A Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right
Many of us say the Rosary, some of us daily. Many more don't, either because they don't know it, or, in some cases, because they believe it to be in some way irrational or immature to repeat prayers while fingering beads.
Yesterday was the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Today we'll share a description of that powerful prayer, the Rosary, by Father Edward Leen. His description, as is the case in all his writings, firmly interlace the rational and the religious in a serious, formidable manner. No one can accuse him of being either irrational or immature.
Before we get to Father's words, let's remember the origin of this wonderful feast. In 1571, a Turkish Muslim fleet gathered for the purposes of expanding their empire further West. Their ultimate objective was Rome itself. The Roman Pope, Pius V, called on Christian kings to oppose what appeared to be an overwhelming force. The Venetians and Spanish combined their navies under the leadership of Don Juan, an illegitimate son of the Spanish Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The Pope called on Christians throughout the world to pray the Rosary for victory. They did. By Our Lady's intercession, Don Juan led the allied navy to victory against the Turks at Lepanto. If you have a little time today, especially if you aren't familiar with the Battle of Lepanto, you might read up on it. You'll see how, despite the odds, the Christians prevailed. Thanks be to God!
The Rosary, far from childish babbling, has been and can be a most powerful weapon for the good in all our lives. Don't pass up the opportunity to pray it as often as you can. Here now Father Edward Leen (1885-1944) on the Rosary:
“The Rosary is a compendium of our faith…. We begin the Rosary with the Creed – a compendium of all the mysteries of our faith down to the Four Last Things. The ‘Our Father’ establishes the relation of the father and son between us and God. The mysteries follow as a consequence of that, and in the ‘Hail Mary’ we have a glorification of Mary for starting the whole train of these mysteries. Like children who delight in the reiteration of what they find satisfactory, we never tire of the repetition of this chant of her greatness. …
“The Rosary is the prayer of the child repeating over and over again the intensely satisfying fact that a human person found favor with God. ‘Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.’ This is the reality of all time, and we charm ourselves and our Lady by repeating over and over again that she has won favor with God, that she is the cause of all our weal, all our happiness. It is an inexhaustible wonder, how we owe all to her. Then, the ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners’ expresses her power of intercession. ‘We are not like you…Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.’
“Tertullian says very beautifully somewhere, that when we are praying together we are like a group of children catching hands and surrounding a father to ask for something. In the Rosary – a ‘corona’ – we surround our Blessed Lady as children and coax her; it is a coaxing prayer, calling to her mind all that was hers, the glories and benefits bestowed on her, so that she may give us all we desire. We constrain her by our reiteration. The Rationalists cannot understand this, they have a supreme scorn for such reiteration…But that is the child’s way and the way God meant for us. This is the Way of the Rosary.”
Happy Sunday!
Yesterday was the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Today we'll share a description of that powerful prayer, the Rosary, by Father Edward Leen. His description, as is the case in all his writings, firmly interlace the rational and the religious in a serious, formidable manner. No one can accuse him of being either irrational or immature.
Before we get to Father's words, let's remember the origin of this wonderful feast. In 1571, a Turkish Muslim fleet gathered for the purposes of expanding their empire further West. Their ultimate objective was Rome itself. The Roman Pope, Pius V, called on Christian kings to oppose what appeared to be an overwhelming force. The Venetians and Spanish combined their navies under the leadership of Don Juan, an illegitimate son of the Spanish Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The Pope called on Christians throughout the world to pray the Rosary for victory. They did. By Our Lady's intercession, Don Juan led the allied navy to victory against the Turks at Lepanto. If you have a little time today, especially if you aren't familiar with the Battle of Lepanto, you might read up on it. You'll see how, despite the odds, the Christians prevailed. Thanks be to God!
The Rosary, far from childish babbling, has been and can be a most powerful weapon for the good in all our lives. Don't pass up the opportunity to pray it as often as you can. Here now Father Edward Leen (1885-1944) on the Rosary:
“The Rosary is a compendium of our faith…. We begin the Rosary with the Creed – a compendium of all the mysteries of our faith down to the Four Last Things. The ‘Our Father’ establishes the relation of the father and son between us and God. The mysteries follow as a consequence of that, and in the ‘Hail Mary’ we have a glorification of Mary for starting the whole train of these mysteries. Like children who delight in the reiteration of what they find satisfactory, we never tire of the repetition of this chant of her greatness. …
“The Rosary is the prayer of the child repeating over and over again the intensely satisfying fact that a human person found favor with God. ‘Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.’ This is the reality of all time, and we charm ourselves and our Lady by repeating over and over again that she has won favor with God, that she is the cause of all our weal, all our happiness. It is an inexhaustible wonder, how we owe all to her. Then, the ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners’ expresses her power of intercession. ‘We are not like you…Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.’
“Tertullian says very beautifully somewhere, that when we are praying together we are like a group of children catching hands and surrounding a father to ask for something. In the Rosary – a ‘corona’ – we surround our Blessed Lady as children and coax her; it is a coaxing prayer, calling to her mind all that was hers, the glories and benefits bestowed on her, so that she may give us all we desire. We constrain her by our reiteration. The Rationalists cannot understand this, they have a supreme scorn for such reiteration…But that is the child’s way and the way God meant for us. This is the Way of the Rosary.”
Happy Sunday!
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