By praying the rosary, we express our gratitude to Jesus and Mary by “calling to mind” the tremendous sacrificial love that they have for us. This act moves the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary to pour out countless graces upon us. Expressions of love from us are reciprocated by gifts of love from heaven.” (p 16-17 “How to Pray the Rosary” by FR. Donald Calloway, MIC)

This week I will be traveling home to Idaho for a short visit to celebrate the funeral of my Uncle Shorty, who was my father’s youngest brother, and my Aunt Anne, the wife of my mom’s brother Henry. While it may be a sad occasion it is also a gift of love from heaven to be able to be with family and friends in remembering both my Uncle and Aunt.
After my brother called early in the morning to tell me that my Uncle Shorty was not expected to live through the day, I almost immediately began to pray the rosary for the repose and protection of his soul and the peace for his family. For me, it is the natural beginning of a conversation as Fr. Calloway notes, in the above quote, we begin “calling to mind” the blessings shared and given.
This is one of the great treasures of faith and hope at the time of death. There is a blessing of meaning and grace to be shared as we remember our love for each other. When the news of each death came, I pondered and reflected on the blessings of Aunt Anne and Uncle Shorty, the joy and generosity of life God shared with us. In this generosity we encounter the living Christ. St. John Paul II reminds us, “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.” (Rosarium Viginis Mariae #40) It is encountering the face of Christ in our brothers and sisters, especially those in death, where we are able to find true and lasting peace.
In prayer, and in the rosary, we are able to open our hearts to see God’s face, place ourselves in his arms and walk into the experience of peace even as sadness surrounds us. It is not so much that we trust in the more of the eternal but we trust in the more of the love we now offer in hope. It is being surrounded by the love we experience as we gather to share our stories as we cry and laugh in life that is such a blessing. We are able to do this now, in the moment of sorrow because we have practiced it in life together as family and community.
Pope Francis in “Amoris Laetitia” offers us this hope, “It is a profound spiritual experience to contemplate our loved ones with the eyes of God and to see Christ in them. This demands a freedom and openness which enable us to appreciate their dignity. We can be fully present to others only by giving fully of ourselves and forgetting all else. Our loved ones merit our complete attention. Jesus is our model in this, for whenever people approached to speak with him, he would meet their gaze, directly and lovingly (cf. Mk 10:21).” (Amoris Laetitia #323)
It is in Jesus that we truly are able to give “fully of ourselves and forgetting all else” and his mother Mary who offers us the perfect example standing at the foot of the cross in prayer.
In the coming days, as I pray the rosary, I will contemplate with Mary the face of Christ seeing my Uncle Shorty and Aunt Anne in Jesus’ Most Sacred Heart and holding my cousins and family deeply in the Immaculate Heart of Mary our Mother.
God bless
Fr. Mark