Guardini on the Rosary

MAGNIFICAT's "Meditation of the Day" yesterday, for the Feast of the Holy Rosary, has directed me to Romano Guardini's short book The Rosary of Our Lady. It is a book that contains both very practical advice to enrich the way in which we pray the Rosary and theological/catechetical instruction that places the manner of our praying of the Rosary within the context of salvation history and of a genuine human dynamic of prayer.

The chapter entitled "Mary", for example, offers an explanation of how the Christian relates uniquely among the saints to Mary, without compromising the orientation towards Christ:

It is Mary on whom the Rosary is centred in a focus ever new. This prayer means a lingering in the world of Mary, whose essence was Christ.

It is this chapter which precedes the chapter entitled "Christ in us" from which the MAGNIFICAT meditation was taken:

To linger in the domain of Mary is a divinely great thing. One does not ask about the utility of truly noble things, because they have their meaning within themselves. So it is of infinite meaning to draw a deep breath of this purity, to be secure in the peace of the union with God ...

All prayer begins by man becoming silent - recollecting his scattered thoughts, feeling remorse at his trespasses, and directing his thoughts toward God. If man does this, this place is thrown open, not only as a domain of spiritual tranquillity and mental concentration, but as something that comes from God.

We are always in need of this place, especially when the convulsions of the times make clear something that has always existed but which is sometimes hidden by outward well-being and a prevailing peace of mind: namely, the homelessness of our lives. In such times, a great courage is demanded from us; not only to dispense with more and to accomplish more than usual, but to persevere in a vacuum we do not otherwise notice. So we require more than ever this place of which we speak, not to creep into as a hiding place, but as a place to find the core of things, to become calm and confident once more.

For this reason the rosary is so important in times like ours - assuming , of course, that all slackness and exaggeration are done away with, and that it is used in its clear and original forcefulness. This is all the more important because the rosary does not require any special preparation, and the petitioner does not need to generate thoughts of which he is not capable at the moment or at any other time. Rather, he steps into a well-ordered world, meets familiar images, and finds roads that lead him to the essential.

[So far as I can tell, this book was first published in German in 1940 - so Guardini's reference to "times like ours" is a reference to war time conditions in Germany.]

Guardini offers an explanation of the part played by each of the prayers in the structure of the Rosary. This is what he says about the Our Father, prayed at the beginning of each decade:

The start and the goal of all spiritual movement is the Father. So the prayer to Him is placed at the beginning of each decade, to ask Him for the things that are really vital. The meditation that follows is thus made in the sight of the Father; like the seer in the Revelation of St John we look at all the different events that pass before the eyes of Him "who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever".

And on the Glory be:

And finally, with the "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit" at the end of each decade, he who prays bows before the triune God, from whom everything comes and to whom everything returns.

Guardini has already spoken about the role of the Hail Mary in representing for us the mystery that is the subject of each decade. He assumes a practice that is not well known in the English speaking world, of introducing into the Hail Mary a reference to the mystery being prayed:

...the Rosary is, in its deepest sense, a prayer of Christ. The first part of the Hail Mary ends with His name: "And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus". After this name follow the so-called mysteries (for example, "Whom thou, O Virgin, dids't conceive of the Holy Spirit, "Whom though didst bear with thee to Elizabeth", "Who was born to thee in Bethlehem"). Every decade of the Rosary contains such a mystery.

It is worth noting, too, Guardini's suggestion that the Rosary needs to be both given the time that it needs by the one who prays, and also to be allowed to take the time that of its own nature it will ask:

The Rosary is a prayer of lingering. One must take one's time for it, putting the necessary time at its disposal, not only externally but internally..... It is not necessary to ramble through the whole Rosary; it is better to say only one or two decades, and to say them right.

Support for Pope Benedict XVI

It won't catch the headlines in the main stream media, but it is an expression of the extent of affection and support for the Pope from Catholics in the United Kingdom - and, quite possibly, from some non-Catholics as well.

More than 130 days of Eucharistic Adoration ...

6 300 financial donations to support the work of the Church in the Middle East ....

11 500 Mass offerings for the the Holy Father's intentions ....

32 000 decades of the Rosary ....

Aid to the Church in Need’s fundraising and marketing manager Patricia Hatton spearheaded the initiative.

She said: “This scheme has given a voice to all those benefactors who, in the face of media indifference and worse, believe strongly in the message of Christ. They are convinced that prayer has the power to strengthen the life of the Church.”

Meanwhile, many messages of support have come in to the charity’s office in Sutton, Surrey.

