The Queen: Editorial: The Rosary
Fr. J. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
“For myself, 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.”
St. Louis de Montfort
S trong words! However, their meaning full meaning can only be grasped when placed in the context of the whole of Montfort Spirituality.
Notice that Saint Louis de Montfort identifies the kingdom of God and Jesus, the Eternal Wisdom incarnate. Jesus is the reign of the Father. True, the fullness of God’s kingdom is only to be found when all creation is one with the Risen Lord in glory. Yet even now we belong to that reign insofar as we are one – in every fiber of our being – with Jesus the Lord.
The basic question then comes down to this: how can I enter into that kingdom, how can I be one with Jesus?
Saint Louis de Montfort gives a clear response: “The greatest means of all and the most wonderful of all secrets for obtaining and preserving divine Wisdom [Jesus] is a loving and genuine devotion to the Blessed Virgin.”
Montfort therefore proposes total consecration to Jesus through Mary, a total emptying of the self into the Other. Only by fully pouring ourselves out – like Mary and through Mary – into Infinite Love incarnate, can we find ourselves. Like an impassioned Elijah, Saint Louis de Montfort calls down from heaven the Fire of the Spirit so that we may knowingly and willingly be who we truly are: nothing of ourselves and everything in Jesus in whom we are baptized.
It is, Montfort insists, in the womb of Mary – in the sharing of her incredible faith – that we are renewed, re-formed by the Spirit into the image of her Son. This is precisely what the devout praying of the Rosary brings about.
A brief examination of the “parts” of the Rosary clarifies this. The decades are composed of Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be to the Father. Who can find more powerful words than the prayer which Jesus taught us (Our Father), the salutation of the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation (the first part of the Hail Mary), the praise of the Church to our Triune God (Glory be) and the petition of God’s people for Our Lady’s intercession (second part of the Hail Mary)?
However, the Rosary is not only vocal prayer. In most methods of telling the beads, the Our Father’s and Hail Mary’s, voiced with a slow, repetitive rhythm, is the soft background music which creates an atmosphere filled with the Spirit. Our life in Mary so intensifies the presence of the overshadowing Spirit, that we become a loving, peaceful gaze at the mysteries of the Gospel. The regular flow of the back-ground music is not, then, the focus of our attention. Rather, the mysteries of Jesus take center stage: conceived in Mary’s womb, on His first missionary journey to Elizabeth and John the Baptizer, born at Bethlehem, offered in the Temple, found after being lost for three days. The Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries complete the traditional cycle of Rosary meditations.
Saint Louis de Montfort shows an amazing creativity in his “Methods of Saying the Rosary.” He suggests that at times we “add a word or two to each Hail Mary of the decade, reminding us of the mystery we are celebrating.” For example, the first decade would add after the name of Jesus, “becoming man,” the tenth, “Jesus Crucified,” the fourteenth, “raising you [i.e., Mary] up,” etc. (cf God Alone, The Collected Works of Saint Louis de Montfort, #6).
The saint’s five different methods of saying the Rosary are an invitation to us to be creative when privately praying the Rosary. It may be that one mystery, e.g., Christ dying on the Cross, or Jesus living in Mary, may so absorb us that we continue meditating on it throughout the five decades. The mysteries of the Rosary should also spring from where we happen ‘to be’ when reciting this Gospel prayer. If it is the anniversary of the death of a loved one, or if our minds are caught up in a recent tragedy, the Rosary may well bear this thought throughout the de- cades. In the light of personal failure, the beads may become a simple gaze of love at the victorious Risen Lord. And in this way we overcome a distraction by making it a theme of our prayer.
No matter the method, the Rosary is, in its fullness, a contemplative and therefore an apostolic prayer. With the gentle music of the prayers which compose the Rosary, we peacefully contemplate the beauty of Jesus and become supple clay being formed by the Spirit for the service of the Church, to the glory of the Father.
No wonder Saint Louis de Montfort can proclaim that he knows no better way of establishing Jesus in our hearts than by saying the Rosary and meditating on its mysteries! It is nothing less than deepening our life in Christ Jesus, the reign of God.
Editorial
From time to time, The Queen will republish Editorials or create new Editorials on various topics.
In The Queen: Q&A there is a question posed by a QoAH member asking if the Mysteries may be substituted from time to time while saying the Rosary. The response may be found using this link. Also, the Conference Audio on The Secret of the Rosary may be found using this link. Lastly, two additional Spiritual Insights might be helpful for the reader. How Do We Prepare for Prayer is an excerpt from the Secret of the Rosary Conference. Also, How Do We Reflect on the Mysteries is also an excerpt from the Secret of the Rosary Conference.
