We
have two ways of praying the Rosary:
1. As
in Lectio Divina: contemplating
the different Mysteries of Jesus' life, with Mary's eyes.
This is the classical usual way of meditating
on the
mysteries
of the Lord’s life.
2. As in the Prayer of the
Heart:
immersed by Mary in Jesus’ Being.
This method, can be used during the Prayer of the Heart, and is a
more simple, deeply contemplative way of praying the Rosary. Even if
it is less known, it is not of lesser importance.
Just
as the Mass has two parts and neither excludes the other with both of
equal importance, so also it is with the Rosary and both these
methods should be used.
In
previous posts (82 and 83) I explained the existence of these two
ways of praying the Rosary. In this post I would like to speak more
about some aspects of saying the Rosary during Prayer of the Heart.
If you want to know more about the two methods, please read posts: "Two ways to say the Rosary" I in Post 82 (please click here) and II in Post 83 (please click here). When in this post I will mention the
word “rosary” it will allude to the physical rosary and not to
the classical prayer we know with the 4 sets of mysteries.
Distractions
In
a previous post, Distractions during “Prayer of the Heart”, we mentioned that during the Prayer of the Heart, in order to reduce
the influence of the distractions, it is advisable to pray the
decades of the rosary after having made the offering of oneself to
Jesus, and placing oneself in the hands of Mary. Here the "hands"
are very literal; while your heart is raised in prayer, we are
holding the rosary which Mary herself has given to us.
Why
and how do we do this? First, we will look at the physical rosary
itself and how we should view it and use it.
Holding
your own rosary
It
is advisable during Prayer of the Heart
to hold our very own personal rosary, not one belonging to someone
else. A rosary is a personal religious item. In one of her
apparitions to St Bernadette, Our Lady noticed that Bernadette wasn’t
holding her own rosary - in fact someone else had lent her one. Our
Lady noticed this and asked her: “where is your rosary?”
Some
people have a fanciful collection of rosaries: one for this, one for
that, etc. It is better to unify our habits in our prayer life
adopting the simplicity of having only one and just keeping and using
the same rosary.
Characteristics
of Choosing a Rosary
A
good choice would be if our rosary had the following characteristics:
Simple:
no excess of size,
ornamentation or medals attached to it. It is not its price or its
beauty that matters, but the real use we make of it. It is usually
blessed by a Priest, and as well blessed and made ours by all the
prayers said using it.
Discreet:
it is between you and
God. No noise (as some are quite noisy), not flashy. One with wooden
beads and solid string is quite discreet. Some can have very small
beads making it more convenient to carry in a pocket.
Solid:
many do break, especially
during the night, so it is better to choose one with nylon (or
similar) strings and strong beads.
The
Meaning of Holding a Rosary in your Hands
What
does it mean to hold our rosary physically in our hands? It
expresses:
1-
A sincere outright dependence on Mary, knowing that we have recourse
to her prayers, her fire, and her intimate knowledge of the wisdom
and discernment of Jesus.
2-
It is our personal Rosary and not that belonging to anyone else. Our
body prays. It grounds us.
3-
It is comparable to physically holding Mary's hands. The Rosary is
Mary’s prayer given to us. It is Her way of praying with the
quality of the fire of her love.
4-
It is like receiving the "Good Soil", the "New
Wineskin", the "New Heart of Flesh" and deciding to
use it in order to love God. As long as we are here on earth, with
our human condition, our body participates in our prayer and we pray
as a unit: body, soul and spirit. We are not three persons, or three
beings, we are one being, one person, and our body is part of our
prayer. Even at the highest point of our prayer - i.e. the point that
is touched by God, our spirit - we are one unit. Therefore, we cannot
totally neglect the presence of our body. So holding physically our
own rosary is a humble but important part of our prayer. It
acknowledges that God's action and intervention in the world reaches
the most humble part of His creation; the Lord has affirmed that even
a hair from our head doesn't fall without God knowing and seeing it
(see
Gospel Mt 9:30).
Therefore by physically holding the rosary, our body confesses that
God embraces all that He has created through His Incarnation. All
the created world belongs to God. Although we are not angels -
heavenly beings - but humans, we are the earthly "mediators"
of the work of sanctification, acting for and with Jesus, our real
true Mediator.
What
is the Meaning of the Beads?
Using
the rosary during the Prayer of the Heart, the beads can be seen as:
-
Roses sent to God, by the hands of Mary.
-
Impulses of Divine Pure Love (by the hands of Mary),
-
A more modern comparison we can say that the beads (saying one "Hail
Mary") embody our acts of love for God and that they are like:
"sparks” of divine energy" sent to God. Remember the
ineffable groans of the Holy Spirit praying in us
(Romans 8:26 "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our
weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.").
For
instance, every time we say one "Hail Mary", in fact we
send an impulse of love, we make an act of Love, we send an arrow of
Love to God. When we say to the Mother of God: "Pray for us
sinners" in fact we are asking her to lift us up to God, so our
prayers which come from God, through Mary return to God. Lifts us up
Mary, so we can love God with your own capacity of Love, with your
own Fire of Love.
Pitfalls
There
is a danger of transforming the physical holding of the rosary or the
rosary itself into idolatry by unconsciously falling into mechanical
repetition and not internalising our relationship with Jesus,
generating true prayer. The rosary is not an idol or a talisman.
Mary’s hand is not an idol. Even Jesus’ body is not an idol. We
aim for the entire Jesus, who is God. Only He is God. Holding the
Rosary is like holding Mary’s Hand. It doesn’t generate prayer.
What establishes the contact with God is the fact that we offer
ourselves to Jesus in the Hands of Mary.
Holding
the rosary in our hands essentially facilitates the silent quiet
repetition of the Hail Marys.
Holding
it tighter will not increase the intensity of our prayer.
It
should not become too tense or stressful for the hand. We relax and
rest in God during the Prayer of the Heart. We abandon ourselves
(letting go) to God and in God.
Whilst
our body participates in our prayer, it is the heart that prays. God
is Spirit. It is in Jesus and in the Holy Spirit that we pray
truthfully.
Conclusion
While
praying in the company with others, when sincerely they pray to Our
Lady, when they hold their Rosary in their hand, when they ask her to
"pray for them" (“Pray for us sinners”), I always
notice a powerful boost in the connection with the Lord: immersion in
Him and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
(See the continuation 2/2 next post)
Note: The Eastern Churches' Rosary (Called чётки - chotki) is used essentially for the Prayer of the Heart - also known as the Jesus Prayer. It is composed of 33 knots (the years of Jesus' life on earth) or 11 (1/3 x 33) or 99 (3 x 33) knots. In fact the above-mentioned method uses of the the Western Rosary in the same way the Eastern Churches do with theirs.
The repetition of the the Hail Mary goes with the natural rhythm of our breathing. Not faster, not slower.
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