The Catholic New World: Cardinal's Column, Calendar & Appointments

May is Mary’s month in Catholic piety. It is a time of May crownings and special devotions. We turn our attention to Christ through Mary, his mother and ours. There are many reasons for this, not least of which is the obvious truth that one privileged way to understand a man is to get to know his mother.

While devotion to Mary may take many forms, one privileged prayer that has proven its value over the centuries is the recitation of the rosary. In a letter to the whole Church last year, Pope John Paul II invited all Catholics to find in the rosary a way of bringing our lives into harmony with God’s plan for us. “With the rosary, the Christian people sit at the school of Mary and are led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love.” When we say the rosary, especially in families, we are with Mary, gazing with love upon her Son, looking at him with her eyes, meditating on the events of his life through Mary’s memory of them. “Though the repeated ‘Hail Mary’ is addressed to Mary, it is to Jesus that the act of love is ultimately directed with her and through her.”

Not everyone finds the rosary an easy prayer. St. Therese of Lisieux did not. With meditation on the mysteries, the prayers become a way of fixing one’s attention; without meditation, they can become simply rote. Yet children love to repeat formulas, and St. Therese persevered in prayer with the rosary because she linked it closely with her way of spiritual childhood. The rosary is a series of exclamations of childlike love, like an infant chortling with delight time after time as her father tosses her in the air and catches her in his arms. Repetition with attention can open the soul to contemplation.

Spiritual exercises and prayer are not a form of self-affirmation. True spirituality is life with God; genuine prayer is raising the mind and heart to God. Christian prayer is turning to God through Jesus Christ with love in our heart. All of that we do in praying the rosary. The repetition of prayers we know by heart takes us beyond words to fill our minds with thoughts of the wonders God has wrought for us. Habitually praying the rosary helps us each day refresh our personal intimacy with Jesus Christ, “the way, the truth and the life” for us (Jn 14:6). Not only does God have a divine heart rich in mercy and forgiveness but “in Christ, God has assumed a human heart capable of all the stirrings of affection.” In our praying the rosary, the mysteries of Christ’s life mesh with events of our own lives, and the infinite love of God can shape our human desires.

To bring out and expand the intimate contact with Christ which the rosary offers, the Holy Father last year added another set of five mysteries to the joyful, the sorrowful and the glorious mysteries. The Pope calls them the Mysteries of Light, and they bring into our praying of the rosary the deeds of Christ’s public life: 1) his baptism in the river Jordan; 2) his self revelation at the wedding feast at Cana; 3) his proclamation of the Kingdom of God and his call to conversion; 4) his transfiguration in glory on Mt. Tabor; 5) his institution of the Holy Eucharist the night before his crucifixion and death. In each of these events, the person of Jesus himself becomes ever more clearly identified with the coming of the Kingdom proclaimed by the prophets.

Jesus came to a world darkened by sin and by the suffering and death that are sin’s consequence. He announced: “I am the light of the world” (Jn 8:12). He came to bring “the light of life” and to enlighten every human being (Jn 1:9). His disciples are to reflect Christ’s light in the world. The priest or deacon, in baptizing, gives the newly baptized a lit candle and says: “Receive the light of Christ; walk always as a child of the light.” Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist impress the form of Christ upon us to make us visible signs of God’s glory in the world. As disciples of Christ, we contemplate the five mysteries of light, following “in the footsteps of Christ the Revealer, resolving to bear witness to his Beatitudes in daily life.” The Holy Father suggests that we use the Mysteries of Light to pray the rosary on Thursdays, transferring the Joyful Mysteries previously said on that day to Saturday.

Frequently enough when I visit a parish or school, I’ll receive a spiritual bouquet. Children very often promise to offer for me Masses and the doing of acts of charity, the saying of short prayers, visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the recitation of the rosary. I treasure this spiritual wealth shared in the Church and am grateful for these prayers. This month, let us pray for one another and for the peace of the world, especially when we say the rosary. Held close to the Blessed Virgin Mary and focusing our gaze on Jesus her son, we will be able to look at the world with eyes of mercy and to speak with words of truth and hope. God bless you.