The Rosary of the Virgin Mary is on top of the list of my favorite prayers. I pray it everyday. The consolation it gives me as I touch each bead and quietly meditate on the Lord’s Life, Passion, Death and Resurrection is immeasurable. It’s like I’m brought to the Blessed Mother’s side and together we implore her Son’s mercy and grace. It allows me to experience the depth of Jesus Christ’s love for me. Their presence is very real and palpable that I can almost feel their comforting embrace. I am at peace with the world; nothing else matters. Everything is all right. It is a prime time for reflection and relaxation in God and in the Blessed Mother’s presence.

The thoughts and experiences shared by the three high-powered speakers about the Holy Rosary at the 2nd Congress of the PWHS last July 19, 2003 affirm all the emotions and passion I go through during my Rosary Hour.

Fr. John Cordero

 

I

Fr. John Cordero, substituting for Fr. Jojo Zerrudo, in his topic "THE ROSARY: PURGATORY’S PATHWAY TO HEAVEN," talks of the Rosary as a very powerful symbol of the Catholic religion. Any Catholic worth his salt has a rosary with him and perhaps, many more in his closet, such that the Rosary’s influence in a Catholic life is deeply ingrained. As a result of this profound devotion to the Blessed Mother, many, although not all, say the Rosary while the Holy Mass is on going. Because of this, there is a need to re-emphasize its real meaning and true value.

According to Carl Rahner, the "pseudo-democratic marginalization" of the Rosary, meaning, that it is being put in the sideline of the Catholic life, comes from the fear of detracting from the centrality of the Liturgy because of the strong devotion to Mary. The truth is that the Rosary never competes with the Mass since it is a compendium (summary) of what the Bible teaches about Jesus Christ’s life and mission.

When Vatican II introduced Ecumenism as a way of looking at other brothers of religious persuasions, the image of the Blessed Mother was relegated to the side of the Church or at the Sacristy for fear that it may destroy the spirit of Ecumenism, Renzo Bertolot says, "Meantime, it is necessary for the Protestants and other religious affiliations to discover Mary in the Bible and for Catholics to discover Mary." Mary is the symbol of a true disciple of Christ written in the Bible. She is a major influence in the life of Catholics.

The essence of Mary’s Actions in the Rosary is two fold:

1) It is MEDIATION between:

• God and the World 

• Christ and the Church 

• Spirit and Flesh 

• Two forms of ecclesial existence, i.e., Church Sufferings (Purgatory) and Church Triumphant (Saints in Heaven)

Mary mediates between sinners and saints. Because she is very close to God’s heart, God will accept her prayers; God will never turn her down. In John 2:1-11 (Wedding at Cana) in spite of the fact that the Lord’s "hour has not yet come", He turned water into wine when His mother told Him that the wine had run out.

2) It is to show to us the POWER OF THE ROSARY in the realm of our salvation. Pope Leo XIII says, "The Rosary is a public witness of love for the august Mother of God; a reward for the piety of the faithful." The Rosary revives hope in the Eternal Reward – to be in the Kingdom of God.

When the Blessed Mother appeared to the three children at Fatima, she gave them a vision of hell. The Lady said to Lucia that "many souls are going to hell because few are praying and making sacrifices for them." So the Lady taught them to pray: "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls into heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. Amen."

The Rosary is our lifeline; our stairway to heaven! I’m not surprised that in my daily Rosary prayer, I have serenity and a foretaste of heaven.

Dr. Arnold Monera

II

Dr. Arnold Monera shares by going deeper to the Rosary as a Compendium of the Gospel by tracing the history and practices of praying with beads. In the early 2nd century, Jesuit monks used pebbles to say their prayers. While in the 4th century, the Irish monks divided the Psalter; all 150 of them, for the eternal repose of the dead and were replaced with 50 "Our Fathers". Sometime in the 12th century, the Rosary developed. It became an active substitute for the Liturgy of the Hour in order that the common people could pray. As psalms disappeared, Dominic of Prussia helped develop the 5o Hail Mary’s.

Pope Paul VI started showing the Catholic faithful that the object of the Rosary is Jesus Christ; that it is not against the Liturgy. It supports the Liturgy, in fact, because the faithful is contemplating on the mystery of Jesus Christ. The Rosary is a proclamation of "Evangelion" – the Good News – that is the Good News of our salvation. The Rosary, at its very base, is Christ-centered.

Added to the existing three mysteries of the rosary – the Joyful Mystery where God begins His revelation; the Sorrowful Mystery where His sufferings and death are chronicled; and the Glorious Mystery when God goes back to the Father and gives the Holy Spirit to His disciples – is the Mystery of Light, the beginning of Jesus Christ’s public ministry. Pope John Paul II wants all the Catholic faithful to penetrate into the life of Jesus Christ that he included the Mystery of Light. His objectives are to emphasize the rosary’s evangelical (Good News) character and Christ-centric inspiration; and to bring out fully the Christological depth of the Rosary.

