| A Commentary on the Rosary Stratford Caldecott |
|
Introduction The Most
Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary is perhaps the most
widely-disseminated and popular devotion among Catholics outside of the
Liturgy of the The Rosary
is associated with Mary, but it is almost entirely focused on the life of
her Son. Mary simply serves
here as our "initiator" into the mysteries of Christ. In other
words, the Rosary contains the Mother of God’s own meditations on the
Incarnation. And
he went down with them and came to The majority
of the beads on the Rosary represent a short prayer called the “Hail
Mary”. The first words of this prayer are those that were spoken by the
Angel when he appeared to her before the conception of Christ. Every time
we repeat the words of this prayer we are trying to approach Jesus through
Mary. Hail
Mary, full of grace, the Lord
is with thee. Blessed
art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death. The Rosary
is also a "metaphysical" prayer. Mary is like the primordial
waters lying open before the life-giving action of God at the beginning of
the world. By praying we are
trying to become like her, receptive to the will of God.
Mary’s fiat ("Let
it be to me according to your word") echoes God’s fiat
("Let there be light") in the very beginning of creation,
and her Son’s fiat ("Let
not my will but thine be done") in the By scrolling down the screen you will find more
detailed instructions and commentary, but you may prefer a simpler
introduction, with pictures to help you pray.
Here is one that you might try: http://www.rosary-center.org/howto.htm. The Structure of the Mysteries The one
hundred and fifty Hail Marys of the traditional Rosary are sometimes
preceded by three which represent Faith, Hope and Charity. But the most
obvious and important structural principle of the Rosary lies in the order
of mysteries which are assigned to be contemplated during each
"decade" or sequence of ten Hail Marys, and which are listed
lower down. Of course, a
"mystery" here does not mean something that is deliberately
being kept obscure. It is not something irrational or something secretive.
It is, however, something that our human intelligence cannot fully
understand, or get to the bottom of. It may consequently in a sense be
"hidden" (though not intentionally) from those who insist on
grasping everything quickly and superficially. The greatest practical difficulty that many people encounter in the devotion lies in the attempt to pray verbally at the same time as gazing interiorly upon the mysteries evoked through an image – a tableau or icon - in the imagination. To do so requires a mental discipline that brings the mind into closer alignment with the pattern of Mary’s thoughts as she treasures these memories of her Son and "ponders them in her heart". The five
Joyful, five Sorrowful and five Glorious mysteries describe the life of
human childhood, the adult life and the supernatural life. Taken as
applying to the individual soul they describe, first, the life of the soul
as it opens itself to grace, second as it struggles to follow Christ, and
finally as it experiences the transformation wrought by grace. In his
Apostolic Letter published in October 2002 (Rosarium
Virginis Mariae), Pope John Paul II introduced a further set of five
"Luminous" mysteries to be prayed between the Joyful and the
Sorrowful. These pertain to Christ’s public ministry between his Baptism
and his Passion (his Baptism in the It
may seem strange that a Pope so traditionally-minded, especially in
matters of Marian devotion, should be willing to innovate in such a
drastic manner. The
Trinitarian structure of the Rosary had been well established since at
least the fifteenth century. The Rosary seems to have begun as a way of
praying the 150 Psalms in three groups of 50 – a kind of lay breviary.
Partly for convenience, the Psalms were later replaced with Hail Marys in
five sets of ten beads at a time, each set of 50 linked to one of the
three Mysteries. But by adding
another set of 50, John Paul II had taken the total to 200, a number
without particular significance in the tradition.
I do not believe he would have done so without direct inspiration
or authorization from heaven. So
what was the meaning of the change? To begin
with, the four sets of mysteries may be compared to the Cross, with its
four arms. If we stand at the base of the Cross, we are present with Mary
the Mother of God. Thus we
begin our meditation by thinking of the Joyful Mysteries, recalling the
Incarnation. Then we look up. Above
the head of Jesus is the plaque affixed by the order of Pilate, bearing
the message: "Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews".
The two horizontal arms of the Cross linked by this proclamation
therefore represent the Kingship of Jesus.
One arm points towards the good thief who recognized him as King
and the other to the unrepentant, who did not.
The two arms also represent the Kingship as lived (the Sorrowful
Mysteries, for on earth Our Lord lived his Kingship as the Passion) and as
taught (the Luminous Mysteries). Finally, when we look up higher, to the
top of the Cross, we are remembering the Glories of heaven to which the
Cross conducts us. The fourfold
structure of the Mysteries also recalls the fourfold structure of the
Gospels, and each of the four sets of Mysteries seems to correspond to one
of the Gospels in a special way. The Joyful Mysteries correspond to the
Gospel of Matthew, whose symbol is a Man and who emphasizes the titles
“Son of Man”, “Son of Abraham”, “Son of David”.
