What is the purpose of the Rosary?
Catechism Meditation:
The finding of Jesus in the temple is the only event that breaks the silence of the Gospels about the hidden years of Jesus. Here Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the mystery of his total consecration to a mission that flows from his divine sonship: “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s work?” Mary and Joseph did not understand these words, but they accepted them in faith. Mary “kept all these things in her heart” during the years Jesus remained hidden in the silence of an ordinary life. ―No. 534
REFLECTION. St. John Paul II, in his apostolic letter on the rosary, taught us that Mary “lived with her eyes fixed on Christ” and treasured his every word. “She kept these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19; 2:52). The memories of Jesus, impressed upon her heart were always with her. In a way, those memories were to be her ‘rosary,’ which she recited uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life. Mary is a model for all Christians. Just as she spent her life in loving meditation on her son Jesus, so we should contemplate Christ and treasure the mysteries of His life in our hearts. The Rosary is an excellent aid to help us do so.
The purpose of the Rosary is fulfilled by the meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary while the individual recites the prayers and keeps count on the beads. It can lead to a profound experience in Christian meditation, deepening one’s knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. How often do we tell God that we love him? Are we repeatedly asking Him to do things for us, give us advice, tell us what we are to do? As good as our requests and questions may be, the Rosary acts as an outward and inward way of both showing and telling God that we love Him.
Our Blessed Mother’s role is a simple but profound one: She brings us closer to her son, Jesus, intercedes for us as she teaches us to quietly ponder things in our heart. Even though the Rosary is a prayer of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is ultimately all about Jesus. The end goal of praying the Rosary is to draw us more intimately into communion with Christ.
PRAYER. Father, bring us to a greater appreciation for the gift of the Rosary that we may use it to mediate more deeply on the life of Christ.
Timeless Wisdom Quote:
“The mind is infinitely variable in its language, but the heart is not. The heart of a man, in the face of a woman he loves, is too poor to translate the infinity of his affection into a different word. So the heart takes one expression, ‘I love you,’ and in saying it over and over again, it never repeats. That is what we do when we say the Rosary—we are saying to God, the Trinity, to the Incarnate Savior, to the Blessed Mother: ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’” ― Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen