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Rosarium Virginis
Mariae
From the ‘mysteries’ to the ‘Mystery of Christ’
Every authentic form of Christian prayer must always focus on the
"mysteries of Christ" and must never be totally separated from
its "liturgical anamnesis". Among the forms of Christian
prayer, the Rosary of Mary has grown more and more important, as Paul
VI's Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus (MC) (2
February 1974)1 testifies, describing it as "Gospel
prayer, centred on the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation... a prayer
with a clearly Christological orientation" (MC, n. 46). In
contemporary thought, the relation between the Liturgy and the Rosary
is more sharply defined. Indeed, the Rosary has deep connections with
liturgical prayer: "in the light of the principles of the
Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium.... Liturgical
celebrations and the pious practice of the Rosary must be neither set in
opposition to one another nor considered as being identical" (MC,
n. 48). The Rosary, in fact, is "a practice of piety which easily
harmonizes with the liturgy. In fact, like the liturgy, it is of a community
nature, draws its inspiration from Sacred Scripture and is oriented
towards the mystery of Christ" (ibid.). Therefore,
although at different levels, the anamnesis of the liturgy and
the contemplative commemoration of the Rosary treat the same
saving events.
Today, with his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (RVM),2
in pointing out the spiritual path Christianity must follow after 2,000
years of history in order not to lose the dynamism and freshness of its
origins and "to announce", "to shout out" Christ to
the world3 all the more, John Paul II forcefully
reminds us of the importance of the Rosary prayer. Indeed, it educates
believers to an authentic and mature standard of Christian faith,
nourished and breathed in a Gospel atmosphere in which beats not only a
"Christological heart", but also "the rhythm of human
life".4 Therefore, Christians must sit at the school of
Mary so that she can lead them to contemplate the face of Christ. The
Rosary is a true and proper "training in holiness": it forms
believers, through contemplation, to achieve that "conformation to
Christ" that enables them not only to "speak of him", but
to "show him to the world". If the Liturgy, therefore,
"presents anew, under the veil of signs and operative in a hidden
way, the great mysteries of our redemption..., the [prayer of the Rosary]
by means of devout contemplation, recalls these same mysteries to
the mind of the person praying and stimulates the will to draw from them
the norms of living" (MC, n. 48).5
From the 'mysteries' to the 'Mystery of Christ'
The main feature of the prayer of the Rosary as a "Gospel
prayer" is that it reviews with a meditative approach the many
historical mysteries of Jesus' life, which constitute a "living
Rosary". As Christian history developed, already in the age of the
Fathers,6 but particularly in medieval spirituality,
religious devotion developed a notable Christocentric orientation that
was consolidated under the influence of monasticism which placed strong
emphasis on the humanity of Jesus, seen in the mysteries of his
earthly life.7 It can be said that, in this orientation, passion
for the humanity of Jesus is remarkable. Monasticism has made an
excellent contribution to making the humanity of Jesus "the primary
instrument of spiritual ascesis", considering his earthly life in
particular as the revelation of God's infinite clemency regarding human
weakness. Thus, contact with the humanity of Jesus becomes the path to
the encounter with the hidden face of his Divinity. Hence the importance
of the "imitation of Christ" in contemplating the mysteries of
his life that unfold from his childhood to his passion, death and
Resurrection, and Pentecost.
Familiarity with the earthly Jesus gave tender and emotional tones to
piety in medieval monasticism. This is demonstrated in expressions that
reveal deep love for the very name of Jesus: "Lord Jesus",6
"Most human Lord, most devout Jesus" ,9
"our treasure, love, desire, sweetness, salvation and life".
