As October draws to a close it seems fitting to call to mind once again
the powerful gift entrusted to us in the Holy Rosary, this extraordinary Gospel
prayer in which is so beautifully intertwined our Contemplative gaze on God and
our Apostolic outreach to the world and its needs.
One of the most appealing aspects of the Rosary is its versatility. It
is truly a prayer for all seasons of life, all stages of growth, all moods and
humours.
Through it we can be brought into wrapt attention, lost in God, as the
rhythmic cadence of the repetitive Hail Mary stills our bodies, quietens our
minds and brings us into the depths of our own being where God simply is
and we are simply present with Him.
There are other times when the mysteries themselves hold our attention,
coming alive for us. These are times of great reflective fruitfulness when new
insights into God and his ways light up our path and renew our enthusiasm for
God and the things of God, making it possible for the Word to become flesh in
us.
Then there are the days when we feel lost and lonely, anguished and
confused and the Rosary becomes our lifeline. We don’t know how to pray .We are
too agitated and distressed to quieten down but by picking up the beads and
just vocally repeating the prayers we are expressing with our bodies our desire
to be one with Jesus in His Sufferings. At these times we are perhaps most
truly Mary’s children, sick wounded hurting, fearful for ourselves or for
others, but holding on to mammy’s hand and leaving it to her to explain to
Jesus the Divine Physician of our bodies
minds and spirits what ails us and what grace we need from each mystery. In
each hail Mary we pray ‘pray for us sinners’ but at times like this Mary not
only intercedes for us but we leave her to pray for us, do our praying for us.
I learnt to pray like this when I was very ill and was too weak to concentrate.
Like all loving mothers except much more so, Mary knows us better than we know
ourselves and if we just somehow remain there, she will untangle all the knots
and the very chains that bind us will be the same ones that draw us with her
into Heaven.
At all times the Rosary can be a powerful prayer of intercession but
especially in times of suffering and neediness it can move us out of our
preoccupation with our selves. We may begin off focusing on the mysteries
longing for them to bring us relief but gradually something inside us changes.
As we unite our suffering with those of Jesus He gives us his awareness of the
needs of all for whom He suffered. He expands our hearts to care for others, to
desire their salvation, to want relief for them in their pain, to want them to
know as we ourselves know the compassion and comfort of our loving Saviour. In
our anguish we can look around us and ask that by his wounds someone else in
anguish may have the peace our hearts long for. Our pain becomes a gift when it
opens us to the pain of others. It becomes something to be grateful for,
something we can even choose to accept if our suffering united to those of
Jesus can be of help to someone else. This is the transforming power of the
Rosary, this is the mysteries being active in us.
When we have been hurt or when we have hurt others lingering with the
sorrowful mysteries can bring healing and penitence. They can teach us how to
love, how to forgive, how to understand.
There are times when we are aware of receiving great grace and insight
as we pray our Rosary but there are too the long days of simply being faithful
to our recitation, allowing the mysteries to unconsciously create the
atmosphere in which we live, the very familiarity of the prayer almost
imperceptibly making God present, as it were. I always think of my grand
parents in this context. At night they would sit together watching TV and as
bedtime approached they would turn off the TV and take out their beads. Still
sitting together on the sofa they would begin their prayer. By that simply act
of taking up the beads, an act as routine as brushing their teeth, a ritual
done daily without fail, they changed a place of recreation into a place of
deep prayer. To be with them at that time was to be in the presence of God.
As the years begin to creep up on us and old age manifests itself in
numerous little ways, making us a little fearful if not of death then perhaps at
least of the process of dying, the Glorious mysteries may become specially
precious. It is good to reflect on the home coming that awaits us. It helps to
look forward in certain hope to the joys of the Resurrection. The Glorious
Mysteries remind us that our life is the story of our return to the Father’s
house. Jesus has gone before us to prepare a place for us and at the right time
He will come to take us to Himself. The assurance that Jesus is coming closer,
reaching out to draw us into his embrace where we will be with Him forever
provides comfort and brings peace.
Queen of the most Holy Rosary, in life and in death, show unto us the
blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus
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