A Garland of Roses

Since October is dedicated as the Month of the Holy Rosary and today is the Feast of the Rosary, I think it just might be appropriate to point to some of the deeper realities of the Rosary.

At first glance the Hail Mary prayer can appear to be primarily about Mary. It isn’t! It’s meant to focus one's attention on Jesus. The first part of the prayer is taken from the angel Gabriel’s words, revealed in Scripture. " Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women" (Luke 1:28). These words are not a focus on Mary but on the wonder of heaven and earth. They are about the Incarnation taking place inside Mary’s womb. The repetition of the Hail Mary acknowledges above and beyond anything else the greatest miracle of history – the Incarnation.

In the center of the prayer we speak (with reverence I hope) the sacred name of Jesus – " Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." In the last part of the prayer we entrust our lives to Mary’s intercession – " Pray for us sinners…" As I said, the Hail Mary is meant to lead us to Christ. We are asking Mary to pray for us as she prayed for herself – " Let it be done to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38).

Don’t just say the Rosary, pray it! Reflect on the decade’s particular and unique mystery from Christ’s life.

When we pray the Our Father remember the Our! We aren’t praying alone and for our own self. We are praying with and for all Christians. In reconciling us to God, Christ reconciled us to each other.

The Glory Be is meant to be the highest point of our contemplation - we praise God for his becoming man and dwelling among us, for his death that conquers sin, for his resurrection which gives us new life, and for his ascension to the Father and sending the Holy Spirit.

The beads deliberately converge on a crucifix, which represents the beginning and the end point of the Rosary – life is to become centered on Christ.

To say the Rosary is to open one’s self up to the grace which Christ won for us by the mysteries of his life, death, and resurrection. Bead after bead we ask Mary to pray for us that we might be drawn closer to her Son. The Rosary is still one of the evangelizer’s greatest tools.