One message reads: “I am concerned that every opportunity should be taken to show the world, particularly the secular ascendancy here, that British Catholics are devoted to the Pope.”

Lourdes 4: the Lord's Day

Our recent visit to Lourdes was meant to be a pilgrimage as well as a holiday. The Sunday of our stay was designated a "religion" day.

This began with the International Mass at 9.30 am. The Diocese of Rome were on pilgrimage at the time, so the principal celebrant on this morning was the Pope's episcopal vicar for Rome. I hadn't quite realised that it is possible, each Wednesday and Sunday of the pilgrimage season, to follow the International Mass live on a web stream from the Lourdes shrine's website. It was interesting to see that the Our Father was sung in Latin - and that the congregation joined in with considerable energy. This seemed to me a much better idea than something I have previously experienced in Lourdes, which is pilgrims being invited to pray the Our Father in their own different languages. The undergound basilica was full for Mass, which I think puts the numbers attending at 20 000 people or thereabouts.

After a coffee, we then took ourselves off to pray the Stations of the Cross, using the "high stations". Our timing was good in that there were no large pilgrimage groups praying the stations at this time. One of the most powerfully evangelising aspects of a visit to Lourdes is when you see small groups, perhaps of two or three, following the stations in a prayerful way. On our visit, it was interesting to notice more pilgrims from the far East and the Asian sub-continent, who communicated a particular affection for the devotion of the stations as they prayed them. One or two people were climbing the hill in bare feet .... And, in front of the fifteenth station recalling the Resurrection, we were asked to take a photo of a group of about a dozen Italians, I expect on pilgrimage from one of the new ecclesial movements.

We used the meditations that Pope Benedict, Cardinal Ratzinger as he then was, prepared for the Colosseum on Good Friday in the year 2005.  I had used an adapted form of these meditations in the parish previously, but they were very rich meditations to use, and pray together, in Lourdes.

When we took part in the Eucharistic Procession that afternoon, we waited under the arches by the grotto for the procession to pass, with the intention of joining at the end after the Blessed Sacrament had passed. The procession starts at 5 pm. It was 5.50 pm before the procession had passed us and we could follow on behind the Blessed Sacrament - which gives some idea of the numbers taking part. Again, the underground Basilica was full for the occasion.

The Rosary procession was rather smaller (the Saturday evening procession had, I think, been much larger). We walked it, with the inevitable distractions to prayer that that entails.

My observation to our host at the hotel the next morning was to say: "Nous n'avons plus les genoux".

How to pray the Rosary

From p.107 of the Official Handbook of the Legion of Mary, referring to the practice that I call "clipping" - starting the second part of each prayer during the last phrase of the first part - and which occasionally (OK, regularly) leads me into mischief while leading the Rosary. I sometimes stop without saying "Jesus" and let everyone else start the second part of the prayer without it:

The proper recitation of the Ave requires that the second part should not begin until the first part has been finished, and the Holy Name of Jesus reverently pronounced.

From an article in the June-July issue of Lourdes Magazine, describing a "school of prayer" in the shrine run each day to help individual pilgrims in praying the Rosary:

..start with a time of silence in the presence of the Lord, make the Sign of the Cross, choose a Word of God as a main thread, pray the Our Father, then evoke the decade and turn towards the Trinity (this is what we call the doxology: Glory be to the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit), and end with your own intimate prayer.

Rosary meme

I was asked to do this a few days ago. When I got my camera out to take the required photographs yesterday, it wouldn't work. A change of batteries, and it still wouldn't work. Hence imagination required, at least for two of the rosaries involved..

UPDATE: the camera has decided to work today (Saturday afternoon).

1. The Rosary I usually use is one purchased about a year ago from Aid to the Church in Need.




2. My "next oldest" is a one-decade Rosary ring, part of the pilgrim's pack from the 2005 World Youth Day in Cologne. Now faded in colour wooden beads on a small cord, made if I recall rightly, in the Holy Land for the World Youth Day pilgrims. [See the end of this post. If we hadn't gone in 2005, we would have been even further out of the age bracket by 2008!]


3. My only other Rosary is one purchased at Pluscarden Abbey, when I stayed there during the Jubilee Year 2000. I was at the time trying to find myself a new crucifix for my home, to be my "Jubilee Year crucifix". I wasn't being successful at that, so the Rosary came instead. Found a San Damiano crucifix for my flat a couple of years later, after visiting Assisi.

