Holy Rosary

Dear brothers and sisters,

You are now holding the rosary in your hand, or more precisely – its electronic version.

What is a rosary anyway?

The answer to that question may come as a surprise to you, but you now have the whole Christian faith in your hands.

Cardinal Joachim Meissner, who passed away on July 5, 2017, writes:

An event in 1975 is and remains unforgettable for me. At that time I had just become auxiliary bishop in Erfurt in the GDR. I was allowed to celebrate Pentecost high mass in Erfurt Cathedral. I noticed a group of people who made a strange impression on me. After the Holy Mass, I immediately went in front of the cathedral and greeted these worshipers. It turned out that it was Germans from Russia who came to Germany for the first time in thirty years on a tourist trip and were able to take part in a holy mass. They said to me at the time: "We are homesick for the church".

A man came up to me and said: "Mr. Bishop, what truths of faith must we teach our children so that they do not miss the meaning of their lives and attain eternal life?" I replied: "I will give you all a scripture and a Catholic Catechism". They gave me the answer: "Bringing religious literature to the Soviet Union is worse than taking weapons. We can't do that". My answer was: "Then each of you can take a rosary with you". They said: "Of course, we'll hang it around our necks, it's like a piece of jewelry. But what does that have to do with my question about the beliefs that guarantee our children and ourselves eternal life?". I then took a rosary in my hand, showed them the cross and said: "We pray our creed on this. That is our doctrine of faith. That's all you need to believe. Then comes a large pearl, we pray the most important prayer of Christianity, which we received from Jesus Christ himself. Then come the next three small pearls, in which we place our faith, to renew our hope and our love. That is our life lesson. That's all we need to live. And then comes the whole gospel - threaded as it were in cipher or Braille: in the Joyful Rosary the mysteries of the Incarnation; in the Sorrowful Rosary the mysteries of the Passion and in the Glorious Rosary the mysteries of our perfection". Then the man took the rosary in his hand and lifted it: "Well, then I have the whole Catholic faith in my hands!" "Yes," I said: "You have the whole Catholic faith in one hand. That's all you need to believe, and that's all you need to live. This is our whole faith". He then kissed the rosary and put it in his breast pocket.[1]

We live in a difficult time. One crisis shakes hands with the other: Corona, the terrible war in the east of our continent, inflation, energy crisis, supply bottlenecks, increasing hunger in many regions of the world and the associated - expected increasing social tension and conflicts... One gets the impression that we find ourselves more and more in a mode of permanent crisis. What does this mean for us? Perhaps that means for many people that they are longing for peace and security in God. But where are they to be found when even the apostle knows: While men are saying: Peace and security!, destruction comes upon them suddenly and there is no escape.[2]? We find the answer to this question in the Holy Scriptures: With God alone my soul finds rest, from him comes my help. He alone is my rock, my help, my castle; therefore I will not waver. With God alone my soul rests; for from him comes my hope. He alone is my rock, my help, my castle; therefore I will not waver. With God is my salvation, my glory; God is my rock of protection, my refuge.[3]

Perhaps this growing longing also means for many people that the word of Jesus - which represents both a request and a promise for us - should be taken even more seriously:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek, then you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For he who asks receives; who seeks finds; and it will be opened to the one who knocks.[4]

On the one hand, this is a promise: Our prayers will be heard by God. On the other hand, this is also an invitation – pray without ceasing! – the Apostle Paul also urges us[5].

And prayer is a conversation with God.

In the second millennium AD many wonderful and miraculous prayers arose, one of them being the rosary. St. Dominic is seen in many representations in churches and elsewhere, as he emerges from the hands of the Blessed Mother accepting the rosary. Saint Catherine of Siena or Saint Rose of Lima or other Dominican saints can also sometimes be seen in the background. The reason for this is the fact that the Preacher Order, the Dominican Order, has vigorously promoted and spread this wonderful prayer.

The word “rosary” (from the Latin rosārium, “rose bush”) – acquired religious meaning from the 13th century, denoting the prayers that form a “crown” in the Latin meaning of corōna (or rosary for the Holy Mother of God) . - is a devotional and contemplative prayer of the entire Christian Church.

