During the month of October there are families in my parish who gather to recite the holy rosary together. The rosary is also recited prior to Mass by weekday Mass goers. This laudable devotion speaks very much of the heart of the people and their response to God's grace as well as their desire for peace in the world. As a result, it has occurred to me to offer some reflections to hopefully deepen our appreciation the tradition we have received and pray more faithfully this prayer.
Monastic Heart
The 150 Hail Marys of the rosary can be seen as imitating the 150 psalms that were sung during the week by the monks and nuns in their communities. In earlier times the people wer usually illiterate and were not able to recite the psalms whether in Latin of their own language. The friars, Dominicans and Franciscans, took the monastery and the proclamation of the world out to the people in their towns and villages. People, wanting to sanctify their lives through prayer and yet stay in their everyday situation, could join themselves to the devotion of the friars by practices such as wearing the scapular and praying the angelus at the appropriate times throughout the day. Those who joined the Third Order of the different religious communities sought to live out the charism of the consecrated life in their own life situation. Similarly, they could pray the rosary in place of the psalms. The Gloria, which concludes the psalms in the monasteries, was prayed a the conclusion of each decade. The Marian anthem which is usually Hail holy Queen (Salve Regina), at the conclusion of the five decades, likewise takes the place of the Marian anthems which conclude the day after Night prayer or Compline.
Contemplation
The mysteries of the rosary give structure to the prayer. Prayers enter the mystery of the Incarnation by recalling key moments in the life of the Lord. In liturgy we are not bystanders or an audience. Just as with the Station of the Cross the rosary helps us to journey with Christ and to be united with him in his suffering as well as his glory. It is not a question of analysis. We contemplate the beauty of the God's love and his action in bringing about our salvation. As members of his Mystical Body, we are united with him. What Pope St Pius X wrote about the Psalter can also be applied to the mysteries of the Rosary: "Who is not fired with love by the faithful portrait of Christ the Redeemer whose voice Saint Augustine heard in all the psalms, singing, sorrowing, rejoicing in hope, sighing in distress?" (Apost. Const. on the Psalter in the Office of Readings)
History of the Incarnation and the Liturgical Year
When we consider the mysteries of the Rosary as a whole we can discern in them the from the Annunciation to the Coronation of Our Lady as Queen of Heaven the exitus - reditus, the Father sends the Son who bestows the Holy Spirit who takes us through Christ to the Father. The liturgical year is discernable with the Joyful Mysteries being Advent to Christmastide; Luminous Mysteries being the Feasts of the Lord in Ordinary Time and Holy Thursday; the Sorrowful Mysteries speaking of Good Friday and Holy Saturday; the Glorious Mysteries taking us from Easter Sunday through Eastertide to the Feast of Christ the King. The Coronation of Our Lady, which occurs on the Octave of the Solemnity of the Assumption, presumes the Feast of Christ the King. In the way we can consider the Rosary in its entirety is the liturgical year in microcosm. The key Christological moments unite us in contemplating the whole mystery of Christ and not just isolated elements as if they are unconnected events. They are all part of the salvific plan of the heavenly Father. The prayer: 'O God whose only begotten Son...' prayed subsequent to the Salve regina is a translation of the the Collect taken from the Mass for the Holy Rosary in the 1962 Missal. This prayer has been replace by the Angelus prayer as the Collect for the present Missal which also makes the connection with the fulfilment of our Christian journey through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin.
Praying with Our Lady
St Bernadette Soubirous, starting from 11 February 1858, testifies that the apparition she experienced at Lourdes, who identifies herself as the Immaculate Conception, prayer the rosary with her. She moved the beads through her fingers but did not pray the Hail Mary's but did join her in the Our Fathers. Statues of Our Lady of Lourdes depict the Blessed Mother holding a rosary in her fingers.
At Fatima, Our Lady exhorted the visionaries to pray the rosary for peace. They were also instructed to pray the rosary daily and it was linked to the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The prayer given by the angel "O my Jesus forgive us our sins..." was added to the end of the decades. In her final apparition on 13 October 1917 the vision identified herself as "the Lady of the Rosary."
From this we can be confident that Our Lady wishes us to pray with her and through her so as to unite us to the mission and power of her divine Son.
Conclusion
The Holy Rosary is a beautiful devotion which helps to enter more fully into the mystery of Christ. It is not a static prayer rather it invites us to journey through the drama of salvation and ask that we share ultimately in its glory.
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