Thus, his name is the heart of a remarkably spiritual orientation:
"Jesus, Jesus... a sweet name, a beloved name, a name that
comforts the sinner and gives rise to blessed hope". This
devotion lingers by the manger in Bethlehem where sighs and tears, a
sign of tenderness rather than power,10 are a cause of trust
for our conversion, so that we may gradually move on to the other events
of his earthly life until we come to the suffering of the passion that
strengthens "preferential love". We should not think that
this spirituality commits sins of sentimentalism or is a vain search for
tangible emotions: it is well nourished with biblical knowledge and
has a "strong Christological content", as can be noted in
Ruperto of Deutz (1129), a defender of the Benedictine tradition. Thus,
the affectus dilectionis (preferential love) warms Cistercian
piety with St Bernard and William of Saint-Thierry, whereas Franciscan
spirituality focuses on the tradition of the crib and contemplation of
the passion. Dominican piety, with St Albert the Great and St Catherine
of Siena, like St Francis sees the Crucified Christ as the centre of
religious devotion. Particularly important in this spiritual context of
the "mysteries of the flesh" is the development and
theological examination offered by the thought of St Thomas Aquinas,11
which gives solid Christological and soteriological support to the
devotion to the holy humanity of Jesus in the Middle Ages and later: in
him, one might say, the "imitation of Christ" is far more than
a mere ascetic commitment: it is a true and proper communion of life
with the mysteries of the Saviour's earthly life, since the curriculum
of the Christian's life is born and sustained in a mystical simultaneity
due to the saving virtue of the Divinity working in these
mysteries, for which he becomes universally present in history (Comp.
Theol. 239).12 If "the mysteries of the earthly
life" of Jesus of Nazareth have their own, unique efficacy, because
of the divine (pneumatic) virtue that is active in them,
it is, however, especially through contemplation13
that this virtue becomes effective in souls. Through it, the remembrance
of the events in the history of Jesus of Nazareth enables us to
penetrate, even in the obscurity of earthly flesh, into the
"dazzling beauty and glory" that shines forth from the
countenance of Christ (Lk 9:29), revealing in it the Mystery which
surpasses knowledge (Eph 3:19): the mystery of the Word made flesh
in which "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Col
2:9). For this reason, if "everything in Jesus' life was a sign
of his mystery",14 "his humanity
appeared as 'sacrament', that is, the sign and instrument of his
divinity and of the salvation he brings: what was visible in his earthly
life leads to the invisible mystery of his divine sonship and redemptive
mission" (ibid.). Thus, meditation on the
mysteries of Christ is indispensable for the spiritual nourishment
and growth of the Christian.
The mysteries of Christ in the 'way of Mary'
This meditation on the mysteries of Christ which transforms and
transfigures the spirit of the believer is effectively fostered by the
"prayer of the Rosary", through its reference to the aspect of
Christian meditation which finds an "incomparable model" in
"the way of Mary". To her, "in a unique way, the face of
the Son belongs" (RVM, n. 10). No one has ever devoted
himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as
Mary. Her gaze, which never left him, was penetrating because of
her experience of faith that could perceive in the intimacy of the
mysteries of the flesh the "Mystery" of her Jesus. Thus, she
jealously guarded the memories of his childhood in her heart (Lk 2:19,
51), to the point that from the very outset of his public ministry (Jn
2:5) she could discern his hidden sentiments and foresee his decisions.
She followed him as a mother, to the point of identification with him,
with her look of sorrow, full of faith and love offered at
the foot of the Cross (19:26-27), to contemplate him later with a radiant
gaze, illuminated by his glory in the Resurrection, and finally, in
her gaze afire with the out pouring of the Spirit at Pentecost
(Acts 1:14) (RVM, n. 10). On this "Way of Mary" the
Church has understood and understands ever better her original role in
God's design, her role of "motherly mediation" in unfolding to
believers the path of the purest contemplation of God's glory, mirrored
in the events of the glorious and earthly life of his incarnate Son.
From this knowledge the Church also draws the experience of her identity
as the Mother and Bride of Christ.
The prayer of the Rosary refers to this meditative awareness,
mindful of the life of Christ which is acquired on the "Way of
Mary" and which, from her personal experience, spreads in the
Church from the experience of the new born apostolic community, in its
communion of prayer with her in the Upper Room (Acts 1:14). One can
imagine that this prayer, mentioned in the Acts, is a deepening, with
her, of meditation on her memories of the life of the Son (Lk 2:19, 51).
