+ Today we are celebrating the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, a feast which dates back to the sixteenth century. The victory of the Christian forces over the Turks in the naval battle of Lepanto, in the Gulf of Corinth, on October 7, 1571, which happened on the first Saturday of the month that year, was attributed to Our Lady of the Rosary. The rosary itself was a devotional prayer originating in the 12 twelfth or thirteenth centuries. It is made up of an organized structuring of Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be prayers, introduced with the Sign of the Cross and the Apostle's Creed. The meditative reflections or "mysteries" contained in it are regarding the lives of Jesus and Mary.
There was an upswing in devotion to the Rosary in the nineteenth century, especially because of the Marian apparitions to Bernadette Soubrious at Lourdes. The rosary remained a highly popular devotion through most of the twentieth century. But the Second Vatican Council took great care in reorienting Catholic devotional life that had quite frankly lost its primary Eucharistic focus. There is nothing more important than Jesus in the Eucharist, so long as we are on pilgrimage back to him. Any and every other kind of prayer format is secondary. Therefore, complete, active, lively and enthusiastic participation in the Eucharistic Celebration, the Mass, ought to be the full and conscious goal of Catholics everywhere. The Mass is no longer to be an ethereal backdrop for private devotions, including the recitation of the rosary. Mary would certainly ask that all the invited guests at the supper provided by her Son, give strict and joyful attention to what is going on – and participate humbly and gratefully! A rosary before or after Mass can be appropriate – but not during it!
Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you; you are blessed among all women!
No comments:
Post a Comment