The Rosary

The Rosary is a beautiful gift. Rejoice in it.

The Rosary is based on the Word of God which comes to us in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. The only way to fully receive the benefits of the Rosary is to be fully rooted in the teachings of the Catholic Magisterium on both. This requires the attitude of Mary displayed in the first Joyful Mystery: based upon your faith in God, you humbly listen and study.

The Rosary is a meditation on the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ with Mary, First among the Faithful and the Mother of God, in the prayers and mysteries recited privately or publicly.

The Rosary as such reflects the Sacrifice of the Divine Liturgy. It prepares us before to be lifted up with Christ in the Divine Liturgy and strengthens us after to follow him.

Can you outgrow the Rosary as part of your spiritual life? Can you outgrow meditating on the Lord’s Prayer? The Gospels? Sacred Tradition? The Divine Liturgy?

Remember this – the events of Jesus’ life are not becoming more remote in time. On the Contrary: each day his life is becoming more and more the center of the human race. All of mankind must answer his question: Who do you say I am?

Throughout our history and world Christ is drawing us up as his Grace triumphs over sin. Every day members of broken or dysfunctional families are being made whole as real members of the Holy Family in Nazareth. The mentally and physically ill are being healed by the touch of Jesus in Israel. We selfish and evil sinners are being redeemed by the love flowing from the Cross outside Jerusalem. We are victorious with Christ over the oblivion of death in our faith in the certainty of the empty tomb and the Final Judgment.

The Joyful Mysteries
We listen to the good news. We receive the Word of God.
We respond with overflowing love to Jesus within us and others.
We give birth to the presence of Jesus.
We dedicate, consecrate our lives to God in the Temple of the Body of Christ.
When we are separated for any reason from Jesus, we remember him and search for him.

The Annunciation

Mary, a beautiful Jewish maiden, opens her heart and mind through the prayers of her people to God.

In her prayer, her conversation with God, she listens intently in silence. She meditates on what the angel of the Lord says. She asks a question to fully understand the word from God. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to thy word.”

Mary, daughter of Abraham and full of grace, pray for us.
Gabriel, angel of God
Doubted and questioned by Zechariah,
Questioned and understood by Mary, pray for us.

Comment: You did not invent the Our Father and the Hail Mary. These prayers are God speaking first to you. Listen carefully in your heart.


The Visitation

Mary receives good news both about herself and her cousin Elizabeth. She immediately goes to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth and her unborn child immediately rejoice at the sound of her voice.

Blessed art thou among women!

Mary, pray that the love of God may move us.
St. Elizabeth and St John the Baptist, pray for us that we may bring Christ to others and receive Christ in others.

Comment: Mary heard good news. Did she sit around thinking about her self?

The Nativity

Christ is born.

Sacred Scripture and Tradition tells us that this event is not an ordinary childbirth but a miracle. Mary, virgin before childbirth, virgin in childbirth and virgin after childbirth.

Jesus begins his life of conquering love.

Jesus, true God and true man, our Lord and Savior!

Mary, our mother, pray for us.

St. Joseph, our foster father, pray for us.

Comment: When you listen and love, you give birth to the presence of Jesus.

The Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple

We are consecrated and consecrate those among whom we live to God in the temple of the Body of Christ, the Church.

Mary, take us in your arms to Mother Church.

St. Joseph, protect our family.
St. Simeon and St. Anna, pray that we may recognize Jesus.

“Behold, this child is destined for the fall and the rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Luke 2:34-35

Comment: We are brought to the Church by others and bring others to the Church.

The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple

The routines that support us blind us.
Where is Jesus in our lives? Search for him again; find him. Follow him on the way to the Cross. But now rejoice that you have found the Way.

Mary, pray for us that we may see how Jesus is missing in our lives and search for him.

St. Joseph, go with us and help to find and care for our Lord.

Comment: You forget that Jesus is the Center, not you? Remember him; search for him.

The Sorrowful Mysteries
We pray that we may be united to Jesus so he can sustain us in agony, scourging, humiliation and crucifixion.

The Agony in the Garden

“Sit down here while I go over yonder to pray.”

Mary, pray for me that I may persevere in prayer with Jesus your son.
Mary, pray for me that I may be one with Jesus in his resolution to do the Father’s will.

“Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; yet not as I will, but as thou willest.”

Comment: Pray to stay with our Lord Jesus in prayer and sacrifice. “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

The Scourging

Jesus suffered terrible pain in his body so that our pain and suffering would not destroy our souls. “By his stripes we are healed.”

Mary, our mother, pray that we may be strengthened by the sufferings of your son Jesus so that his grace may overcome the scourging of our souls by our sins.

Comment: Offering up our sufferings with Christ really makes us able to go the way of the Cross, the way of love, the way to eternal Life.

The Crowning with Thorns

Do you see yourself one with Jesus, mocked and humiliated?
No, you are the one crowning your neighbor with sarcasm, jokes with your companions, feigned politeness and quick judgments. You are imposing mental suffering on our Lord, spitting in his Face and mocking him.

Mary, pray for us that we may share in Jesus’ humility of mind, purity of heart and obedience of will.

Comment: Before we are worthy to be humble with Jesus Christ, we must stop degrading our neighbors.

The Carrying of the Cross

Jesus said to pick up our cross each day and follow him. Because of how weak sin has made us, putting God first and loving our neighbor is often a heavy burden.

Mary, pray for me that I may not run away from the Cross.

Comment: Only clinging to Jesus do we have the strength to carry our cross.

