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Rosarium Virginis
Mariae
The Rosary, at heart a ‘Christological prayer’
1. The Rosary an evangelical prayer
1 The Rosary is one of the devotional practices most highly praised
by the Supreme Pontiffs. Pius XII considered it: "the compendium of
the whole Gospel" (Pius XII, Letter Philippinas Insulas, in AAS
38 [1946] p. 419). Bl. John XXIII held it to be an excellent form of
meditative prayer, through which "the drama of the Incarnation and
Redemption of Our Lord is presented to the mind as in a series of
images" (John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Grata recordatio.
Introduction). Paul VI described it as a Gospel prayer, centred on
the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation: "the Rosary is therefore
a prayer with a clearly Christological orientation" (Paul VI,
Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus, n. 46). The Holy Father
John Paul II pointed out the Christological aspect in his two-year cycle
of Marian catecheses (1995-1997), when he presented the Rosary as the
prayer clearly directed to the goal of "the Glorification of
Christ" (John Paul II, Prayers to Mary, General Audience, 5
November 1997, n. 2; ORE, 12 November 1997, p. 11).
The Christological dimension, which
has been one of the essential features of the Holy Father's magisterium
since his first Encyclical, is
broadly developed in the recent Apostolic Letter dedicated to the
Rosary, in which he expresses his personal participation in its joyful
authenticity: "The Rosary is my favourite prayer.... 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"
(John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae,
n. 2. The numbers in parentheses in this text refer to this document).
With the Rosary, which is "at heart a Christocentric
prayer" (n. 1), beloved by the Saints and encouraged by the
Magisterium, and a compendium of the Gospel message, the Christian
people go to the school of Mary in order to contemplate the beauty of
the Face of Jesus and to experience the depths of his love. Thus, the
Rosary is part of the finest and thoroughly tested traditions of
Christian meditation. Developed in the West, it is a simple, popular
prayer, corresponding in a way to the "prayer of the heart" or
"Jesus Prayer" which took root in the soil of the Christian
East (cf. n. 5). For this reason the faithful have made it a genuine
school of prayer. In it their hearts are opened to praising the merciful
love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, contemplated with Mary in the mysteries
of his redemptive life.
II. The Rosary, a prayer of Christological contemplation
The Holy Father closely examines the theme of contemplating Jesus. On
Mount Tabor and only briefly, Peter, James and John were overwhelmed by
the beauty of Jesus, transfigured by the light of his divinity. Mary, on
the other hand, diligently devoted herself to the contemplation of her
divine Son in Bethlehem and in Nazareth, at Cana and on Calvary.
Contemplation of Christ finds in her an incomparable model: "in a
unique way the face of the Son belongs to Mary" (n. 10). Throughout
her life, Mary, the Mother, never lifted her gaze from her divine Son,
treasuring his every word and action. Her memories of Jesus, impressed
upon her soul, were to be "the ‘rosary' which she recited
uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life" (n. 11).
The Rosary is therefore described as an exquisitely contemplative
prayer that focuses on the face of Christ, seen through the heart of the
One to whom the Lord was closest. This contemplation is composed of five
approaches.
1. Remembering Christ with Mary
Remembering here is understood in the full biblical sense of
remembrance, which makes present today the works God accomplished in the
history of salvation. This making present takes place above all in the
Liturgy. But, if the Liturgy is the highest salvific action, "the
Rosary too, as 'a meditation' with Mary on Christ, is a salutary
contemplation" (n. 13). In this way, with participation in the
liturgy and with the recitation of the Rosary, the faithful live the
Gospel call to ceaseless prayer and the assimilation in their lives of
the mystery of salvation.
2. Learning Christ from Mary
In the Rosary, Jesus is the Teacher who teaches and at the
same time, he is the Lesson to be learned: "it is not
just a question", the Pope says, "of learning what he taught
but of 'learning him’ (n. 14). In this learning no one is more
expert than Mary, since "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" (n. 14). Thus, meditating on the
scenes of the Rosary means in practice putting oneself in the school of
Mary to "read" Christ, to penetrate his secrets, to understand
his lesson of truth and of life.
3. Being conformed to Christ with Mary
This learning implies not only a theoretical knowledge but a vital
experience of the mystery of communion with Jesus. This is Christian
spirituality which means being conformed to Christ, sharing his deepest
feelings (cf. Phil 2,5), putting on Christ (Rom 13,14; Gal 3,27). The
Rosary enables Mary to educate us and to shape us with motherly
tenderness until Christ is fully formed in us (cf. Gal 4,19). This is
what the Holy Father has personally experienced, as he explains:
"This role of Mary ... 'does not hinder in any way the immediate
union of the faithful with Christ, but on the contrary fosters it'. 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" (n. 15).
