Did you know? Since yesterday was the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, I thought I would share my love for this devotion with you. The rosary offers us an opportunity for so many types of prayer – vocal prayer, petitions, praise, thanksgiving, mental prayer of reflection (i.e., meditation) on the mysteries that come from Scripture and Tradition, silence in front of the mysteries, contemplation in that silence. I have seen conversions, transformations, healing and forgiveness come from this prayer. I remember reading the letter that Pope St. John Paul II wrote on the rosary. In one segment he said that it is like going to a friend’s house and learning about your friend from his or her mother. I have to chuckle when I think of the things my mother would reveal to my friends about me – let’s just say, they are not the things that anyone would ever know if my mother hadn’t told them. And yet Mom was so proud that she could reveal these things to them – as if she was doing them a favor so they could know more about who I am and become better friends or something. But back to the rosary – it is like sitting with Mary reflecting and contemplating the mysteries of Jesus -letting Mary lead us to those things about Jesus in a way that only a mother could – and, in doing so, growing closer to Jesus and understanding our relationship with Him – and our call to unity with the Holy Trinity in Him. I have found the rosary to be a beautiful prayer that always seems to “fit” where I am in my prayer life. The rosary contains Vocal Prayer in saying with heartfelt meaning the words of the Our Father, the Glory Be or the words the Archangel Gabriel and Elizabeth said to Mary in the Hail Mary and asking my Mother to pray for me. Or perhaps, the vocal prayer serves as a rhythm for Mental Prayer/Meditation that draws me to reflect on the Rosary Mysteries in each decade (the Birth of Jesus, the Baptism of Jesus, the Agony in the Garden, the Resurrection, etc) and think about how they apply to my life and how I am living their truths as a follower of Christ. As John Paul II says, when we reflect on a mystery, we put ourselves in the presence of the graces of that Mystery. Imagine putting yourself in the graces and blessings of the encounter between Mary and her pregnant cousin, Elizabeth when the Holy Spirit stirred the baby (John the Baptist) in Elizabeth’s womb to rejoice in the presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb and Mary praises God in her prayer the Magnificat! Imagine being soaked in those graces! There is also the grace of Contemplation that may occur at any time. Contemplation is a gift of God that is different than Meditation. In Meditation – we do most of the work – when we meditate on something, we ponder it in thought – we think what it means and how we can learn from it. God may send us insights or inspirations in the context of our meditation but we still do a great deal in the process of meditating. In Contemplation, God does the work and we sit in awe – opening to what God is offering, gazing with a love or peace or joy that is inspired by God revealing Himself, or embracing the grace God is using to transform us. The rosary is a prayer that places one in a poise of openness to that gift of Contemplation should God choose to grant that grace. Mary is with us on this journey – remember, we are sitting with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and she longs for us to learn more about her Son – just as my mother (for some reason) longed for my friends to know ALL about me. Thank you for letting me share some of my thoughts on what the rosary means to me. It is a prayer that has been special to me all my life. I remember its beginnings in my life. I was at my grandmother’s house when I was seven … my grandmother, Cecelia, said to me – “you are young and healthy … there is no reason you should not be on your knees saying a rosary every day.” From that day on, before I would go to sleep at night, someone in my family would check if I had taken the time to say my rosary. If I hadn’t, they would say it with me then. One last thought … the rosary is one of the prayers that is granted the graces of a plenary indulgence that can be granted daily if done with the other conditions of the indulgence and when the rosary is said in a Church or, if said anywhere, in a group of two or more. The rosary is a gift from God, Mary, and the Church to grant us many graces for us and others and to help us to grow closer to the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit – as well as join us in prayer and holiness with Our Spiritual Mother, Mary. Lynn Marie