The Crucifixion

Jesus is tortured to death that we may rise with him to Eternal Life.
Lord Jesus, lift us up with you in your Cross, Resurrection and Ascension.
All our sins, mistakes, our worlds
Are shattered,
The dead rise,
The Kingdom of God
Breaks in.

Mary, pray for us.

Comment: Accept death with Christ on his Cross.

The Glorious Mysteries
We die and rise with Jesus in Baptism.
We listen to his instructions and wait for the Holy Spirit.
We respond to God with all our being and we hope for a crown of glory with Mary, our mother.

The Resurrection

The appearance of the angel was like lightning. The shattering of death and sin began on the Cross and is completed at the tomb Sunday morning.

Mary, please pray that through faith we may share in the Resurrection victories of your Son Jesus.

Comment: We believe in the Good News that Jesus Christ has risen in glory from the dead and is victorious over sin and death.

The Ascension

Christ lifts us up with him in his life, death, resurrection and ascension to the Father. This is all one Sacrifice. Reunited to the Father in His Son Jesus, we will be given the Holy Spirit.

Pray for us, Mary, that we may follow the instructions of your Son and be ready to co-operate with the Holy Spirit.

Comment: We must remain in Jesus through Faith as he ascends to offer the one Sacrifice to the Father. We have trust in Jesus because we both believe and hope in him.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

Wait and pray for the Holy Spirit with Mary, the apostles, all the disciples, the Church.

Mary, pray for us that we may be filled with courageous love.

“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the Fire of your love.”

Comments: Trusting in the teachings of Christ and his Body, the Church, prepares us for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Assumption of Mary

Mary with all her being, body and soul, responded always to the Holy Spirit.

[Jesus] told them in reply, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and act upon it.” Luke 8:21

Let us pray that our spiritual life – our judgment and the decisions of our free will – and our physical life are inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Mary, mother of our spiritual life, pray for us.

Comment: Jesus came to us completely through the cooperation of Mary with the Holy Spirit. To Jesus through Mary.

Again, the Rosary

Rooted in Sacred tradition and Scripture, we hold a rosary. It is a … vessel for our prayers… a staff to lean on… a rope to cling to. We pray with others to Jesus and Mary. We go off to a quiet place to talk to Jesus or Mary alone.


God speaks to us in the Rosary. Did you make the mysteries of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection? When we try to meditate or think about these and try to remain in a prayerful attitude, God speaks to us. Did you make the Our Father or the Hail Mary? When you listen to these words as you pray them, you are listening to God.

It is hard for us in our weak state to listen. Just always try. When you talk to God or Jesus or Mary or the angels and saints, they listen. It is not hard for them to listen. It is we who grow sleepy or weak or anxious or fickle.

Imagine Mary our mother when one of her children talks to her. She does not find you boring or unpleasant. She listens to you with all the loving attention of her fiery, wounded Heart. She has all eternity. She is with you now and will not just give you all the time you need, she will happily spend with you all the time you want.

Our Lord Jesus and Mary and the citizens of Heaven are not distracted by the demands of time or desire. They are totally in your presence and do not want to leave you to go somewhere else or do something else. All the time you speak to Jesus will not subtract one moment that he has for all the others he loves.

May the Rosary give you a share in the peace of Heaven. Jesus our Lord and Savior together with his mother and all the angels and saints are with us.

True Liturgical Reform

I. Reform Before Worship

Since the 19th century people have thought that liturgical revivals or reforms would change the condition of the Christian people. Revive Gregorian chant. Put missals in the hands of the laity. Encourage them to participate, to pay attention. Dialogue Latin Mass. Worship in the vernacular language. Liturgical archeology. Lately, a return to Mass in Latin.

What does God say about a people who pay him lip service? In Mt.5:23-24, Jesus says if we remember on the way to the altar that our brother holds anything against us, leave our gift at the altar and first go and reconcile with our brother. Reform comes before our worship not after.

The worship that Jesus offers to the Father and which he gives to us his brothers and sisters is a multi-faceted mystery which we will never fully fathom. We start, however, by realizing that we are offering Sacrifice. The sacrifice is the life, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord which he brings and offers to the Father.
As such when we gather together for the Divine Liturgy we are offering through the Christ-like office of the bishop and his priest a real sacrifice.

In the last part of the 20th century the understanding that we were offering a Holy Sacrifice seemed to be overshadowed by the idea of "celebration". Lets have a community rally!

Indeed the Divine Liturgy is a real celebration where our Risen Lord Jesus both offers the sacrifice and comes to us in Holy Communion. Yet we are tempted to reduce the Divine Liturgy to a mere temporal human celebration to promote temporary human community. Perhaps having become aware of this shortcoming, we think a return to artificially imagined past liturgical practices will straighten everything out.

II. Our Reform

No changing of liturgical prayers and practices in the name of "reform", tradition or ecclesial archeology will, mechanically, produce better Christians. No Industrial Revolution massive or streamlined production improvements are called for. As we approach the table of the Last Supper, the altar of the Cross, the empty stone tomb of the Risen Lord we must return to the beginning of the Gospel: "Reform your lives! The kingdom of heaven is at hand."(Mt.4:17) Reform first, the rite of penance first!

The Divine Liturgy is offered in Christ as worship, not used by us as a tool. It is not a means for social engineering the Church and certainly not a media for entertaining display.

Pray for our reform as a priestly people. Our spiritual repentance
joined with physical reverence and the mental acknowledgment that this is a Sacrifice will, with the necessary Christian faith, hope and charity, lead to true liturgical reform.

Let us go to the Temple of the Body of Christ and beat our breasts, saying: Be merciful to me, Lord, a sinner! Then our Sacrifice will be pleasing and acceptable to God.