The word "rosary" derives from a medieval custom of putting a crown of roses on statues of the Virgin; These roses were a symbol of the beautiful and "fragrant" prayers.[6]

The origin of the rosary form the 150 Psalms of David, which were recited in the monasteries. In the late Middle Ages (AD 850) an Irish monk suggested reciting 150 Our Fathers instead of the Psalms to overcome the difficulties lay monks had in memorizing all the Psalms (they often lacked education and sometimes couldn't even read). When praying, one also had to count the prayers. This is how the idea of using a string of pearls (the crown) as a guide for meditation came about. The rosary prayer thus developed from early medieval prayers, in which first the Our Father and from the 11th century increasingly the Ave Maria were repeated 150 times in groups of ten and connected with mysteries of faith and biblical texts about the life and salvific work of Jesus Christ. The oldest written mention of a cord with attached stones as a counting chain for repeated prayers ascribes this prayer cord to the Anglo-Saxon noblewoman Lady Godiva († around 1085).

In the 11th century, Petrus Damiani (c. 1006–1072) created the form of the Ave Maria, using the angelic salute from the Gospel of Luke in the wording: “Ave Maria, gratia plena. Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus”[7].

In the 12th century the custom arose that in monasteries the converses, who mostly knew no Latin, prayed prayers other than the Latin psalms of the Liturgy of the Hours. In addition to the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria also appears as a substitute prayer for the Psalms, the latter especially among the Cistercians and Carthusians.

A series of 150 Ave Marias, based on the 150 psalms of the Bible, were given the name Psalterium of Mary.

The Cistercian Abbot Stephen of Sallay († 1252) formulated a preliminary form of the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary. The Carthusian Heinrich von Kalkar (1328-1408) introduced the habit of praying ten Hail Marys five times and beginning each block of ten with a Lord's Prayer and ending with Glory be to the Father. In the late Middle Ages there was still the profession of the paternoster maker, who made beads for rosaries from bone and other materials. Rosaries from this period often wore a colored tassel instead of a cross. The form of the rosary commonly used today was created in Advent 1409.

The Trier Carthusian Dominic of Prussia († 1460) summarized the events of Jesus’ earthly life in fifty final sentences (Clausulae), which followed the first part of the Ave Maria, which was common at the time. Adolf von Essen, also from this Charterhouse, shortened the Clausulae to fifteen. In his bull Ea quae of May 9, 1479, Pope Sixtus IV recommended praying the rosary daily. It was not until 1508 that the prayer “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners” was added to the Ave Maria. Amen.” added.

In his Brief Consueverunt of September 17, 1569, Pope Pius V finally fixed the text of the Ave Maria and regulated the form of the Rosary prayer for the whole Church. On October 7, 1571, the Catholic naval force under Johann von Austria defeated the vastly superior Turkish Mediterranean fleet in the naval battle of Lepanto. The victory was attributed to the "prayer storm" in which the Rosary was prayed across Europe in the run-up to the naval battle. As a result, Pope Gregory XIII. 1573 the Rosary as a memorial of Our Lady of Victory and added it to the liturgical calendar.

Leo XIII With his 12 encyclicals on the rosary, he is considered the second "Pope of the Rosary".

The final part of the Ave Maria was also finalized in the 16th century, with numerous local variations in the final part.

The Dominicans also promoted the Confraternity of the Perpetual Rosary - (also called Ora di Guardia): founded in 1630 by Father Timoteo de' Ricci and committed to praying the Rosary every hour of the day and night, every day of the year. After the victory over the Turks at Peterwardein on August 5th 1716 Pope Clement XI established the feast, a feast of the whole Church, celebrated on the first Sunday in October. Pope Pius X combined this commemoration with the commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary (Beatae Mariae Virginis a Rosario) and fixed it on October 7th. The festival has been celebrated since 1960 as the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The Confraternity of the Living Rosary, founded on December 8, 1862 by the Dominican Tertiary Pauline-Marie Jaricot, has the task of performing the perpetual prayer of the Rosary. Other personalities who have contributed to the spread of this prayer are Saint Louis Maria Grignion de Montfort with his book “The Admirable Mystery of the Holy Rosary” and Blessed Bartolo Longo. Through his studies in Naples, he came into contact with positivist currents (Ernest Renan, Bertrando Spaventa) and eventually became a priest of the so-called "Spiritism", a group that dealt with the summoning of spirits. After a serious crisis and poor health, Longo miraculously returned to the faith of the Church; he became a member of the Dominican Third Order on October 7, 1871. Due to the proximity of the order to the rosary, Longo rediscovered it and chose the religious name Rosario. In 1885 Longo married Countess Mariana di Fusco. The two took care of orphans and children of prisoners. In 1906 they gave the Shrine of Pompeii, where the “Madonna of the Holy Rosary” is venerated, to the Holy See. Longo was Grand Officer of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. He died in 1926 at the age of 85. Pope John Paul II beatified him on October 26, 1980. As the "apostle of the rosary", John Paul mentioned Fratel Rosario several times in his rosary encyclical Rosarium Virginis Mariae. The memorial of the Blessed is October 5th.

