Why pray the rosary? There are many reason, Fr. Donald H. Calloway, MIC in his booklet “How to Pray the Rosary” gives us this as one of the many reasons, “the rosary is an evangelical tool that brings the light of Christ into all situations.” (p 11) So the question may be deeper than, Why pray the rosary? and becomes quite clearly…”Who wouldn’t want Christ in all parts of my life?”
This weekend, at St. Lucy Parish, we will through the generosity of some parishioners be making available Fr. Calloway’s booklet as well as several age appropriate pamphlets on praying the rosary both as an individual devotion but also as a family prayer seeking the unity and love of God blessing “into all situations” of our lives.
Why do I pray the rosary? There are many reason but let me go through several steps. First, as a priest, praying the rosary with our Blessed Mother is life giving and fills me with hope on a daily basis. Several years ago I read a book by Liz Kelly, “The Rosary: A Path Into Prayer” that has several quotes helping to explain the passion of the rosary. The first it is a physical action of praying the rosary. Liz Kelly shares, “The rosary is a physical object that has developed over time, but it mirrors God and his creation in a remarkable way.” (p 54) The reality of passing the beads slowly through my fingers as I pray the rosary reminds me of the connection that I have with God through the incarnation. And like the rosary having developed over time my deepening love of the rosary also has grown and developed as I have spent more and more time in walking with Mary in prayer and mediating on the mysteries of her son’s life, death and resurrection.
“Each decade of Hail Mary inevitable leads us back to the Our Father—the prayer Christ taught us himself. And so Mary leads us to the Father—the source of all life, all grace—again and again. With him we linger for a while contemplating the next mystery, recalling our our petition or thanksgiving, asking once again for the Lord to be present to us in our meditation, praying his perfect prayer.” (p 55) Kelly shares this beautiful understanding of the path of the rosary, where the rosary leads us back to the God the Father. I have shared this many times before but it bares repeating. When I was in the hospital after my heart attack the one prayer I repeated over and over again was the rosary and the path of peace and calm amidst the doubts and fear was real and gentle as I slowly repeated again and again the gentle Hail Mary followed by the prayer Jesus shared with us. Today, when I pray the rosary, experience much the same peacefulness. Usually on my morning walks and during other times I bring to Jesus, through Mary, the concerns, hopes and dreams of the day where I am able to slowly and quietly life these prayers with Mary’s perfect prayer.
“Because it’s simple, the rosary meditation can be a good way to begin to build the trust that all prayer requires. For example, in my greatest time of distress, the rosary asked very little of me, which helped set the stage for the process of building trust.” (p 57) Truly the simplicity of the rosary is a great blessing. I don’t need to think, I just need to be during this time of prayer. There are times when the rosary slips so quickly by that the 20 minutes feels like only a few seconds and other times where it goes slowly as God works into my heart to slow me to hear his holy words.
The rosary is the great invitation into a unity of life and love with Mary as we pray with her son our Lord and Savior Jesus.
God bless
Fr. Mark