ROSARY: Pattern, Power, Promise

Talk/ Workshop with Singles for Christ

- Career…

Context: Concerns of … Singles/ Young Profs

…fulfillment

…intimacy

- Relationship…

- Future…

…certainty

In the search… trial and error, adventure, wrong choices.

Many factors… bad influence, impulsiveness, impatience. failures, frustrations….

give up, surrender, stuck…

Solutions tried by some people:

- self-help books-seminars/ workshops- therapy/ counseling- facebk, friendster- alcohol, sex, drugs- others…

But like the woman with hemorrhage, … 12 years… spent all her money with doctors…she get worse

… her only hope: to touch the tassel of Jesus’ cloak

“We are not seduced by the naïve expectation that faced with the great challenges of our time, we shall find some magic formula.

No, we shall not be saved by a formula, but by a Person, and the assurance which He gives us, ‘I am with you!’”

(JP II, Novo Millenio Ineunte, 29)

“For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:22-24)

Grace to ask: -To know Him more intimately,-To love Him more dearly,-To follow Him more closely (SpEx 104)

Where/ How to know Jesus, our ultimate model/ friend?... No better teacher/ way than Mary, through the rosary.

“The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart, a Christocentric prayer... It has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium” (JP II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 1).

Part I. HISTORY OF THE HOLY ROSARY

Monks’ prayers for the dead…150 psalms or 50 only… pebbles… knotted pieces of wood or knotted rope

1214….Mary appeared to St. Dominic de Guzman… conversion of Albigensians and other sinners…

1569….St. Pope Pius V, (OP) approved the 15-mystery form of the Holy Rosary

Oct 7, 1571…. St. Pope Pius V … Sea battle at Lepanto, off the western coast of Greece vs. Moslem Turks… “Our Lady of Victory”.

1646….. Battle of Manila Bay vs. Protestant Dutch fleet appeared in the Philippine Sea in Feb.... 5 naval skirmishes between Mar. 15 and Oct. 4

Oct 8: first La Naval fiesta.

2002….Pope John Paul II…(Rosarium Virginis Mariae) …Luminous mysteries (Thursdays)….

• The Baptism of our Lord in the Jordan River• The Manifestation at the Wedding of Cana• The Proclamation of the Kingdom and Call to

Conversion• The Transfiguration• The Institution of the Holy Eucharist

• John Paul's reason:

- “to bring out fully the Christological depth of the Rosary … we contemplate the important aspects of the person of Christ as the definitive revelation of God” (RVM, 19).

- ultimate goal: assimilating the mysteries of Christ… of Christ Himself... to be conformed, united and consecrated to Him (St. Louis de Montfort; RVM 15)

Part 2. THE ROSARY AS PATTERN, POWER AND

PROMISE

*The Rosary as Pattern

“…the complete series of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries… put us in living communion with Jesus through the heart of his Mother.”

• …our hearts can embrace in the decades of the Rosary all the events that make up the lives of individuals, families, nations, the Church, and all mankind… the simple prayer of the Rosary marks the rhythm of human life” (RVM, 2).

• Joyful... luminous... sorrowful... glorious... the pattern of our personal and communal life. If lived under the example and influence of Mary, the most ordinary and the most special moment will be of utmost significance and will be an event of grace.

• 2.2 The Rosary as Power 

…. 2 victories of Christian fleets attributed to the praying of the Rosary (Battle of Lepanto and Battle of La Naval).  … the testimony of many Marian devotees and ordinary Christians . Examples: 1986 People Power (EDSA 1), Ninoy Aquino in Prison, Cory Aquino as President, John Paul II, St Louis de Montfort, Bl. Bartolo Longo, San Padre Pio, and countless nameless Christians.

BL. BARTOLO LONGO`Apostle of the Rosary’

Mrs. Cory Aquino

• John Paul II recommends

the Rosary as a prayer:• for contemplation (immersion in the

mystery of Christ, towards transformation) • for peace (when transformed inwardly, we

can then work for external peace.)• for the family (“The family that prays

together, stays together.”)

2.3 The Rosary as Promise

Material Benefits:

2. …special protection

12. …Aid in needs - intercessory

Spiritual Benefits:

3. …a powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.

4. Flowering of virtue and good works… desire for eternal things… sanctification.

Salvific Benefits:7. Holy Death (receiving the sacraments)

8. the light of God now and hereafter; participation in the merits of the Saints in Paradise.

13. Intercessions of the saints now and at the hour of death.

- These promises directs us toward the future, our destination, heaven, which is union with Christ.

- But this union with Christ… also here and now, in the Eucharist and in our neighbor.

-Hence, the rosary directs us, too, to the present as much as to the future.

Part 3. How to Pray the Rosary

3.1 “Without contemplation, the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation runs the risk of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas....

3.2 By its nature the recitation of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace... “ (RVM, 12).

3.3 Ignatian Principles Applied:–Non multa sed multum

(not many but much)

–Tantum quantum (use what is helpful)

–Contemplatio Ad amorem

Conclusion: The Rosary: Handy Prayer for Life

- In our search, the rosary can serve as a useful and effective compass... because it is pattern, power and promise.

- With the Rosary each day, we get in touch with Christ through the heart of Mary…. We come closer to Christ, our goal…

Part 3. Personal Reflection/ Small Group Sharing/ Plenary

1. What “mystery” am I going through in my life now? What do I want to tell the Lord about this?

2. How did I learn about the Rosary? How has it helped me?

3. The insight(s)/ question(s) I have about this talk is/are?

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..." (Sonnet 43)

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday'sMost quiet need, by sun and candle-light.I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.I love thee with a passion put to useIn my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.I love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better after death.

Immaculate Mother, to you do we plead.To ask God our Father for help in our

needs.Ave, ave, ave Maria…

We pray for our country the land of our birth.

We pray for all nationsthat peace be on earth.

Ave, ave, ave Maria!