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The Rosary (The Seventh Pillar of Catholic Spirituality)

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The Rosary (The Seventh Pillar of Catholic Spirituality) The Rosary (The Seventh Pillar of Catholic Spirituality) • Why Have We Abandoned the Rosary? One reason the modern Church has abandoned the rosary is the overemphasis some people have placed on the role of Mary and the rosary. But I doubt that this is the whole reason that Catholics en masse have stopped praying the rosary and teaching their children to pray the rosary in their homes and schools. But the solution to the distortion or overemphasis of a good is never to abolish the good in question. I suspect one of the reasons the rosary has become so unpopular during our modern era is because it is stereotypically considered the prayer of an overly pious old woman with little education with too much time on her hands. In a world where we bow to knowledge and academic degrees, piety is considered to border on superstition. But in truth, piety is reverence for God and devotion to God. Isn’t part of the goal of every Christian life to devote oneself to God? Catholics have abandoned the rosary today because we have been seduced by complexity. We give our allegiance and respect to complexity, but simplicity is the key to perfection. Peace in our hearts is born from simplicity in our lives. All the great leaders throughout history have agreed that usually the simplest solution is the best solution. The genius of God is simplicity. If you wish to tap into the wonder and glory of God, apply simplicity to your life and to your prayer. Our lives are suffering under the intolerable weight of ever-increasing complexities. We complicate everything. And as this diseased fascination with complexity has swept across modern culture, it has also affected the way we approach prayer. Subsequently, as modern Catholics, we have deemed the rosary worthless. Don’t despise simplicity. There is real power in it. The rosary is not a prayer just for gray hair elderly ladies with too much time on their hands. It is a rich practice of prayer that we all benefit from. Perhaps your objection is that you were forced to pray the rosary as a child. If this is the case, move beyond that experience and discover this beautiful prayer anew for yourself. Don’t let the past rob you of your future. • Benefits Interestingly enough, the first book Matthew Kelly published was titled Prayer & the Rosary. You might assume that Kelly grew us in a home where the rosary was prayed as a family every night since the first book he published at age nineteen was about the rosary. No, he never prayed the rosary with his family – not even once! So how did he come to have such a high regard for this simple prayer, which has been so ardently rejected by our sophisticated, modern world? Here’s what Kelly says. When he was in the fourth grade, his teacher taught the class how to pray the rosary and gave each child a pair of rosary beads. He wasn’t much interested, but for some reason he kept the beads. At age sixteen, he met a man who was to become very instrumental in his spiritual journey. He was teaching a study-skills class that he attended after school, and invited him one Saturday to visit a local nursing home. As they walked to the nursing home they talked about a lot of things, mostly about sports, his part-time job, what he wanted to do later in life and his girlfriend. This experience was the first of many encounters at nursing homes in his community that would begin to awaken his moral senses. As they walked home one day, he asked Matthew if he would like to pray the rosary. He agreed. What else can you do in a situation like that? But for some reason, the prayers soothed young Matthew, and he began to pray the rosary on his own in the days and weeks ahead. Not long after that, he began to pray the rosary regularly with his good friend Luke. Praying the rosary was very soothing, both mentally and spiritually. Today he prays the rosary because he believes it is the simplest way to reflect upon the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. To place this in the context of our spiritual journey, Kelly believes that as Christians we are called to imitate Jesus. It is impossible to imitate someone you do not know. We come to know Jesus in the Scriptures, in the Sacraments, and through so many different people and places. The rosary is one other way. By praying the rosary, we can ponder many aspects of Jesus and his life in a relatively brief period of time. And, as we read earlier on, the actions of our lives are determined by our most dominant thoughts. If our actions are to be like those of Christ, then it helps to ponder his life and teachings regularly. We also spoke about the power of stories. There is no more powerful story than that of Jesus Christ. This is the story that has formed and focused human history, and it is essential to our mission as Christians that we are intimately familiar with. The rosary helps us to know his story and teaches us to integrate it into our own lives. • Growth in Virtue One of the practical spiritual benefits of the rosary is its ability to help us grow in virtue. When we connect the good and noble external acts of our lives with positive internal attitudes and intentions, we grow in virtue. As we begin to practice a virtue intentionally, it develops into a habitual virtue. But what I also learned is that when intentionally focus your energies toward growing in a particular virtue, you automatically grow in every other virtue. Virtue begets virtue. Eventually, the habitual effort to practice a virtue blossoms into spontaneous right action. I have found the rosary particularly helpful in my attempts to increase the practice of various virtues in my life. The fruit of all spiritual exercises is an increase in the supernatural virtues: faith, hope, and love. St. Paul speaks of them in his first letter to the Corinthians: “So faith, hope and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) At a time when the world is so filled with doubt and skepticism, the beauty of faith shines forth. With so many people’s hearts and minds suffering from depression, despair, and hopelessness, the splendor of hope is radiant. In a culture that exults the selfish attainment of pleasure and possessions, one eternal truth remains clear to all: Love is the only way. Beyond the supernatural virtues, each decade of the rosary introduces practical examples of human virtues, and teaches us to practice these virtues in our own lives. Let us now explore those human virtues now, one decade at a time. • Twenty Lessons The actions of your life are determined by your most dominant thoughts. So turn your mind to those things that are good, true, beautiful, noble and your life will be a reflection of these things. A calm mind is the fruit of wisdom. Calmness of the mind is the result of patient practice of self-control. There are few spiritual practices that will help you acquire this calmness of mind, heart, and spirit like the rosary will. And by learning to direct your thoughts toward God, you will learn to direct your life toward God. In the rosary, we have twenty mysteries that beget twenty lessons in life, love, the attainment of virtue, and the genius of God’s plan for humanity. The Joyful Mysteries The Annunciation: In the First Joyful Mystery we learn about the power of saying yes to God’s will in our lives, as we witness Mary surrendering with her whole heart to God’s design for her life (cf. Luke 1:28-38). Fruits of the Mystery: Desire to do God’s will. The Visitation: In the Second Joyful Mystery we learn the value of service as Mary leaves her home to attend to her cousin Elizabeth (cf. Luke 1:39-42). Fruits of the Mystery: Humility The Birth of Jesus: In the Third Joyful Mystery we encounter the humility of Jesus, the Son of God, born in a stable (cf. Luke 1:1-7) Fruits of the Mystery: Detachment from things of this world. The Presentation: In this Fourth Joyful Mystery we witness a powerful example of obedience as Mary submits her child, the Son of god, to the Law of Moses. (cf. Luke 2:23-32). Fruits of the Mystery: Obedience The Finding of Jesus in the Temple: In the Fifth Joyful Mystery we learn that true wisdom does not come from the mere attainment of knowledge; rather, it is a gift from God (cf. Luke 2:45-49). Fruits of the Mystery: Vocation & Evangelization The Luminous Mysteries The Baptism of Jesus: 1st Luminous Mystery – we learn to stay close to the Father just like Jesus did. Fruit of the Mystery: Openness to the Holy Spirit. The Miracle at Cana: 2nd Luminous Mystery – Jesus transforms water into wine and we are reminded of his ability to transform our lives and the world. Fruit of the Mystery: Trust in God’s Providence. The Proclamation of the Kingdom: 3rd Luminous Mystery – Jesus invites all people of all times to conversion – “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” We ask to be filled with a desire for holiness. Fruit of the Mystery: Repentance. The Transfiguration: 4th Luminous Mystery – We witness Jesus as he really is, the light of the world, and we ask for the spiritual courage to seek truth and light wherever it leads us.
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