1. Jesus Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan. 

Jesus takes upon Himself the sins of humanity. It is the starting point of His public ministry. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are present, giving Jesus Christ a sign of approval to go ahead with His mission. He comes to sanctify the Jordan for the sake of humanity; His readiness to suffer for mankind and ransom us by His blood. He, who is Spirit and Flesh, comes to begin a new creation through the Spirit and water.

Jesus Christ’s first miracle. When Mary tells Him that the water has run out, her intercession shows the power of Jesus. Mary’s role demonstrates that her relationship to Jesus is based not only on a biological relationship but on her faith in Him.

The central message of Jesus’s preaching is the Kingdom of God, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand. It is a call to repentance. In the Bible, all the parables of the Lord are about the Kingdom of God, of which the fulfillment will happen in the Parousia or The Second Coming of Jesus Christ. When we pray the rosary, we pray "May Your kingdom come." The function of the Church is to the proclamation of the Kingdom of God and we are all called to enter the Kingdom which is intended to accept all of humanity.

God the Father asks the disciples (Peter, James and his brother John) to listen to Jesus. Our greater happiness is to be with Jesus Christ; to be like Him and to live in his light. Our greatness comes when the Lord focuses His attention on us.

5. The Institution of the Eucharist

It is God’s will that the perpetual presence of Jesus be in our midst; to be constantly sanctified now that we have been redeemed by His precious blood. The Eucharist is a representation of Christ we hold in our hands, receive in our mouths and accept in our hearts as we partake of the Holy Eucharist everyday. "Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again," affirms His presence when we receive Him in the Holy Mass.

The Rosary is my mini Bible. It is the best instrument of developing an intimacy with Him. The Rosary helps me to strengthen my faith in God.

III 

Who can talk better about Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Patroness of the Holy souls, than one who is deeply devoted to her and a member of her order. This is none other than Bishop Rolando J.T. Tirona, OCD, DD of the Discalced Carmelite Order.

We learn from Bishop Tirona that Mount Carmel stands for silence, solitude, contemplation, and intimacy. At Mount Carmel, the covenant of the Lord is revived. It is a garden of relationships of prayer.

We cannot speak of the Filipino faith without the Blessed Mother getting into the picture. There’s such a thing as child-like love and when Filipinos fall in love with her, they become child-like in their devotion that the intercessory role of Mary to the Father is lost to them. This child-like love and devotion can likewise explain why we have so many names attached to the Blessed Mother. There are specific titles given her depending on "miracles" or answered petitions. Names such as Mother of Perpetual Help, Mother of All Nations, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary – La Naval de Manila, Our Lady of Peace and so on and so forth.

Mary is a woman of faith. Her faith is an "affective faith", coming from the heart not from the mind. God reads what is in our heart, not from our mind. Because she is a woman of love, everything Mary does centers on how to know Jesus Christ more deeply. Her faith is what we call an "informed faith" because it is a faith that comes from her love of God. In her desire to know and love God in a more profound way, Mary does not keep her faith to herself alone. It is not a sentimental faith. She lives her faith by sharing it with others, not forgetting those she can help. Through her, the faithful receives abundant graces. Her "effective faith" has results. God created us to love, know and serve Him so that we can help others to do the same. Because Mary is a powerful intercessor and benign mediator and the Rosary is an expression of faith, her selfless quiet efforts affect the lives of others in moving ways.

Mary has the faith of a true warriors: focused, relentless and steadfast. Nothing can detract her from her role as mediator. The Blessed Mother has the trust of freedom. Where there is conflict between her personal feelings and her deep love of God, she chooses to be "steadfast" in her faith – steadfast in her freedom to follow the will of God. She has the enviable position of knowing what pleases the Lord that forgetting herself matters not. To her, Jesus Christ is the "siguradong daan". She has the wisdom to know that Jesus Christ has the spirit of truth and freedom; that the Spirit facilitates the way to the Father. The Blessed Mother has the fullest of Spirit. She is the Spirit.

Mary who is the Spirit, a woman of faith (affective, effective and steadfast), the true Mother is inside the church. As a woman faithful to the mission of her Son, Jesus Christ, the Catholic faithful can turn to God with insistence and confidence that the Blessed Mother’s intercessions can obtain all things from the heart of her Son, Jesus.

Let me share with you Fr. John Cordero’s closing prayer:

DOHDO M. TANBONLIONG

(Core Group Member, PWHS)