Rediscover praying the Rosary

THE time has come, says Pope John Paul, to rediscover the Rosary and bring it back into the mainstream of personal and family life.

It is not meant to be the preserve of conservative Catholic individuals and groups but belongs also to the ordinary middle of the road Catholics like the ones who used to pray the Rosary daily but somehow lost the practice – and usually did not fill the gap with any other form of prayer.

Pope John Paul is calling on ordinary middle of the road Catholics today to rediscover the Rosary. To help us, he wrote a special apostolic letter on the Rosary and launched a special Year of the Rosary.

He says, in his letter: ‘The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements it has all the depth of the gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium.’All ways of praying the Rosary are good, yet in his letter the Pope highlights and proposes to us a method for praying that is Christ-centred, scriptural, contemplative, accessible and most appropriate for our times. It is a seven-step method that is easy to follow and most rewarding.

The seven steps are:

1. Announce the mystery.
2. Read the appropriate Scripture.
3. Pause in silence to focus or reflect on the decade.
4. Say the Our Father.
5. Say the Hail Mary 10 times and each time include a special ‘clause’.
6. Highlight the Glory be to the Father.
7. Say a prayer for the fruits specific to that particular mystery.

The fifth point of including a clause might be new to many people, yet this is probably the most important and helpful advice the Pope gives us to make the Rosary a Christ-centred contemplative prayer.

For example, in each Hail Mary, simply repeat the name of Jesus and add a clause naming the mystery or some insight into it.

For example:

4th Sorrowful Mystery – Hail Mary full of grace … Jesus. Jesus carrying your cross. Holy Mary … Amen (say 10 times).

1st Glorious Mystery – Hail Mary full of grace … Jesus. Jesus rising from the dead. Holy Mary … Amen … (say 10 times).

Notice a clause is not a full complete sentence but has a sense of continuous present tense. This is not difficult. Just do it and you will find yourself praying in a very Christ-centred contemplative way.

Pope John Paul says (in para 3): ‘To recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ.’

The Pope’s letter has led me personally to rediscover the Rosary and to pray it in a much more contemplative manner. In particular I find that the repetition of the name of Jesus, together with a clause in each Hail Mary, is a most wonderful and effective help in keeping my attention focused on the person of Christ in each particular mystery.

In paragraph 3, the Pope says: ‘The centre of gravity in the Hail Mary, the hinge, as it were, that joins the two parts, is the name of Jesus. It is precisely the emphasis given to the name of Jesus and to his mystery that is the sign of meaningful and fruitful recitation of the Rosary.’ Sometimes it won’t be possible to read an appropriate Scripture passage, eg when driving a car, yet here you can, for example, simply repeat the name of Jesus and repeat the title of the decade as the clause, eg ‘Jesus presented in the temple’; ‘Jesus carrying your cross’.

The Pope also says: ‘By its nature, the recitation of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace (para 12) so, surely, it would be better to pray two or three decades this way than to hurry through the whole five decades.’

Regarding step 6, Pope John Paul says (para 34): ‘It is important that the Gloria, the high point of contemplation, be given due prominence in the Rosary. In public recitation it could be sung as a way of giving proper emphasis to the essential Trinitarian structure of all Christian prayer.’ If singing is not practical, a person or group could, for example, say the Gloria three times.

The rest of the article contains suggested clauses for each of the 20 mysteries of the Rosary. It is probably best not to use too many of them in a decade at any one time, unless you wish to pray the Rosary as a meditation rather than a contemplative-type prayer.

Many of the clauses are taken straight from the Pope’s letter and have already been road tested both by individual people and groups.

I wish to acknowledge the help I received from a booklet called Mysteries of Light, Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary with Pope John Paul II (St Paul’s Publications). This booklet contains half a page of selected thoughts, taken straight from the Pope’s apostolic letter, for each of the 20 mysteries.

Joyful Mysteries

1. Annunciation
   • Jesus Messianic joy.
   • Jesus Word made flesh.
   • Jesus conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.
   • Jesus blessed fruit of Mary’s womb.
2. Visitation
   • Jesus blessing Mary’s belief.
   • Jesus causing exultation.
   • Jesus blessed fruit of Mary’s womb.
   • Jesus inspiring Mary’s Magnificat.
   • Jesus inspiring Elizabeth to give a loud cry.
3. Birth of Jesus
   • Jesus Saviour of the world.
   • Jesus Son of God and Son of Mary.
   • Jesus good news of great joy.
   • Jesus source of gladness.
4. Presentation in the Temple
   • Jesus inspiring Simeon’s ecstatic canticle.
   • Jesus inspiring Anna to praise God and to give witness.
   • Jesus a sign of contradiction to reveal people’s inner thoughts.
   • Jesus light to the nations and the glory of God’s people.
5. Jesus found in the Temple
   • Jesus wholly dedicated to your Father’s affairs.
   • Jesus proclaiming the radical nature of the Gospel.
   • Jesus challenging us with the absolute demands of the kingdom.