Another upswing came in the 19th and 20th centuries with the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes and Fatima. The visionary of Fatima, Lucia, confirmed this: “There is no problem, material or spiritual, national or international, that cannot be solved with the Holy Rosary and our prayers.” And again: “The end of the world is undoubtedly the fruit of the decay of the spirit of prayer.” Aware of this disorientation, Our Lady so strongly recommended the prayer of the Rosary.”

After World War II, Austria was divided among the four victorious powers. The new masters of Austria were the USA, France, England and communist Russia. The Capuchin Father Petrus Pavlicek went on a pilgrimage to Mariazell, the most important Marian shrine in Austria. On February 2, 1947, as he was praying in front of the miraculous image of Our Lady that is on the high altar of the Shrine, he heard an inner voice telling him: “Do as I tell you and there will be peace!” It is Words attached to the promise of Remember Our Lady in Fatima. Following the suggestion of the Holy Virgin, Fr. Pavlicek founded the "Rosary Crusade of Expiation" in 1947. This was understood as an invitation to all believers in Vienna to take part in a rosary procession through the

streets of the city. The concern was to publicly support the end of the Communism in Austria and in the world to pray. For this crusade to advance, the Capuchins traveled with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima through all of Austria. At first the processions were small, but soon they grew larger and larger. It got to the point that the governor

and other personalities from the state government joined the movement. 1955, after eight years of the Rosary Crusade through all of Austria, the processions had taken on an unmissable dimension. Up to half a million people attended, almost a tenth of the entire population.

On May 15, 1955, the so-called Austrian State Treaty was signed, restoring the country's independence. Against all expectations and thanks to the saints

On September 19, 1955, the last Soviet and on October 25, 1955 the last British soldiers left Austrian soil. Every year on September 12, on the Feast of the Name of Mary, thousands of people come to Vienna to thank Our Lady for the liberation of their country.

With the apostolic exhortation Rosarium Virginis Mariae of October 16, 2002, Pope John Paul II provides an optional introduction to the luminous mysteries, which focus on Jesus' public life.

However it came about and wherever it came from, one thing is certain: if the rosary had not existed, it should have been invented. And this wonderful and miraculous prayer can now be offered by any human being for grace and consolation for himself or for others, to spread good deeds in the world, to resolve international conflicts, to experience conversion and spiritual growth. Prayer, both in community and alone, in the room of the house or in church, at any time of the day, is a moment of peace and serenity that frees you from the worries of everyday life, it is a moment of communication with mercy of God through the most beautiful prayers. The so-called "fruits" of the mysteries of the Rosary are the result of experience - not only of great saints but also of ordinary people who have left public testimonies of the graces received and requested by the Virgin Mary.

The prayer of the Rosary currently consists of 15 (or optionally 20) "mysteries", i.e. significant events, moments or episodes from the earthly lives of Christ and Mary, grouped into "crowns". Each crown involves meditating on five mysteries and reciting fifty Hail Marys, divided into groups of ten (called laws or posts).

The integral and classical version of the meditation provides for the contemplation of all fifteen mysteries and the recitation of, among others, one hundred and fifty "Hail Marys", with the very ancient and desired analogy to the one hundred and fifty psalms of the Psalter. Counting is done by moving the beads of the “rosary crown” or “rosary” between the fingers. It is recited in the current language or in the Latin language.

There are many people who pray the Rosary every day, sometimes even several times a day. There may now be one or the other who says: it's not like that for me, I have a hard time with this prayer, I always get tired of it. Admittedly, there are many devout Christians who sometimes fall asleep while praying the rosary. Some would say it's boring because the prayers are repetitive. Or he even prevents them from coming into silence: by stringing together many words one doesn't get into the silence. Some even object to the criticism of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and say with the words of Jesus: When you pray, you should not babble like the heathen, who think that they will only be heard if they use many words.

But with the rosary it is quite different. It is precisely through the often repeated prayer Hail Mary that one has this calm rhythm that is in harmony with our breathing, one comes into stillness, one comes to rest - as I said - so much that one sometimes even falls asleep. Isn't that a sign of inner peace? Isn't the soul then really with God? Because – as the Holy Scripture says: With God alone my soul finds rest.[8] If you're upset, agitated, startled, your thoughts are somewhere just not on the prayer, the centrifugal forces are driving you away somewhere, then only the rosary helps to calm down, to collect myself, to concentrate. The evenly repeating Ave Maria - Hail Mary - does not disturb the inner silence, but on the contrary - promotes it. Astonishingly, the inner stillness comes through the repetition of the words - because there is a deeper meaning in these sentences and words that we pray at the rosary, yes one would even like to say: the ultimate meaning of all things, which one actually cannot express which even the words of the rosary cannot really express, but which can go to our hearts through these words. Of course when we pray we have to be careful that it is not mechanical, that our voices do not drown out the voice of God, for God is actually speaking through the silence - as was the case with Elijah - the Lord came as a soft murmur[9].