The Sorrowful correspond to Luke, whose symbol is the Ox and whose
Gospel emphasizes the role of Jesus as sacrificial victim.
The Luminous would then correspond with Mark, whose symbol is the
Lion, and who proclaims the divine power of the Lord.
Finally the Glorious Mysteries can be associated with John, whose
symbol is the Eagle, and who teaches us about the intimate relationship
between the Son and his heavenly Father. Ancient and
medieval thinkers found symbolic significance in numerical patterns. The
Apostles’ Creed through which one enters the Rosary has twelve sections,
like the gates of the New Jerusalem. The
Lord’s Prayer which begins each sequence has seven, like the seven
sacraments or the seven days of creation.
The Glory Be with which each sequence ends is Trinitarian.
Each sequence of beads is made up of ten Hail Marys, ten being the
sum of seven and three, itself symbolic of the expansion of the totality
of numbers contained in One. A Rosary contains five mysteries, five being
the number of life and growth, found especially in flowers and leaves.
Five is also closely related to the Golden Ratio and thus to many
aspects of beauty in nature. By
the addition of the Luminous Mysteries, bringing the number of rosaries to
four, Pope John Paul II seems to have brought the tradition to its
completion. Ways of Praying the Rosary There are many forms of Rosary, both short and long (for example, "Rosary Rings" or Chaplets are very popular, which contain only ten marks or beads and a cross). The full Rosary is a circular string of five groups of ten beads interspersed by larger or slightly separate ones (marking the beginning or end of each decade). To go around the Rosary once with one’s fingers is to pray one of the four sets of mysteries (Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful or Glorious). The beginning of the Rosary normally consists of a short string consisting of a Crucifix, followed by a single bead at the beginning and end of a sequence of three. This leads to a holy image or medal, attached to which is the longer, circular part of the Rosary. The prayers assigned to the short string are the Apostles’ Creed (for the Cross), an Our Father, three Hail Marys (for Faith, Hope and Charity), and a Glory Be. In this way one enters the Rose Garden of Our Lady through the Cross, along the “path” of the three theological virtues, and through the "gate" represented by the medallion. A complete circuit of the longer part of the Rosary includes five sets of ten Hail Marys, one set for each of five mysteries, each such “decade” beginning with the Lord’s Prayer and ending with a Glory Be. When one reaches the medallion again at the end of the circuit, one prays some closing prayers, including the Salve Regina or "Hail, Holy Queen". The idea is to close the gate of the Garden behind one and leave softly. When praying
the Rosary, it is customary also to “offer” each decade for a
particular “intention” or for a particular person.
Thus one might offer a decade for the healing or comfort of a
friend or enemy, or for the ending of a war, or the establishment of
justice in a certain situation, for example. In The Joyful Mysteries …And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, whom you, O Virgin, conceived of the Holy Spirit ...Jesus,
whom you, O Virgin, took to ...Jesus, to whom you, O Virgin, gave birth ...Jesus,
whom you, O Virgin, offered up in the ...Jesus,
whom you, O Virgin, found again in the The Luminous Mysteries …Jesus,
who was baptized in the …Jesus, who turned water into wine …Jesus,
who proclaimed the …Jesus, who was transfigured on the mountain …Jesus, who gave himself to us as Eucharist The Sorrowful Mysteries ...Jesus, who sweated blood for us ...Jesus, who was scourged for us ...Jesus, who was crowned with thorns for us ...Jesus, who bore the heavy Cross for us ...Jesus, who was crucified for us The Glorious Mysteries ...Jesus, who rose from the dead Jesus, who ascended into Heaven Jesus, who sent us the Holy Spirit Jesus, who took you, O Virgin, up into Heaven Jesus, who crowned you, O Virgin, in Heaven
Many Catholics also insert a short "Fatima Prayer" after each decade, after the Glory Be. It is a prayer for universal salvation (in the sense of 1Timothy 2:4), and the words are as follows: "O my Jesus, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy." The
mysteries are often assigned to different days of the week. The Joyful used to be said on Mondays and Thursdays (and Sundays during
Advent and Epiphany), the Sorrowful
on Tuesdays and Fridays but daily in Lent, and the Glorious on Wednesdays and Saturdays (and Sundays from Easter to
Advent). John Paul II suggested Thursday as the day for praying the Mysteries
of Light, leaving Friday for the Sorrowful and moving the Joyful to
Saturday. Thus one may still follow the traditional threefold sequence on
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, before praying the whole set of four
beginning on Thursday, finishing with the Glorious mysteries on Sunday.