Mysteries of Light

1. Baptism
   • Jesus, the innocent one, who became sin.
   • Jesus, beloved Son, God’s chosen one.
   • Jesus invested with your mission.
   • Jesus grafting us onto yourself in our baptism (giving us the same identity, empowerment and destiny).
   • Jesus, God’s pleasure, God’s delight.
2. Wedding at Cana
   • Jesus increasing faith in your disciples.
   • Jesus showing the power of Mary’s intercession
   • Jesus revealing God’s and your compassion.
   • Jesus bringing the new wine of the kingdom.
   • Jesus affirming the goodness of marriage.
   • Jesus, the bridegroom, come to claim his bride, the Church.
3. Jesus proclaiming the Gospel
   • Jesus inaugurating your ministry of mercy.
   • Jesus proclaiming and witnessing to the kingdom.
   • Jesus light of the world.
   • Jesus challenging me to rethink and see the world through God’s eyes.
4. The Transfiguration
   • Jesus transfigured by the glory of God.
   • Jesus beloved Son.
   • Jesus to whom we listen.
   • Jesus whose face shines with the glory of the Godhead.
5. The Institution of the Eucharist
   • Jesus loving to the end.
   • Jesus establishing the new and everlasting Covenant.
   • Jesus body given and blood poured out for us.

Sorrowful Mysteries

1. Agony in the garden
   • Jesus in anguish before the will of your Father.
   • Jesus embracing your Father’s will.
   • Jesus’ ‘yes’ reversing Adam’s ‘no’.
   • Jesus encountering all the temptations and confronting all sins of humanity.
   • Jesus in emotional pain.
   • Jesus faithful to the Father in your emotional pain
   • Jesus enduring the tension of being faithful to your mission.
2. Scourging at the pillar
   • Jesus in physical pain.
   • Jesus faithful to the will of your Father.
   • Jesus our co-sufferer.
   • Jesus abandoned by all your friends.
3. Crowning with thorns
   • Jesus being mocked and humiliated.
   • Jesus suffering physically, spiritually and emotionally.
   • Jesus, Ecce Homo!
4. Jesus carries his cross
   • Jesus revealing the love of God and the meaning of a human being.
   • Jesus making me feel the need to be another Simon of Cyrene
   • Jesus persevering.
   • Jesus in whom is found the origin, the meaning and fulfilment of human beings.
5. Jesus dies on the cross
   • Jesus the God who humbles yourself out of love.
   • Jesus the God who humbles yourself unto death, death on a cross.
   • Jesus, Ecce Homo!
   • Jesus revealing the depth of God’s love.
   • Jesus surrendering yourself to the will of God.
   • Jesus revealing the life-giving power of God’s love.
   • Jesus dying for my sins and for the sins of the world.

Glorious Mysteries

1. The Resurrection
   • Jesus the Risen One.
   • Jesus helping us discover the reasons for our faith.
   • Jesus helping us relive the joy of Mary and the disciples.
   • Jesus, victorious over sin and death.
2. The Ascension
   • Jesus raised in glory to the Father’s right hand.
   • Jesus revealing our glorious destiny to us.
   • Jesus liberated from human limitations.
3. Pentecost
   • Jesus giving birth to the Church.
   • Jesus, Risen Saviour, imparting the Holy Spirit.
   • Jesus now present with the Church all days till the end of time.
   • Jesus revealing the face of the Church as a family.
   • Jesus, the Risen Christ, continuing your mission in the world through your body, the Church.
   • Jesus empowering us to bear witness to that ‘good news’ which gives meaning to our entire existence.
4. Assumption
   • Jesus giving us hope for our heavenly goal.
   • Jesus sharing your victory with Mary.
   • Jesus promising us our assumption.
5. Crowning of Mary
   • Jesus giving Mary the unique privilege of sharing our destiny.
   • Jesus crowning Mary Queen of Angels and Saints.
   • Jesus making Mary a sign of hope to God’s pilgrim people.
   • Jesus showing us in Mary the goal to which we are called.
   • Jesus making Mary the anticipation and realisation of our final goal.

Fr Vince Hobbs is the administrator of Rosalie, Red Hill and Bardon parishes in Brisbane.