The Rosary
Fr. Lionel Gamache, SMM
St. Louis de Montfort once wrote: Few Christians, however enlightened, know the real value, merit, excellence and necessity of the Hail Mary.” To a certain extent the same may be said of Catholics of our day. This article [will …] show how the Rosary is part and parcel of True Devotion to Mary, according to these words of St. Louis de Montfort: ”Those who adopt this slavery ought also to have great devotion to saying the Hail Mary” (T. D. No. 249).
“N ever will a soul faithful to the daily recitation of the Rosary be guilty of formal heresy or be deceived by the devil; these words I am willing to endorse with my own blood.”
This significant passage came to mind when newspapers announced recently that Dr. James H. Price, a former Episcopalian minister, had been received into the Catholic Church. In his statement to the press, Dr. Price humbly confessed that for the past two years he had been faithful to his daily Rosary.
Montfort’s words might seem exaggerated, but only to one who is unfamiliar with the Rosary. As a devotion the Rosary is at once a vocal and mental prayer. The vocal element consists in fifteen series of ten Hail Marys preceded by an Our Father for each series. Sometimes other standard prayers, such as the Gloria, the Creed, the Salve Regina, have been added, but these latter are not essential parts of the devotion. While the Paters and Aves are recited, the mind must be kept occupied in the pious meditation of certain mysteries that honor the life, death and glorification of Jesus and Mary. This is the mental part of the devotion.
Speaking of the Rosary, as a mental and vocal prayer does not imply in any sense that other vocal prayers have positively no link with the mind. Any prayer must be rational. Only a being endowed with intellectual faculties can raise his mind to God in praise, adoration, penance and petition. The Rosary is said to be vocal and mental because the food for reflection during the recitation of the Aves and Paters is specifically determined.
Its essential elements were well expressed by St. Louis de Montfort in his book on the Rosary. He made this popular devotion consist in four important parts: 1. vocal prayer; 2. meditation upon the historical contents of a mystery ( Incarnation, Visitation, Nativity, etc. ); 3. the establishing of relations between the life of Our Lord, the life of Mary and our own life as derived from the mystery considered; 4. petition addressed to Mary to obtain her intercession before God.
All has not been said, however, in regard to the Rosary by the simple indication of its essential elements. A mere definition of this devotion can hardly explain, for instance, the infectious enthusiasm that the apostles of the Rosary have possessed. “Few Christians, however enlightened know the real value, merit, excellence and necessity of the Hail Mary” (T. D. 249).
For that matter, the nature of some new household appliance is not fully understood by the cold description of the materials with which it has been thrown together. That is why a salesman in explaining the nature of the product he is selling, will wax enthusiastically on what his product can do.
Pilgrimage Statue: Our Lady of Fatima
The image of Our Lady of Fatima encouraging us to all say The Holy Rosary.
”Those who adopt this slavery ought also to have great devotion to saying the Hail Mary”
It was the result of deep thought and experience that inspired Montfort to write: “I do not know how it is nor why, but nevertheless I know well that it is true; nor have I any better secret of knowing whether a person is for God than to examine if he likes to say the Hail Mary and the Rosary” (T.D. 251) . And again: “It has always been observed that those who bear the mark of reprobation like (formal) heretics, the proud, the impious hate or despise the Hail Mary and the Rosary.” How can Montfort talk that way about such a simple devotion?
Brain Washing
Did you ever hear of “brain washing”? [Many years ago,] this word has been used by our newspaper correspondents to describe the mental rehabilitation course given to some of our soldiers repatriated from P.O.W. camps. Under pressure, some of these gallant heroes had absorbed Communistic ideas.
“Brain washing” consist in re-presenting to their sick minds the benefits of the God-given freedoms which they once knew and enjoyed.
The calm reflection on the mysteries of our Redemption, everyday, is exactly what the doctor ordered for our own sick heads. A man cannot fill his mind with such sanctifying thoughts for long without sensing a radical change in his whole psychology. The examples of humility, poverty, sacrifice, conformity to the will of God to which the mind is subjected by the meditations of the Rosary must of necessity purge one’s brain of the materialistic concepts absorbed from our diseased world. Contamination by the daily fare of crime, injustice, pride and sex served us in what we read and in what we see has to disappear under such beneficent influence.
Grace
A sinner is converted, however, not so much because he has been breathing cloistered air but rather because of the grace of God. The Rosary is a prayer. Said by someone in the state of grace it will merit like every good action, graces of sanctification and salvation. And the Rosary is primarily a prayer of impetration in which the individual seeks the intercession of the Mediatrix of All Graces. The petition is addressed to one who has been given all the graces of heaven to dispense at will.
Crown of Roses
Further, it is a prayer which by nature is exceedingly pleasing to Our Lady. It is difficult to see how she would refuse to intercede for someone who keeps repeating those words of love to her. The Hail Mary recalls the unbelievable condescension of divine Love towards her, as God begged her at the Incarnation to become the Mother of His Son. This was the bouquet that Gabriel, the Archangel, held before her when he proposed to her in God’s name. Over the years that bouquet has taken the form of a crown of 150 roses. No normal person could refuse a request presented with such delicacy. When that person is a Queen of love and a Mother of mercy the answer is instantaneous.
“ …never was it known that anyone who … sought thy intercession was left unaided.”