(In terms of number symbolism, this division of the week into two parts
brings out the fact that seven, which is the number of the Covenant and of
Creation, is made by adding groups of three and four, just as twelve is
produced by multiplying them.)
Opening and Closing Prayers The Rosary may begin with this prayer: Queen of the Holy Rosary, inspire in my heart a true love of this devotion, so that by meditating on the mysteries of our Redemption which are recalled in it, I may be enriched with its fruits and obtain peace for the world, the conversion of sinners, and the favour which I ask of you in this Rosary, which is to pray for me to the Lord our God, in the name of Christ our Saviour, for [insert your petition]. I ask it for the greater glory of God, for your own honour, Mary, and for the good of souls, especially my own. Amen.
Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, Our life, our sweetness and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, most holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. O God, whose only begotten Son by his life, death and Resurrection has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant we beseech thee that, meditating upon these Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. May the divine assistance remain always with us. Amen. And may the souls of the faithful departed [especially…..], through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
A Commentary on the Mysteries As one prays each decade of the Rosary, it is helpful
to focus one’s imaginative and intellectual attention, and thus one’s
feelings and prayer, on one particular mystery in the life of Jesus and
Mary. The following commentary
tries to bring out the way each of these mysteries relates to all the
others, and how each can lead us deeper into the life of faith. 1. Joyful
Mysteries: The Hidden Life The soul prepares herself to
welcome Christ, she manifests him and eventually is forced to go deeper,
through loss, into the temple of the heart where he may be found again.
Annunciation The Angel greets Mary, who is little more than a child: "Hail Mary". In Latin, the word "Hail" is Ave, the reversal of Eva, which is the name of our fallen Mother. This reminds us that the first mystery is to do with a reversal of the Fall. Ave is also thought by some to be a shortened version of absque vae – meaning “without woe”. "Full of Grace". The Angel pronounces this as though it were a name or title, and so it is: Mary is the one who is full of grace, for she is without sin; that is, without any space from which grace has been excluded. Mary is "immaculate" because she is sanctified in advance by the Son who is to be born of her, who existed as God eternally before her own birth, and without whom no one born after Adam could escape the presence of sin. God permits her to be born without the damage resulting from human sin, knowing that her Son will pay the price of her innocence upon the Cross. For when she reaches the age when she might consent to his conception within her womb, her freedom to do so must not be impeded by the reluctance that comes from moral weakness. Now nothing in her resists the will of God. She is free to oppose it, of course, but why should she? She knows or senses that it is in the will of the creator that the interests of the creature are best defended. Yet the future of the world hangs on her reply to the Angel, for the decision is not automatic: it is an act she must make her own, a step she must take, which no one can do for her. Eve was just as free to reject the temptation of the Serpent, yet chose not to do so. "The Lord is with thee." In a sense the Angel is the Lord’s presence to her, announcing in these words his arrival and what it means. In another sense she is the one with whom the Lord is always present. For us this second meaning is important, for if we lose the Lord, or a sense of his presence, we may find it again by going to Mary. The Rosary is also the story of the Christian soul, and thus Mary’s encounter with the Angel Gabriel may be taken to represent our own encounter with our angelic Guardian. We are thereby approaching that level of our being which Mary represents. We hear the voice of the Angel who is continually in the presence of God, we feel the touch of divine love, the necessary word of guidance. In this meeting with the Angel the purpose of our life is revealed. Our mission is assigned to us, if we will accept it. How will we answer? Each time we pray this Mystery we are trying to make it our own, to pour ourselves (as it were) into the mould of Mary, or to reach that place in ourselves where the Lord’s will is to be done. Mary
replies, "Let it be done (fiat)
to me according to thy word." Her fiat
echoes God’s fiat lux ("Let
there be light") in the very beginning of creation, and her Son’s fiat
("Not my will but thine be done") in the
Visitation The spiritual, inner encounter with God, and the conception of the divine life within the soul and body of Mary, immediately leads to a human encounter. It impels Mary to an act of charity, sending her across the hills to visit her elderly cousin, to share her joy and support her in a difficult pregnancy. The Bible tells us that she stayed for about "three months", in other words until the birth of the Baptist. We imagine she would not have been allowed to go across country all alone, without companions, but it seems unlikely Joseph was with her, or that he yet knew of Mary’s own pregnancy. In us, too,
to the extent we are able to receive the grace God offers us, we find the
motivation to turn away from ourselves towards another’s need. This is
part of the mission that is entrusted to us, just as it is part of
Mary’s mission to go to "Blessed
art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." Once the
