “no one
knows the Son except the Father” (Mt 11:27). In the
region of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus responded to Peter's confession of
faith by indicating the source of that clear intuition of his
identity: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my
Father who is in heaven” (Mt 16:17). What is needed,
then, is a revelation from above. In order to receive that revelation,
attentive listening is indispensable: “Only the experience of
silence and prayer offers the proper setting for the growth and
development of a true, faithful and consistent knowledge of that
mystery”.27
The
Rosary is one of the traditional paths of Christian prayer directed to
the contemplation of Christ's face. Pope Paul VI described it in these
words: “As a Gospel prayer, centred on the mystery of the
redemptive Incarnation, the Rosary is a prayer with a clearly
Christological orientation. Its most characteristic element, in fact,
the litany- like succession of Hail Marys, becomes in itself an
unceasing praise of Christ, who is the ultimate object both of the
Angel's announcement and of the greeting of the Mother of John the
Baptist: 'Blessed is the fruit of your womb' (Lk 1:42). We
would go further and say that the succession of Hail Marys constitutes
the warp on which is woven the contemplation of the mysteries. The
Jesus that each Hail Mary recalls is the same Jesus whom the
succession of mysteries proposes to us now as the Son of God, now as
the Son of the Virgin”.28
A
proposed addition to the traditional pattern
19.
Of the many mysteries of Christ's life, only a few are indicated by
the Rosary in the form that has become generally established with the
seal of the Church's approval. The selection was determined by the
origin of the prayer, which was based on the number 150, the number of
the Psalms in the Psalter.
I
believe, however, that to bring out fully the Christological depth of
the Rosary it would be suitable to make an addition to the traditional
pattern which, while left to the freedom of individuals and
communities, could broaden it to include the mysteries of Christ's
public ministry between his Baptism and his Passion. In the course
of those mysteries we contemplate important aspects of the person of
Christ as the definitive revelation of God. Declared the beloved Son
of the Father at the Baptism in the Jordan, Christ is the one who
announces the coming of the Kingdom, bears witness to it in his works
and proclaims its demands. It is during the years of his public
ministry that the mystery of Christ is most evidently a mystery of
light: “While I am in the world, I am the light of the
world” (Jn 9:5).
Consequently,
for the Rosary to become more fully a “compendium of the
Gospel”, it is fitting to add, following reflection on the
Incarnation and the hidden life of Christ (the joyful mysteries)
and before focusing on the sufferings of his Passion (the sorrowful
mysteries) and the triumph of his Resurrection (the glorious
mysteries), a meditation on certain particularly significant
moments in his public ministry (the mysteries of light). This
addition of these new mysteries, without prejudice to any essential
aspect of the prayer's traditional format, is meant to give it fresh
life and to enkindle renewed interest in the Rosary's place within
Christian spirituality as a true doorway to the depths of the Heart of
Christ, ocean of joy and of light, of suffering and of glory.
The
Joyful Mysteries
20.
The first five decades, the “joyful mysteries”, are marked
by the joy radiating from the event of the Incarnation. This is
clear from the very first mystery, the Annunciation, where Gabriel's
greeting to the Virgin of Nazareth is linked to an invitation to
messianic joy: “Rejoice, Mary”. The whole of salvation
history, in some sense the entire history of the world, has led up to
this greeting. If it is the Father's plan to unite all things in
Christ (cf. Eph 1:10), then the whole of the universe is in
some way touched by the divine favour with which the Father looks upon
Mary and makes her the Mother of his Son. The whole of humanity, in
turn, is embraced by the fiat with which she readily agrees to
the will of God.
Exultation
is the keynote of the encounter with Elizabeth, where the sound of
Mary's voice and the presence of Christ in her womb cause John to
“leap for joy” (cf. Lk 1:44). Gladness also fills
the scene in Bethlehem, when the birth of the divine Child, the
Saviour of the world, is announced by the song of the angels and
proclaimed to the shepherds as “news of great joy” (Lk
2:10).
The
final two mysteries, while preserving this climate of joy, already
point to the drama yet to come. The Presentation in the Temple not
only expresses the joy of the Child's consecration and the ecstasy of
the aged Simeon; it also records the prophecy that Christ will be a
“sign of contradiction” for Israel and that a sword will
pierce his mother's heart (cf Lk 2:34-35). Joy mixed with drama
marks the fifth mystery, the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in
the Temple. Here he appears in his divine wisdom as he listens and
raises questions, already in effect one who “teaches”. The
revelation of his mystery as the Son wholly dedicated to his Father's
affairs proclaims the radical nature of the Gospel, in which even the
closest of human relationships are challenged by the absolute demands
of the Kingdom. Mary and Joseph, fearful and anxious, “did not
understand” his words (Lk 2:50).
To
meditate upon the “joyful” mysteries, then, is to enter
into the ultimate causes and the deepest meaning of Christian joy. It
is to focus on the realism of the mystery of the Incarnation and on
the obscure foreshadowing of the mystery of the saving Passion. Mary
leads us to discover the secret of Christian joy, reminding us that
Christianity is, first and foremost, euangelion, “good
news”, which has as its heart and its whole content the person
of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the one Saviour of the world.
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!”29 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”.31
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”.32 The
Rosary helps to open up the way to this light. Following in the path
of Christ, in whom man's path is “recapitulated”,33 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”34 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.35 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”.36The
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.37 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”.38
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 Thursday 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).
The
family: parents...
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;39 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
-------
1
Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World
Gaudium et Spes, 45.
2
Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus (2
February 1974), 42: AAS 66 (1974), 153.
3
Cf. Acta Leonis XIII, 3 (1884), 280-289.
4
Particularly
worthy of note is his Apostolic Epistle on the Rosary Il religioso
convegno (29 September 1961): AAS 53 (1961), 641-647.
5
Angelus: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, I (1978):
75-76.
6
AAS 93 (2001), 285.
7
During the years of preparation for the Council, Pope John XXIII
did not fail to encourage the Christian community to recite the Rosary
for the success of this ecclesial event: cf. Letter to the Cardinal
Vicar (28 September 1960): AAS 52 (1960), 814-816.
8
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 66.
9
No. 32: AAS 93 (2001), 288.
10
Ibid., 33: loc. cit., 289.
11
It is well-known and bears repeating that private revelations are not
the same as public revelation, which is binding on the whole Church.
It is the task of the Magisterium to discern and recognize the
authenticity and value of private revelations for the piety of the
faithful.
12
The Secret of the Rosary.
13
Blessed Bartolo Longo, Storia del Santuario di Pompei,
Pompei, 1990, 59.
14
Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus (2 February 1974),
47: AAS (1974), 156.
15
Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium,
10.
16
Ibid., 12.
17
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church Lumen Gentium, 58.
18
I Quindici Sabati del Santissimo Rosario, 27th ed.,
Pompei, 1916, 27.
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