And even when many pray the rosary together, if it is prayed correctly, it is a contemplative prayer. A prayer in which we contemplate these words that express the deepest meaning of our life, this deepest meaning of our life itself. And what are those words?

These are the words with which we pray! They are almost exclusively words of Scripture.

The rosary begins with the sign of the cross and in the name of + the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit - in the name of the Trinity of God, in whose name we are baptized[10]. This is a renewal of the baptismal promise and a confession at the same time. We affirm this with Amen.

We may also ask:

Lord, open my lips.

so that my mouth may proclaim your praise. – Every day the first prayer of the liturgy begins with these words.[11] Maybe even spoken three times. With a small sign of the cross across the lips. How something begins, how one begins something oneself, is not irrelevant. Everyone has certainly experienced this many times. Also a false start to a new day. The beginning of the daily liturgical prayer is not an false start – Lord, open my lips. so that my mouth may proclaim your praise. The words are strong and old.[12] In the Psalter they are attributed to David. Above the psalm is the heading: "For the Choirmaster. A Psalm of David when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had trespassed with Bathsheba." It is one of the Penitential Psalms, traditionally called Miserere with the first word after the heading. Headings are often not placed over a text until it is written The title of Psalm 51 was added later to the Psalm - not without reason. In the Psalm it says[13]: "Against you alone have I sinned, I have done what displeases you." This resonates with a passage from the second book of Samuel. When Natan came to David, David said, "I have sinned against the Lord." Natan answered him, "The Lord has forgiven your sin; you will not die."[14] Before the great confession of sins of this Psalm begins, David stands there as a figure of identification and hope: Israel should learn from him that he who stands can fall, but also vice versa: he who has fallen can be raised up again by the mercy of God, even more: to be created anew.[15]

Then it can follow:

Oh God, come to my aid.

Lord, hasten to help me.[16]

Once the water is up to your neck, you don't want to wait any longer. So is the voice that speaks from Psalm 70. Don't hesitate! Hurry to help me! Thus God compels them not to appear inactive in the face of painful experiences. She also makes no secret of who is responsible for this misery. In many countries it is still like this: where the rule of law appears weak, corruption and abuse of power are spreading. The wicked rise while decent live in the shadows. Psalm 70 may not rank among the "most beautiful" Psalms. But one should endure him as the voice of those who no longer know how to help themselves, and even better: pray about them on their behalf.

Then comes the Apostles' Creed, a developed variant of the ancient Roman Creed[17]. Its origins lie either in an early formulation of the Regula fidei[18] or in a further development of questions that were put to the adult baptized or to the godparents of the child to be baptized.

We are all asked to entrust our lives to God; to put it into God's hands and ask him, "What do you want?"

This question must be asked of who believes in God and who says “credo”, “I believe”. The Latin word "Credo" means "Cor dare": "I give my heart!"

And who can say: “I believe in God. I give my heart to HIM. I surrender myself to HIM”, he has reached the highest level of faith.

By the first three centuries AD it was clear that faith is about all of life. Belief not only meant disadvantage, it could even cost you earthly life! With the Constantinian turn, when Christianity became the state religion, it was advantageous to be a Christian. It was absolutely necessary and a matter of course, which was not exactly conducive to faith and it was no longer taken so seriously! Now things have turned around again and today it is neither helpful nor beneficial nor disadvantageous to be a Christian! It is all the more important today that whoever believes and gives his heart to God becomes a sign for God himself: a sacrament! My life has to show and show that I firmly believe in God. This is how you can be a sacrament to God. A sign of God's nearness and presence - through prayer. But how can we come to such a belief?

A creed such as the Apostles' Creed names the most important tenets of faith for the purpose of liturgical prayer and confession. The apostolic creed is prayed in the church on Sundays and holy days in the Holy Mass, it is also the baptismal creed (in question and answer form, also in the renewal of baptism).

In terms of content, the creed consists of three articles that clarify the Trinity (trinity) of God. In each article a person of the Trinity is contemplated and adored: in the first article God the Father, the Creator of the world, then Jesus Christ, the Son and Judge of the world, then the Holy Spirit, who especially works the communion in the Church.