soul has met God in the Angel, she can meet God everywhere, whether at
home or at the end of a long journey, in the self or in others. Mary’s
encounter is now with the mother of a prophet, and with the prophet John
himself, hidden but dancing in the womb before Mary, like King David
before the tabernacle of the Lord. His motion, perhaps no more than a
kick, is interpreted by These are real babies, real wombs, real mothers. The events picked out by the Gospel writers are selected and stylized, almost hieratic or emblematic, to emphasize the meanings now known to be present in them. We must
place ourselves not only in the position of Mary, but in the position of
Nativity Each
set of five mysteries can be read from the centre out. At the heart of the
Joyful mysteries is this one, the mystery of the Nativity or Birth of
Christ, while at the heart of the Sorrowful is his Crowning with Thorns,
and at the heart of the Glorious is the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon
the Apostles (which can be called the Nativity of the Church). Each of
these central mysteries in a sequence of five concerns kingship, for the
Nativity is the birth of the true King albeit in obscurity, the Crowning
with Thorns is a real coronation although it appears to be a form of
humiliation, and at Pentecost the flames of fire come to rest on the heads
of the Apostles. The entire series ends with the Coronation of the Virgin.
After all, God is the King of But first and foremost, the Nativity is simply a birth, which is the bringing forth of the secret that Mary has cherished within her for nine months – the face that God has fashioned for himself in the womb of the world. This is nothing less than a re-making of the world, for the world as it existed before was perishing, falling into nothingness, whereas now it is united through this tiny child with the divine life of the Trinity. Into relation with this child all people and things are being drawn, and in this relationship they will pass through death into a new existence. The seed of this life began to grow in the earth’s soil at the Annunciation, but now it shows itself above ground, at Epiphany it will be acknowledged by the Wise, and on the Cross it will spread its branches over the earth. In the image of Madonna and Child is represented the drama of the human personality, coming to birth in the meeting of two gazes and of two smiles, the mother’s smile kindling the child’s, the child’s spontaneous smile evoking this sign of love from the enfolding cosmos. The Mother here is the purely human, the Child is God. It is Joseph’s mission to protect and raise this Child, which means first of all to shelter the Mother who is the Child’s first home. Icons of the Nativity show him weary, perhaps doubting his fitness for the task, puzzling over God’s plan. He is appointed to represent the heavenly Father and become an Icon of the Invisible.
Presentation in the The
mysteries represented in the Rosary as "Joyful" partly concern
the continuity of the Old in the New Testament. The mystery of the
Presentation shows the submission of Joseph and Mary to the Law and the An old man
and an old woman, no doubt tolerated by the Anna reads
the destiny of the Mother in the face of the Child, for a sword is coming
that will pierce her soul. It is the sword of Roman power, the power to
kill the Son when he is betrayed by his friends. At a deeper level it is
the burning sword of the Angel who guards the way back to the Garden in These ten
prayers also concern the mystery of purity, for the act of childbearing is
sacred and the mother exists for a time outside the formalities of
religion. Now she brings the fruit of her womb to become a part of the
wider community, and in this case she brings to the There is no
stain of sin, no damage to the human will, either of Mother or of Son.
They come to the Simeon and
Anna would not have recognized Jesus unless they had maintained great
purity in their heart, which is the organ of interior sight. If their
imagination had been stained by images of worldly pleasure or the passions
of anger and jealousy, the light that shone from the Child would not have
been evident to them. Ike recognizes like, and the coming of the dawn to
Finding in the This mystery
looks forward to the public ministry of the Lord’s teaching years,
between his Baptism in the The mystery also represents the twelve years up to that point, years in which he grew in the home of Joseph and Mary, and also in awareness of his mission to the People of Israel. It is the mystery of his obedience to Joseph and Mary, and therefore of his humility. It is the mystery of his hiddenness, even from the parents who know the secret of his conception, and therefore of the "secret" teaching which, though manifest, is only revealed and understood to those who "have ears to hear", at the right time and place. Christ
always stands in the This is also the mystery of conversation with the Word: the Word of God speaking by means of words in a human language with his creatures. Here is an image of the Trinity reproduced in the second Person: his human mind forming an idea, the idea embodied in a word, and the word sent forth on his breath, uniting him in exchange with those who receive and understand. It is the mystery of losing and finding, of losing perhaps in order to find, for when they found him it was to understand him better than before – and at the same time less than before, because they had been led deeper into the mystery of his mission. We search for Jesus – that is, for God in findable form – and we search for him in the three days when he is absent from us (in the Tomb) or when we are absent from him (looking in the wrong place). We will find him, but he may be surprised that we did not find him earlier.
