Saint Louis de Montfort and The Holy Rosary

A postle of the “Most Holy Rosary” is a privileged title that the Church gives to Saint Louis de Montfort. Is there something special which this saint teaches us about “the telling of the beads”? It must first be noted that his works are filled with numerous references to the Rosary in addition to his highly popular, The Secret of the Rosary. Taken together, the term “Rosary” (which for Montfort means fifteen decades) and “chaplet” (the five decades) appear in his writings about 500 times! His explanation and exaltation of the Rosary together with his urgent directive to pray it daily, are so plentiful that it must be said: The Rosary is an integral part of Montfort’s Spirituality, a preferred daily practice of those who follow his Marian path to Wisdom.

Of all Montfort’s statements about the Rosary, is there one which can be considered the most important, or the climactic point of all his teachings on the Rosary? Yes. Surprisingly, it is not found in his Secret of the Rosary, or in his explicitly Marian works. The Love of the Eternal Wisdom (#193) contains the highest praise of the Rosary which can be found in any of his writings: “For me, I know of no better way of establishing the kingdom of God, Eternal Wisdom, than to unite vocal and mental prayer by saying the holy Rosary and meditating on its fifteen mysteries.”

At first sight, the sentence seems extravagant: “No better way of establishing the kingdom of God”? Yet when it is examined as he understood it, it is evident that it is not a passing, off-the-cuff phrase of the saint; rather, when seen within the context of all his works, it is a summary of his spirituality.

Our goal is the Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ, the Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom. Of this, no one can doubt. Now “the greatest means of all and the most wonderful of all secrets for obtaining and preserving divine Wisdom is a loving and genuine devotion to the Blessed Virgin” (LEW 203). And of all the expressions of devotion to Our Lady, even of total consecration to Jesus living in Mary, the Rosary as vocal and mental Gospel prayer, as a practice both inferior and exterior, is preeminent.

The Rosary is, for Montfort, a powerful means of carrying out this fundamental purpose of our existence, union with Christ Jesus. It is a unique, authentic Marian devotion filled with her representative Yes to God’s yearning to redeem us in Christ. It is strongly centered, therefore, on Jesus in His Gospel mysteries as seen through the eyes of Mary. The back-ground music of the prayers – the vocal element – serves to create a mysterious atmosphere enabling us to contemplate Jesus more simply, love him more tenderly, surrender to him more completely. The Rosary calls us to open our hearts to the powerful influence of the Mother of God, so that we will “do whatever the Lord tells us” (cf. Jn 2:5). And in so doing, the Rosary becomes nothing more or less than the sincere expression of our radical consecration to Jesus-Wisdom through Mary, which is the perfect renewal of our baptismal promises.

As magnificent as the Rosary is, nonetheless “it is also the hardest prayer to say well and to persevere in, owing especially to the distractions which almost inevitably attend the constant repetition of the same words” (SR #122). What can be done? Following Saint Louis de Montfort’s creativity in recommending a variety of methods of praying the Rosary, we can search for a variety of ways of lessening these often chaotic disruptions in Rosary prayer.

Have you ever tried integrating your strong, ever-present “distraction” within the traditional mysteries of the Rosary? For example, we could on a day of significance, like the anniversary of the death of a parent, pray the traditional mysteries but in light of the distraction caused by the anniversary. The death is integrated into each of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries as we pray the Hail Mary’s.

Or we could even meditate on Gospel mysteries which are not included in the classical fifteen, like the Transfiguration, the Marriage Feast of Cana, but which are better fitted to the overpowering distraction which seems to bind us. To force ourselves to meditate solely on the traditional mysteries when a particularly crucial event is happening in our lives (especially within the context of the family), may well lead to five decades of frustrating disruptions. If we can’t dislodge the thought of our anger with a neighbor or coworker, let the meditation be on the tenderness of God toward all, love of neighbor, etc. On a day when the world news is particularly horrendous and holds our imagination captive, we could in the light of this event, meditate on Providence, the victory of all things in Christ, offering to the Lord the people involved in the calamity, etc. This is not for every day or for everyone since praying Gospel mysteries in the light of the distraction may turn the Rosary into nothing more than a planning session for the day’s shopping. But for many, the prayer and the distraction can be melded into one; it bridges that gulf which some experience between prayer life and the reality of every day.

Montfort declared that after years of experience in preaching parish missions and retreats, he knew that if he collared anyone with the Rosary, he had won that person for Christ. Especially during this month of October, why not let ourselves be collared by the Rosary, the “greatest means of establishing the Kingdom of God, Eternal Wisdom,” the Lord Jesus Christ?