THE ROSARY
History of the
Rosary | In the Life of the Church
Power of the Rosary | Why Pray It
| How to Recite It
The Rosary is a walking through the Life
of Jesus, his moments of joy, sorrow and glory, while holding His
Mother's hand. The Scriptures tell us to put on the mind of
Christ, and what better way than by meditating on His life. We
meditate on how Jesus responded and how the person closest to Him, Mary,
responded to the joys and struggles in their life. By daily
meditating on these we will find ourselves "putting on the mind of
Christ and learning (as Mary did) to respond like Him in our daily
struggles and joys.
History of the
Rosary
Saint Dominic of Guzman (1170-1221) founder of the Religious Order
of Preachers or "Dominicans" is considered the originator of
this devotion and practice. The Most Blessed Virgin appeared to
him, and as of that moment, he used the Rosary in his missionary work to
oppose the Albigensian heresy (they considered physical matter to be
bad, and therefore they denied the Incarnation of the Word) which spread
throughout Europe. The Virgin revealed to him:
"If people consider the
life, death, and glory of my Son, joined with the recitation of the Hail
Mary, enemies can be destroyed. It is the most powerful means
to destroy heresy, vice, give reason for virtue, implore divine mercy,
and attain protection. The faithful will receive many graces and
will find in me someone always willing and ready to help them.
- The elements which make up the Rosary
arise from a long and gradual development which began before the time of
Saint Dominic, but it was considered to be him who organized and made
popular the practice, grouping in 10 the Hail Marys, inserting between
them the Our Father.
- One of the objectives in achieving this
organization was to help the people who did not know how to read the
Bible, and therefore could not recite the 150 psalms of the Divine
Office, to take part in the Liturgy.
- The "Our Father" is the
prayer which Jesus taught to His disciples when they asked Him to teach
them how to pray.
- The "Hail Mary" is made up of
the words of the Angel and Elizabeth to Mary. It was completed
emphasizing the intercession of Mary before her Son.
- The "Glory be to the
Father..." is an invocation to the Trinity, always present in Mary
- Daughter of God the Father, Mother of God the Son, Spouse of God the
Holy Spirit.
In the Life of the
Church
By praying the Rosary, we honor Our Redeemer as we, together with
Mary, go over the Mysteries of His and His Mother's life.
In the year 1570, the Turks and the Islam threatened Europe, and had as
their sole objective "to make slaves out of Christians."
Pope Pius V showed concern, and called the leaders of the nations to
join the pontifical army and come against the aggressor. They are
joined by Spain and the Kingdom of Venice under the command of Don Juan
of Austria.
The Pope invited all Christians to "pray the Rosary daily, as much
in public as in private." The procession was presided by the
Blessed Sacrament and the Pope proclaimed "a week dedicated to
Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary." Before the battle, the
Pontifical army prayed the Rosary. In 5 hours the Turks were
defeated, and the majority of their 300 ships sunk. A storm
completed the destruction of the Turks.
Before "knowing the results" of the battle, Pius V invited the
Cardinals who were gathered in Rome with him, "to give thanks to
God for the victory in Lepanto." Only two weeks after this
incident, a herald arrived in Rom to bring the news of triumph.
It was also Pope Pius V, who ordered, in the year 1572, the yearly
celebration of Our Lady of Victory to implore God's Mercy upon His
Church and all the faithful, and to thank Him for His protection and
countless benefits, in a special way, for having freed Christianity from
the weapons of the Turks in the victory of Lepanto. Pope Gregory XII decrees "the first Sunday in October as the Feast
of Our Lady of the Rosary."
In the year 1710, as the procession on the Feast of the dedication of
St. Mary Major Basilica was taking place in Rome, the Turks were again
defeated in Hungary.
In thanksgiving, Pope Clement XI decreed that the Feast of Our Lady of
the Rosary be observed in the Eastern Church.
The Power of the
Rosary
In the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, she always invites us to
pray the Rosary for the conversion of sinners, so that they will be
saved. Let's remember the addition which was made as of the year
1917 to the short prayers: Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins,
lead all souls to heaven, and help especially those in most need of your
Divine Mercy..