2. The Mysteries of
Light: Revealing the Kingdom to Mere Children The soul is
filled with light, the light of the world, unrecognized by so many yet
present in everywhere in truth, goodness, and beauty. Baptism in the “Hail
Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” Up
to now Jesus has lived with his mother, but now the Lord is beginning his
ministry. He is leaving the
obscurity (darkness) of his hidden life with Mary to become a wandering
rabbi of no fixed abode. His
baptism at John’s hands marks the transition.
When he steps into the water of the river that runs through The
descent of the Holy Spirit like a dove upon Jesus as he stands in the
waters and hears the voice of the Father, is the most extraordinary image
of the Trinity in action, creating and re-creating the world. In the very
first verses of Genesis the Spirit of God hovers over the waters as the
world is created by the sound of God’s voice.
God’s first words are Fiat
lux (“Let there be light”). This
is the original “luminous mystery”. The
Spirit is the breath of God, the Son is his Word.
In the Son all things are made, in heaven and on earth and under
the earth. The Son is the true
Light that shines from the darkness of the Father.
He is the Father’s Fiat. The
solid earth is made between the upper and lower waters, after they are
separated on the second day, and after the lower waters are gathered
together on the third. Standing
in the Jordan, Jesus stands in the midst of the lower waters, like a
new-made continent, or like a new Like
Moses walking into the Red Sea, like Joshua crossing the Jordan, Jesus
leads his people through these waters into freedom and the The
Spirit sends him into the desert places as God sent the fallen Adam out of
the Garden into a wilderness, saying, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you
return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to
dust you shall return.” The
Second Adam must have remembered these words as he yearned for bread, only
too conscious of the mortality he had put on with his human nature.
He is in the condition of dust, of earth, as he emerges from the
waters to put on his mission. He refuses the temptation to turn stones
into bread for himself, for it is not his Father’s will and he will obey
no one else. The three
temptations represent all possible temptations (physical, psychological,
spiritual), and his victory over them creates in human nature the
possibility of the three Vows (poverty, chastity, obedience).
Thus he turns the wilderness back into a Garden, in which the wild
beasts and angels come and minister to him, as they did for Adam in his
innocence. The Wedding at [Rest of commentary to follow] Proclamation of the Kingdom The Transfiguration The Eucharist 3. Sorrowful
Mysteries: The Passion of the Divine Bridegroom Agony in the Garden The saving Passion of our Lord begins in the garden of Gethsemane, to reverse the effect of a Fall that took place in the garden of Eden (and it will bear fruit in a third garden – see the first of the Glorious Mysteries). The Lord waters the ground with his sweat and blood, so that the seed he plants in the earth, in the sleeping disciples, will grow in the Church. He prays to his Father that the "cup" will pass him by, but submits to his Father’s will. Does he pray this as the second Person of the Trinity or as a human being? As God, his will is the same as that of his Father. As man, he has a human will too, for this pertains to his nature as man. The two are not in conflict, for although he has to make the act of submission, the resistance comes not from his human side but from the natural abhorrence that his human will has to master. The unity of the two wills, human and divine, is not a unity of identity – the human nature is not the divine nature – but a unity brought about by love. The suffering which his body and soul fear, this cup which he dreads, is the result of the Fall – of the separation that has opened up between God and creation. Man’s will has opened the wound; the will of Jesus must close it. The cup is also the Holy Grail. It is the vessel which contains the "blood" or life of Christ separated from his body. That blood is the bearer of the Holy Spirit. It is the sacramental substance that communicates divine grace to every part of the extended body of Christ which is the Church. The three Apostles Peter, James and John cannot stay awake and pray, as he asks. He prays the same prayer three times: once for each of them, for it is on their behalf, as representing all his followers, that he struggles. They sleep the sleep of the flesh (as Lancelot slept in the presence of the Grail). They cannot concentrate, cannot attend. "Pray that you may be spared the test." But they did not, and so the test will come. They have not understood the essence of what is now to transpire on the Cross. They were not awake to see the Lord accept the cup on their behalf, or be strengthened by the Angel. [Rest of commentary
to follow…] Scourging
at the Pillar Crowing
with Thorns Carrying
the Cross Crucifixion 4. Glorious
Mysteries: The Return to God The
Resurrection
|