The blessed Virgin Mary and the Rosary

May 7, 2003
Denver Catholic Register

The month of May is a time set aside to honor not only our own mothers but our Blessed Mother as well. This is a good time to think of our relationship with Mary, the mother of Jesus and our mother.

We have been trying to accompany the apostles during these weeks after the Resurrection of our Lord. The days after the Ascension and before Pentecost we see them together with the Blessed Virgin Mary awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit: "All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers" (Acts 1:14).

"The most important aspect of the figure of Mary is her intimate union with Jesus as mother. Jesus' humanity is entirely from Mary. She gave her Son her mother's heart, surrounding him with love, care and respect. Mary brought Jesus up by her work, her motherly devotion and her commitment to protect him. She educated him with her life, which was poor and serene, industrious and simple, chaste and full of maternal love. She brought him up by her trust in the Father and her willingness to help the needy" (cf. "Jesus Christ, Word of God"). They lived the normal life — including the joys and sorrows — of a simple family in Nazareth. Mary not only educated her divine Son, but was also educated by him in a mysterious way.

As we can see, Mary's life was oriented toward Jesus. We can say that the meaning of her life was Jesus. She had faith in him. She believed and committed herself to our Lord.

She is our mother and she is also a model for us. She takes care of our needs and she takes us to Jesus, her divine Son.

There are many ways to honor our Blessed Mother, but perhaps the most special way is by praying the most holy rosary — a most powerful weapon against evil. The rosary is a beautiful prayer that we should never abandon or underestimate. It is not a kind of superstition, but a prayer that Our Lady has encouraged and that popes have prayed and encouraged others to pray for many centuries. "The rosary, as an exercise of Christian devotion, follows right after the Mass and the Breviary in importance; and for lay people, it follows in importance after participation in the sacraments," wrote Pope John XXIII in his apostolic letter, "On the Rosary."

More recently, Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter, "On the Most Holy Rosary," dedicated the year 2003 as the Year of the Rosary.

The rosary, with its meditations on the faith, is a great teacher along with its value as a prayer. It is a true dialogue with Mary, our heavenly mother. In the rosary we speak to Mary and ask her intercession on our behalf before her Son, Jesus. In this way, we speak to God through Mary. The rosary is more than the repetition of rote prayer: it is speaking directly to our Blessed Mother, who can be seen with the eyes of faith.

We should resolve to pray the rosary frequently, daily if possible. We must make time to say to Our Lady the words she longs to hear. How can we say we love her if we do not find the time to be with her, to say to her the things she wants to hear, which we know are pleasing to her?

If we really try to put ourselves into the 20 mysteries and contemplate the scenes, we are practicing a rich, theological prayer in a relatively easy way. We are praying about the chief events in the history of salvation — from the conception of the Messiah up until the Resurrection and beyond to the glorification of the Mother of God. This ensures that we not forget the life of Christ, for in the life of faith, forgetfulness can be fatal.

Pope John Paul II said that "the great sin of infidelity coincides with forgetfulness, which cancels the memory of the divine presence in us." But absent-mindedness is an unavoidable part of human nature. What kept Jesus alive in the hearts of the apostles? The Blessed Virgin Mary. The apostles' encounter with the Mother of God after the Ascension was a new kind of "visitation." In his apostolic letter on the rosary, Pope John II writes: "In a unique way the face of the Son belongs to Mary." As the apostles gazed upon the face of Mary, they recognized Jesus ... and remembered.