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 The
important place which the Rosary has in the apostolate
and prayer of the Order is well-known. The international
symposium of brethren working in this ministry which was
held in Rome in May 1976 is a opportunity for us to take
a new look at the proper meaning of this evangelical and
marian part of our tradition. It is only right for us to
underline the success of this meeting of some go of our
brethren (plus some sisters), from every corner of the
globe: Europe naturally, but also Ecuador, Philippines,
Zaire . . . I was impressed by the high quality of the
meetings, the obvious joy and the fervour shown in the
liturgical celebrations and the recital of the rosary.
Starting from concrete situations, the brethren gave an
account of the state of the rosary apostolate in their
own areas with an objectivity which lacked neither
courage nor at times humour. The diversity of cultural
backgrounds, pastoral 'situations and the ideas of the
brethren themselves, was obvious to all. Some of the
brethren were anxious rather to keep what has been
handed down, while others felt the need to look for new
ways of expression. Variety like this is quite normal,
and differences of opinion like this healthy and useful,
when expressed, as they were, in an atmosphere of mutual
trust.
Doctrinal foundation
Marian devotion is sometimes accused of being
enthusiastic rather than enlightened, and that is why
the brethren, deeply aware of preaching the Gospel when
they are preaching the rosary, wanted to compare the way
they do this latter with the faith of the Church,
especially in what concerns the Mother of Jesus: "True
devotion must come from true faith". Consequently the
brethren spent a whole day studying the apostolic
exhortation Marialis cultus of March 1974, which put the
rosary in the context of marian devotion renewed in the
light of Vatican II, where Mary is seen as part of the
mystery of Christ and the Church (Lumen gentium Chap.
8).
It has been truly said that, in a few. years, we have
passed from a rosary which was above all marian to a
rosary which is more clearly Christ-centered, based on
the incarnation and the paschal mystery, where Mary has
her special place as servant of the Lord, model of
believers and spiritual mother of the disciples. Let us
not be afraid to stress this interpretation which brings
out all the doctrinal richness of the rosary, which
should be, in a simple but authentic way, an organic
presentation of the whole mystery of salvation. After
all is it not rather like the plan of the original
apostolic preaching ? Can we not see to it the roots of
really popular doctrinal preaching ? The rosary can
indeed form the framework of true catechesis and, on
certain occasions, even the evangelization itself, as
can be seen from various examples.
On the other one cannot but be struck by the insistence
put by Marialis cultus on the mysterious relationship
between the Holy Spirit and the virgin of Nazareth in
their action on the Church. Brethren engaged in the
rosary apostolate have been very much aware of this
aspect of the Christian mystery, and of the effects seen
everywhere today of renewal in the Spirit. Far from
going out of date or useless the rosary is very much at
home in this context. Those of our brethren who preach
the rosary day in day out are more and more convinced of
this, while those who are prejudiced against it surely
have no grounds for their prejudice ?
Biblical roots
The renewal of marian piety and of the rosary apostolate
is closely linked to renewal of interest in the Bible.
Sometimes people try to put these in opposition to each
other, but is it not enough to remember for example the
marian devotion of someone like Father Lagrange ? Since
Vatican II especially we have a better grasp of the deep
theology of Mary found in Luke and John, Mary the Mother
of Jesus, the Daughter of Sion, the Servant of the Lord,
the dwelling-place of the glory of God, the Woman
"Mother of all the living".
I am glad to notice that, all over the world, the rosary
is being presented as a genuinely evangelical prayer and
even as a way of teaching people how to ponder over the
scriptures in prayer and faith. This is what the rosary
is all about. Obviously all this means that preachers of
the rosary must not only have a fervent devotion to Mary
but that they must also be steeped in biblical knowledge
which they continually keep up to date.
In the world to-day
Like every kind of evangelical preaching the rosary
apostolate must be turned towards the world as we know
it today, a world which has changed a great deal in
habits of thinking and of living. So one of the
commissions at the symposium considered "the rosary and
Christian life in the modern world", and another "the
rosary and pastoral work". We must examine ourselves
honestly about this. Does the rosary as we preach it
tend at times to become an alibi, an escape, a way out ?
Does it tend to develop a kind of unreal spirituality,
far removed from life in the raw, from the hopes, the
fears, the struggles of humankind today ? Are we really
awake to the desire of. people today for more
responsibility in fraternal sharing and in spiritual
freedom ? Do we know how to encourage Christians to work
for real freedom for their brothers ?
These problems and others of the same sort were tackled
and one only has to read the report and the conclusions
of the symposium to see with what clear-sightedness this
was done.
A school of Christian life
Lastly the rosary is very well adapted to teaching the
life of faith. It is a school of Christian life and of
Christian prayer. Now that we are gradually discovering
again, under the heap of learned theories, the merits of
popular devotions and popular religion, the rosary is
seen once again to be a precious instrument. On the one
hand by means of meditation on the "mysteries" of the
lives of Jesus and Mary it plunges its roots deep into
the mystery of God; on the other, thanks to its
simplicity and its method it speaks directly to the
hearts of simple and uncomplicated people. So it does
really link one to the roots of the faith. And certainly
this is the explanation of those moving stories of
Christian people deprived of the help of the sacraments,
cut off from their spiritual leaders, without bishops,
without priests, who hung on to their faith, thanks to
the rosary.
The simple and direct character of the rosary makes it
a. ready framework for a catechesis of the faith for
many baptized people who have had scarcely any
instruction, and also for non-practicing baptized
people; while the remarkable development of rosary
"teams" and other up-to-date groups in some countries is
a good example of its use in catechesis.
The rosary, which is a school of life open to the
simplest of people, far from tying them down to the
rudiments of the faith, leads them step by step along
the paths of meditation, prayer and contemplation of the
Lord. It teaches us to leave words behind when we pray.
It is a school for the contemplative life. What is more,
if Paul VI in Marialis cultus reminds us of the
essentials of the rosary as defined by Saint Pius V -
and we must always come back to this - he also
encourages us to celebrate the rosary rather as one
would celebrate the Word of God. Every effort towards
research and creativity in this field is to be
encouraged. During the symposium examples were given and
experiments were carried out.
Conclusion
A tradition recognized in the Church makes us heirs of
the mission given to our father Dominic by the Blessed
Virgin: "Go and preach my rosary." This is a heritage of
which we should be proud and from which we should be the
first to benefit in our lives and in our prayer. How
many Dominicans could tell us what the recitation and
contemplation of the rosary meant from them in the first
years of their religious life, how it was a real "school
of prayer", perhaps the only one ? Is this still the
case in the Order ? Surely our young brethren and those
in charge of their formation must dare to follow this
way again ?
The rosary is also a heritage of which we must prove
ourselves worthy. Our mission as preachers is carried
out in all sorts of different ways. From teaching in
prestigious universities, and learned exegtical,
theological and philosophical research to missions to
the people and the most rudimentary catechesis, and
passing through the daily breaking of the Word and the
continual meditation on the joyful, sorrowful and
glorious mysteries: it is the identical Word of God that
we proclaim, the same prophetical mission that we are
carrying out.
When our father Saint Dominic saw a group of three
people together he would immediately think that there
was a congregation to whom he could preach the Gospel.
Are we not doing the same whenever we preach the rosary,
explain it and lead people to pray it? |
