The Rosary

One of the greatest moments in my life was when I was asked to give a tlak on the Rosary in a state primary school. A greater moment would have been if I had been asked to give the talk in a Catholic Primary School but one does not expect miracles. Anyway by the time I was finished those children knew more about the catholic faith than the children in the local catholic school. Protestants usually see Catholics holding beads and babbling Hail Mary`s `ad nauseam` and to what end? You do not need all that `show off` stuff and prayers from the heart are so much richer. When the modernists took over the Catholic Church in England they made a ferocious attack on the Rosary and their are few catholic schools in which it is now said. I attended several meetings in my local parish where people boasted they did not say fixed prayers any more but prayed from the heart. "But why not do both?" I suggested. I certainly say Hail Mary`s "Peole who say the Rosary always do both because people who say the Rosary are the ones who kneel and adore the Blessed Sacrament, and this quite definitely dmands `prayer from the heart`. I then discussed what the Rosary was. It is ameditaion of the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Once when I was responisble for the Rosary in the parish at a meeting os all the organisations I took the bible to the platform and held it up with the Rosary. "These two go together" I told the audience. "But if you are thinking of Jesus why are you praying to Mary? Because we want Mary to help us in our thinking of Jesus. The Rosary has a crucifix on which we announce our faith in Jesus Christ. We then have one bead on which we say the our Father, then a group of three beads on which we say Hail Marys and a third bead for the Glory be. We usually use these beads to pray for the Holy Father. Then we are into the circular part, five sets of ten beads with a singular bead splitting them, the Our Father and Ten Hail Marys. Each set forms one of the five sets of mysteries. The Joyful, the Sorrowful, the Glorious, and the Mysteries of Light. Take for example the Joyful mysteries. On the first set we would think of the Annunciation. What did it look like when Mary was confronted by an Angel? Do we accept what God gives us? What are these gifts? What did the Incarnation mean to the world? These thoughts and many others go through our heads as we say the Hail Marys. After years we get so much more out of these contemplations. But why not just leave the Hail Marys and just contemplate. I can only answer this from my experience. My mind wanders an awful lot. Sometimes I leave the contemlation and think more of what so and so did yesterday? The football match is tonight? But the effort of saying the Hail Mary usually brings me back to the meditaion. The Hail Marys also regulate the time needed to comtemplate. Two to three minutes is the usual time then we move on to the next mystery and contemplate something else. Believe me these daily comtemplations on the life of Jesus really help us to get to know him and Mother Mary is a great help to us. She says the Rosary with us. At Lourdes she and Bernadette said the Rosary together. Mary loves the Rosary. So do not be a minimal catholic. Reach for its greatest treasure among which is the Rosary.