In the painting of the "Final Judgment" in the Sistine chapel,
Michael Angelo painted a Rosary which gives the impression of being a
staircase to heaven which may be used by all those who during their life
prayed it, and in the final moment, Mary will intercede for them.
The Rosary was defined by Pius XII as "Summary of the Gospel."
It presents us with the Christian Truth, and obtains holiness for those
who recite it. Speaking to Mary through the Rosary, she leads us
to Jesus, who is fountain of all graces.
Peace is, without a doubt, one of the fruits which the Blessed Virgin
obtains for those who pray the Rosary. Pope Pius XI said: "If
you desire peace in the heart, in the home, in the country, get together
to pray the Rosary each night... These are my last words to you, and
they are my memorial."
Pius XII urged those newly married, to pray together from the day of the
wedding: "Assure the success of the future of your family life."
"If the winds of temptations are raised, if you stumble with the
difficulties of temptation; look at the star, call upon Mary."
- St. Bernard
Why Pray it?
Maybe all of us have confused more than once "routine" with
"habit." Habit makes the perseverance which leads us to
learn and improve. Routine, on the contrary, makes us fall into
monotony and boredom. Maybe we have listened to people who don't
pray the Rosary because they consider it monotonous. Why such a
monotonous and repetitive prayer?
All of us learn by imitating and repeating: to talk, to walk, to eat, to
study, to play. Prayer and love, are not
exceptions. It is necessary to learn to pray and to love. To
pray and to love we need the silence which helps us to admire the
person whom we love and who loves us. To pray and love, it is
necessary to repeat in our inner-being what we feel for the loved
person, and to
talk to the person to tell them that we love them and we
need them. The more we repeat it, the more we will break away from
monotony, and the intensity will increase. How do we know that
someone loves us if it isn't because they repeat it to us
constantly? Don't we like to be loved? Does it bother us that
the person who loves us repeats it? Being a repetitive prayer, it
helps us to achieve peace and serenity. The repetitiousness is
insistence which makes us be attentive and vigilant. In that way
we banish the monotony by being attentive to the reply which God gives
us each time that we "talk to Mary."
The most essential
functions in life are repetitive. The same thing happens in our relationship with Mary. Each time we
recite the Rosary, we have the opportunity to greet her and tell her 50
times what the Archangel Gabriel told her. Mary likes for us to
repeat to her that she is "full of grace," that "the Lord
is with her," that "she has found favor before
God." And this fills us with pride because we have in Mary,
the "full of Grace," the "Mother of God," the Mother
that Jesus gave us at Calvary. As we accompany Mary in the
meditation of the mysteries of the Rosary, we learn from her how she
"meditated in her heart" all that Jesus would say to her and
in that way, we may imitate her.
How to Recite It
The Rosary comprises 15 mysteries which correspond to 15 important
events or "mysteries" in the life of Jesus. They are
divided into the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious. Please click on
a link to see the mysteries of the Rosary:
Joyful
Mysteries
Sorrowful Mysteries
Glorious Mysteries
The recitation of the Rosary includes different ways of listening to
God, since it teaches us to reflect, that is to say, to go back
over our
actions so as to realize that our life has to be lived with joy, longing
to reach a goal which goes farther than our present life. If sin
causes us pain, the search for Gods' forgiveness leads us to the Glory
of Holiness, that is to say, to be with God forever, together with His
Blessed Mother. The Rosary helps us to meditate, that is, to be
silent and contemplate that, which Jesus has done for us, and Mary helps
us to make it part of our life - today as 1000 years ago, Jesus
continues to be born in the poor and the outcast; He continues to suffer
agony when we abuse and take advantage of others, and continues to
invite us to the Glory of the Resurrection when we seek Him sincerely
with the purpose of "doing what He tells us."
José Gabriel Cortés
Florida Center for Peace
We pray the Rosary each week on Tuesdays
from 3-4p.m. in UC 237
Go Back to the Main UM
Campus Ministry Page
For More Information, contact
Rigoberto Vega
campus@saintaugustinechurch.org
305-661-1648
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