In the Rosary this prayer continues, in the Christocentric-Trinitarian
formation of the believer's spiritual life, at the school of Mary,
Teacher of life. From her, the Church has been granted to learn not only
the "things" that Jesus taught us, but especially, to
"learn him" (RVM, n. 14). That is, we are
granted to learn the mystery of the Trinitarian God that shines in
him and to learn him as the "Mystery" par excellence,
the "mystery of the Word made flesh", who suffered on the
Cross and rose for our justification (Rom 4:25). In fact, this
contemplative prayer, through Mary's gaze, teaches us, with her way of
looking, to make the memory of the mysteries of Jesus come alive, to
contemplate them and to follow in his footsteps. Thus, in this
contemplation, the believer's soul is open to penetration by that
"Sign" of "divine hidden glory" which accompanied
his earthly life already as an anticipation of his glory, and enabled
his disciples to believe in him (Jn 2:11).
From the mystery of Christ to the 'mystery of man'
In his Apostolic Letter, the subject of these thoughts, the Holy
Father not only stresses, like his Predecessors, the importance of the
"Christological heart" that pulsates in the prayer of the
Rosary, but also gives importance to recalling words he had already
spoken that in the "simple prayer of the Rosary 'beats the rhythm
of human life'".15 This anthropological implication
makes us understand how in praying the Rosary of Mary, the believer is
led to understand, in the light of the mysteries of Christ and of his
"Mystery", the deepest meaning of that "mystery"
which is the very life of man and which can only be attained through
contemplation of the mystery of Christ. Indeed, the Rosary enables the
believer to accompany Jesus Christ on his journey through life, full of
love, a spirit of service, of dedication to others (pro vobis), up until
death on the Cross, and then to recognize him as risen, a pilgrim on the
paths of the world, continuing with him the experience of Emmaus. But
this prayer also enables the believer to discern that man's path
is as it were recapitulated,16 revealed and redeemed in
the path of Christ (RVM, n. 25). In this time of confusion,
the human being, who has made great advances in scientific knowledge of
his own situation and of the world, seems to have lost the meaning of
his own deepest "truth", the "meaning" and
"ultimate purpose" of his "life". Consequently, his
travelling on the "path" of the historical events of faith, in
the company of the mysterious pilgrim on the difficult paths of the
world, is the only way to rediscover the light of the
"mystery" he carries with him. Then one can truly say that
each mystery of the Rosary, properly meditated upon, "sheds light
on the mystery of man" (RVM, ibid.).
Notes
1 Paul VI, Marialis Cultus (MC), AAS, 66
(1974), 113-168.
2 John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (RVM),
Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City 16 October 2002.
3 Proclaiming Christ as "the goal of human history, the
focal point of the desires of history and civilization" was the
message of hope of the Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes,
n. 45.
4 John Paul II, Angelus, 29 October 1978; ORE, 9
November 1978, p. 2.
5 Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, n. 48.
6 F. Bertrand, Mystique de Jésus chez Origène, Aubier,
Paris 1951. Ilarino da Milano, La spiritualità cristologica dei
Padri apostolici agli inizi del monachesimo, in "Problemi di
storia della Chiesa", Milan 1970, pp. 359-507.
7 A. Grillmeier, I misteri di Cristo nella pietà del
medioevo latino e dell’epoca moderna, in "Mysterium Salutis",
t.VI, Queriniana, Brescia 1971, pp. 27ff.
8 Isacco Della Stella, Sermo 2; PL 212, 757 A.
9 Helinandus, Ep. ad Galterum, PL 212, 757 A.
10 Bernard, Sermo I in Nativitate, 3 PL
183, 116.
11 Inos Biffi, I Misteri di Cristo in Tommaso
d'Aquino, I, Jaca Book, Milan 1994.
12 Ibid., p. 258; in particular p. 266 concerning the
work of the "virtus Christi".
13 Vincenzo Battaglia, Cristologia e contemplazione, EDB,
Bologna, 1996.
14 Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 515.
15 Angelus, 9 October 1978; ORE, 9 November 1978,
p. 2.
16 Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses III, 18, 1: PG 7, 932.
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