4. Praying to Christ with Mary
Being conformed to Christ involves a ceaseless life of prayer. The
Rosary sustains the prayer of the faithful and insistent prayer to the
Mother of God rests on the confidence that, as she did at Cana, she can
obtain all things from the heart of her Son. The Pope says: "she is
'all-powerful by grace', to use the bold expression, which needs to be
properly understood, of Bl. Bartolo Longo in his Supplication to Our
Lady. This is a conviction which, beginning with the Gospel,
has become ever more established by way of the experience of the
Christian people. The supreme poet Dante expresses it marvellously in
the lines sung by St 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' (Divina Commedia, Paradiso
XXXIII, 13-15)" (n. 16).
5. Proclaim Christ with Mary
As well as being a contemplative prayer, the Rosary also becomes
"a significant catechetical opportunity" (n. 17). Just as in
past centuries it was used to defend the true faith against the spread
of heresy, so today, when we face new challenges, the Rosary
"retains all its power and continues to be a valuable pastoral
resource for every good evangelizer" (n. 17). The Christological
heart of this prayer not only renders it catechetically effective, but
also gives it an apostolic quality. This is why it is a prayer with a
strong Christian identity. In contemplating the mystery of the
Incarnation, it becomes a valid reference point of the Christian faith
in our multi-faceted, variegated culture.
III. The Rosary, 'a compendium of the Gospel'
Despite its deeply evangelical character, the Rosary singles out only
a few of the mysteries of Christ's life. To complete and reinforce its
Christological depth, the Pope felt it appropriate to include the
mysteries of Christ's public ministry between his Baptism and his
Passion, in which he reveals himself as "the light of the
world" (Jn 9,5). Consequently, "it is fitting to add,
following reflection on the Incarnation and the hidden life of Christ (the
Joyful Mysteries) and before focusing on his
sufferings of 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)" (n. 19).
On the one hand, this integration confirms the Rosary as a
"compendium of the Gospel"; on the other, it enriches it with
a spiritual content, making it a "true doorway to the depths of the
Heart of Christ, ocean of joy and of light, of suffering and of glory
(n. 19). Therefore to cover the entire event of the Incarnation of the
Word, the Holy Father lists and comments on the five new Mysteries of
Light. If it is true that Christ's whole ministry is light
since he is "the light of the world" (Jn 8,12), it is equally
true that this dimension 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" (n. 21).
The introduction of these mysteries, which constitute a few essential
moments of pre-paschal Christology, give the Rosary that
"biographical" completeness that make it extraordinarily
suitable not only for contemplation, but also for telling the story of
Jesus. It integrates with the word prayed what the people of God have
learned down the ages through the painted word, in other words, the
image. Indeed the life of Jesus has been the greatest source of
inspiration for artists of all times and cultures. Someone might perhaps
object that in these five mysteries, Mary's presence remains in the
background. However, the recommendation which at Cana she addresses to
the whole Church: "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2,5), is an
appropriate Marian horizon for ail the mysteries of light.
IV. The Rosary, the way to the mystery of Christ and the
mystery of man
The biblical cycles of meditation that the Rosary proposes are by no
means exhaustive, but they call to mind what is at the heart of the
Gospel, what is essential, introducing the faithful to "a thirst
for a knowledge of Christ continually nourished by the pure source of
the Gospel" (n. 24). Everything in the life of Jesus is a sign of
his mystery, and the Apostle's greeting is addressed to every member of
the faithful: "May Christ dwell in your hearts through
faith..." (Eph 3,17). The Rosary is at the service of this ideal.
It offers the "secret" which leads easily to a profound and
inward knowledge of Christ. This is why the Holy Father calls it "Mary's
way". In the Rosary, "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" (n. 24).
However, the contemplation of Jesus also leads to contemplation of
the mystery of the human being, since the mystery of Christ
recapitulates, reveals and redeems the mystery of the human person. And
here the Pope makes a very fine and original anthropological analysis.
In reviewing the mysteries of Jesus, the faithful rediscover the truth
about their own human existence: "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" (n. 25).
V. The Rosary, a way of assimilating Christ
The Rosary, with its simple and repetitive rhythm and its
characteristic meditation on the Gospel, expresses and, at the same
time, satisfies the believer's heartfelt need for spirituality and full
conformity with Christ, according to the Apostle's striking phrase:
"For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil 1,21);
"It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal
2,20).
For this reason the Rosary is truly the prayer of all the hours and
seasons of life. Whether it is recited in a group or prayed in private,
the Rosary is the breath of personal prayer for the elderly and for the
young, for parents and for their children. With the Rosary, the bonds of
communion and fraternal charity are reinforced. The Year of the Rosary
will therefore propose again the Jubilee experience of our pilgrimage
towards Jesus in the company of Mary. This daily Marian practice will be
marked by the seeds of hope and peace which contemplation of Jesus will
abundantly sow in the hearts of men and women and on the highways of the
whole world.
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