APPETIZER: "Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in...the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value... to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him." (CCC #2708)
MAIN COURSE: Having (hopefully) enjoyed some sample servings of basic doctrine up to this point in our Bitesize Catechism, it's time to move on to the various particular ingredients that make up the feast of our Catholic Faith. First up, of course, should be the life, teachings, miracles, suffering, death and glorification of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is a lot of spiritual food to consume and so we need to break it down into...well..."bitesize" pieces! I can't think of a better way for us to do that than by using one of our most beloved prayer-devotions as our format: the Rosary of Our Lady.
The Rosary helps us to ponder the entire scope of Christ's life. It begins with his miraculous conception in the virgin-womb of the Blessed Mother, and moves on through his childhood into his public ministry as Messiah. It brings us through the horror of his Passion and then proclaims his Glory as Risen Lord enthroned in Heaven. The last three events of the rosary focus on us, the Church, empowered by the sending of the Holy Spirit and encouraged by God's blessings on Our Lady, which will also be our blessings if we remain faithful. Let's take a quick look at the rosary and why it has come to be called the "compendium of the Gospel".
However, the rosary did not just appear on the scene our of nowhere. It has its roots in both prayer and Scripture, particularly the Book of Psalms. In the ancient days of the Church reciting the Psalms was a basic form of daily prayer especially for monks. But the monks who could not read - along with the local illiterate people who joined in their prayer times - began to substitute a repetition of Our Fathers or Hail Marys in place of the Psalms. There are 150 Psalms, therefore, the people prayed 150 Our Fathers or Hail Marys, depending upon local custom and personal preference. In order to keep track of theses prayers, various devices came into use such as a string of knots, a bag of pebbles, a chain of beads.
Just as the mysteries of the rosary varied and developed, so too did the style of prayer beads. Some rosary beads had crosses or medals attached to them along with the four introductory beads such as we are used to seeing on our rosaries today. Others just had "Hail Mary" beads or knots and no other decorations. It did not matter then - and it does not matter today - what form or style of rosary is used to count the prayers. Some rosaries are only 1-decade in size, others 5-decades (the most common form) while others are composed of the entire set of 150 beads or knots.
We should freely use whatever form of the rosary enables us to pray best. The important thing in taking up the Gospel-based devotion of the rosary is that we praise God, honor the Blessed Mother, and reflect upon the mystery of Jesus Christ with our hearts and our minds. In the next few servings of the Bitesize Catechism, we will be sampling the life of Jesus by going through each set of mysteries and reflecting on what they tell us about Jesus Christ, our beloved Brother and Lord.
DOGGIE BAG: Here are a few things to take away with you for spiritual snacking throughout your day.
Pope St. Paul VI (d. 1978) informs us as to why the rosary is a fruitful way for pondering the life of Jesus: "The Rosary draws from the Gospel the presentation of the mysteries... As it moves from the angel's joyful greeting and the Virgin's pious assent, the Rosary takes its inspiration from the Gospel to suggest the attitude with which the faithful should recite it. In the harmonious succession of Hail Mary's the Rosary puts before us once more a fundamental mystery of the Gospel-the Incarnation of the Word, contemplated at the decisive moment of the Annunciation to Mary. The Rosary is thus a Gospel prayer."
In other words, there are a couple of ways to learn about Christ: by reading the life of Jesus in the pages of the gospels or by praying the life of Jesus through the beads of the rosary. Same Jesus. Same life. Different methods. As a matter of fact, in the centuries before literacy became the norm for the common person, the rosary was a main way of learning about and passing on the various events in the lives of Jesus and Mary. Along with the visual art-lessons of stained glass windows it was a basic form of catechism for the average person. St. Dominic and his religious Order of Preachers (known today as the Dominicans) became the major apostles of the rosary as a means for learning the faith and growing in a deep personal relationship with Christ through Mary. It is documented that St. Dominic's promotion of the rosary was a major factor in preserving the Catholic Faith during a time of heresy and turmoil in the 13th century.
It soon became the custom to meditate or reflect upon various events from the life of Jesus while reciting these many prayers. This enabled the people to focus on Christ and not have their minds wander while they recited their prayers. There was no set format for these meditations and so people would often create their own reflections on the life of Christ. These Christ-events began to be called the "mysteries" of the rosary because it is indeed a mystery that God became human and lived among us. Eventually people began to pray just a part of the rosary daily and so the typical rosary we use today is actually 1/3 of the full devotion, consisting of 50 Hail Marys divided into 5 groups of 10 (called decades). Each group is introduced by the Our Father and concluded with the Glory Be.
The Hail Mary prayer also varied and developed over time. The official name of this prayer is the "Angelic Salutation" because it starts off with the angel's words of greeting to Our Lady. Originally, this prayer was just composed of two verses from St. Luke's gospel and went like this: "Hail full of grace! The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." In some places people added the Holy Name of Jesus after the word "womb". After about 1,000 years in its original form, Pope St. Pius V in the 16th century added the ending words "Holy Mary, Mother of God..." and it is has remained pretty much the same ever since (although Catholics and Orthodox Christians in the Easter Church still pray a version of the shorter form).
In our times, Pope St. Paul VI and Pope St. John Paul II encouraged Christians to feel free to adapt the rosary to their personal needs and style when using it as in private prayer. While remaining connected to its essential form of 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys and 1 Glory Be for each mystery, people are free to meditate upon their own sets of mysteries, or to add a few words to the Hail Mary prayer that connects it to each mystery (for example, "fruit of thy womb, Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem" for the 3rd Joyful Mystery). Some people find it helpful to use the original shorter-form of the Hail Mary, especially those who have a hard time focusing for 15-20 minutes while praying the longer version.
Quote from Pope Francis: “Every time we take the Rosary in our hands and pray to her we take a step forward towards our life’s great goal.”
Catholic Customs: The 20 Mysteries of the Rosary. In the year 2002, Pope St. John Paul II added 5 new mysteries to the traditional 15 mysteries of the rosary . He called these the Mysteries of Light or Luminous Mysteries, because they help enlighten us as to who Jesus is and what he did for us in his public ministry. While a person is free to pray any of the 20 mysteries of the rosary any time they wish, it has become customary to reflect on the Joyful Mysteries on Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays of Advent; the Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays of Lent; the Luminous Mysteries on Thursdays and the Glorious Mysteries on Wednesdays and the Sundays of Easter Season and Ordinary Time. Here are the 20 mysteries:
Scripture Verse to Memorize: "And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." (Luke 2;19, on Mary treasuring the memories of Jesus)
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