They all live in a pocket of the ruck sack that I usually take out with me. Handy to have the spares with me if someone has lost hers ...

First Friday becomes Second Friday

I was asked to move our normal time of Eucharistic Adoration from the first Friday to the second Friday this month. Poster below.

I am going to use meditations from St Paul, to accompany praying one each of the joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious mysteries. I think I will choose just two or three of the mysteries to use with the children's adoration. Time also for silent prayer between the mysteries.

Third joyful mystery: the birth of Our Lord

Galatians 4:4-7

But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

Fifth luminous mystery: the Institution of the Eucharist

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Fifth sorrowful mystery: the crucifixion and death of our Lord

Colossians 1:15-22

He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities -- all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him.

Fifth glorious mystery: the ascension of Christ into heaven

Romans 8:28-30

We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

China - the torch of faith

As the Olympic Games in Beijing get under way, it is worthwhile to remind ourselves that Christians, along with other religious believers, are subjected to persecution in China. Whilst commentators from the developed nations of the West might find it fashionable to call on China to respect the human rights of its own citizens, I suspect that few of them will be willing to articulate this in a call for religious freedom in the country. Such a call would require a certain echo in Western societies that are increasingly anti-religious themselves, though this is not expressed in juridical persecution in the way that it is in a country like China.


Aid to the Church in Need feature their work to support Chinese Catholics on their website, under a campaign entitled "Torch of Faith: China 2008". This includes stories, prayer resources and the possibility of providing financial support for ACN's work in China.


Christian Solidarity Worldwide have a similar campaign called "One Dream: Freedom. It's time to go the distance". What Catholics will be familiar with in the language of "underground Church" and "Patriotic Church" is mirrored for other Christian communities as "unregistered" and "registered" Churches.

A suggestion of Christian Solidarity Worldwide's campaign is that Church communities should spend time tomorrow (Friday) in prayer for Christians in China. This is timed to coincide with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Instead of watching the opening ceremony, we could switch off the television and pray a family Rosary for the persecuted Church.

And this is before any consideration is given to the "one child" policy and its practice of co-erced abortions.

Liturgy and Devotions (or Lent and the Rosary)

A prospect in sight is that of a parish whose prayer/catechetical life is just Mass, two or three session Baptismal preparation programme for parents of infants, children's first Holy Communion programme and teenagers Confirmation programme. That is, a parish without a devotional life (eg Rosary group, Sunday afternoon Eucharistic Adoration, Holy Hours, youth groups etc) to accompany its Liturgical life (Mass and the celebration of the Sacraments). This prospect seems to me to have unhelpful consequences:

1. the effectiveness of sacramental preparation programmes is reduced if young people "dip in" to them and then "dip out" again - a vibrant devotional/catechetical life in a parish can provide a constant background of devotion and catechesis in which the sacramental preparation programmes fit as particular "moments"
2. pastoral needs (eg with regard to styles of prayer or music) that can legitimately be met using the freedom of devotional life are instead met in the only place in parish life that is available, namely, the Liturgy - and we find inserted into the Liturgy practises that have no place there
3. the celebration of the Liturgy itself will be less rich, because the formation towards its celebration that comes from devotional life is lacking.

Devotional/catechetical life needs to begin from the Liturgy and then lead back to its celebration. It might well be the case that the types of devotional/catechetical life needed in parishes today are not the same as those from the past. One of the risks, too, in the prospect of the "devotions-less parish" is that catechesis and devotion are separated in the consciousness of the parishioners - so sacramental preparation programmes suffer an absence of piety, and acts of piety lack a sound catechesis.

A good example of a sound relationship between Liturgy and devotions is the Rosary, and, during the first weeks of Lent, the Mysteries of Light. [The Joyful Mysteries reflect the Liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas, the Sorrowful Mysteries the season of Holy Week/Passiontide and the Glorious Mysteries the season of Easter.] The Baptism of the Lord is celebrated between Christmas and the start of Lent, and marks the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. The Wedding Feast at Cana looks forward to the "hour" of Jesus that will come at Calvary, and has a strongly Eucharistic significance. The Preaching of the Gospel and the call to Repentance is thorougly Lenten in its message. The story of the Transfiguration, with its forward glance to the day when the Son of Man has risen from the dead, is always the Gospel at Mass on the second Sunday of Lent. And the Institution of the Eucharist indicates the beginning of the "hour" for which Lent is our preparation, and the movement into the material of the Sorrowful Mysteries.

My favourite mysteries of the Rosary? You guessed it - the Mysteries of Light!