Then the Gloria Patri[19] is prayed - a Trinitarian confession formula that praises the divine Trinity in the Christian liturgy in the form of a prayer (doxology). The designation is derived from their input words. The Gloria Patri dates from the 4th century. The text says:

Glory be to the Father and to the Son(s) and to the Holy Spirit(s),

as in the beginning, so now and forever and ever. Amen.

The first half-verse Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto is a statement expressing the identity of the three divine Persons expresses it briefly and concisely. It corresponds to the baptismal formula of Mt 28:19. An early Christian doxology Gloria Patri per Filium in Spritu Sancto, originally shaped by the idea of the mediator, "Glory to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit'' was abandoned because it could be misinterpreted subordinatorically in the sense of the Arians, in that the deity alone of the Father was testified.[20] [21]

The second half-verse ("Eternity postscript") reinforces the dogmatic statement about the Trinity on the time plane. It was prescribed by the synod at Vaison (529).

After that comes the Lord's Prayer - the most widespread prayer in Christianity and the only one that according to the New Testament Jesus Christ himself taught his disciples. It is prayed by all Christians, both as a private prayer of the individual and in the service.

The more well-known version, on which today's liturgical usage is based, is based on the text of the Gospel of Matthew. There the Lord's Prayer is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, which, as Jesus' teaching, precedes his saving actions. The wording of the Lord's Prayer makes Jesus' teaching about prayer concrete. The praying of the followers is to be distinguished from a public, verbose way of praying among Pharisees and heathens that is concerned with external effects. Its basis is the promise that precedes all prayer: Your Father knows what you need before you ask.[22]

In Matthew, the way God is addressed is solemn: Not just “Father” (as in Luke), but “Our Father in heaven”. The two rows of requests are also supplemented: the first row with the note "Thy will be done", the second row with the request "but deliver us from evil (evil).

Only in Matthew is there a comment from Jesus concerning one of the requests, namely the request for forgiveness: The comment refers to the statement of the praying person that he had forgiven other people. Jesus declares this interpersonal forgiveness to be of the utmost importance; he sees it as a prerequisite to receiving forgiveness from God.[23] 

By the way, this commentary is half as long as the text of the Lord's Prayer. Only the Matthean version closes the series of requests with a doxology ("word of praise"), which returns to the initial request for the coming of the kingdom of God and, as it were, returns the promise of God in the mouth of Jesus as an appeal to God: "For yours is the kingdom and the power and glory forever. Amen.” However, this conclusion has not been handed down in the oldest manuscripts, so it was probably missing in the original Gospel of Matthew.

In the Gospel of Luke there is a shorter version with five requests. Thanks to its frequent use, the Lord's Prayer is one of the most well-known texts in the Bible. Along with the Creed and the Ten Commandments, it is considered one of the foundations that every baptized Christian should learn and know.

Then the Ave Maria = Hail Mary is prayed, which consists of three parts.

The first part are the words of the Archangel Gabriel, who, as a kind of representative for the whole of heaven, expresses the complete joy, the rejoicing of heaven over Mary, the chosen one, who then pronounces her big "Yes, let it be done for me according to your word" and with it the door is opened through which God can enter this world and work his salvation. Mary's answer, which she gave more or less on behalf of all Christianity, wants to be an example of absolute obedience and trust in God. It is quite clear that Mary had not the slightest idea of God's plan of salvation, because she was shocked by the address and wondered what this greeting (the angel) meant[24] and after the announcement of the Lord's birth, Mary said to the angel: How can that be, since I don't recognize a man?[25]

Obviously, the Blessed Mother of God does not understand how this birth will take place, and yet she says with confidence: I am the handmaid of the Lord; be done to me as you said. After that, the angel left her.[26] 

The second part of the prayer - these are the words of Mary's cousin - Elizabeth, who in a way represents the whole world in amazement and rejoicing at Mary, praising her: Blessed are you more than all other women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.[27]

And then comes the response of the Church: Holy Mary, Mother of God - that is the response of the Church that has Mary as her mother now. Jesus gave Mary to be his mother to the disciple whom he loved especially - and therefore also to us - when he said from the cross: Woman, behold your son! Then he said to the disciple: Behold your mother![28] 

From the very beginning, the church sees itself in Jesus' favorite disciple. The church henceforth has a loving mother, and in this third part the church asks her mother as a loving daughter would ask her mother - that it occurs for us in the most important but also most difficult hour of our lives - namely in our hour of death.

At the center of these three parts is a name, and that's what matters. It is the most holy name - Jesus. This name is also a program: translated it means: "God Yahweh saves". And in this name God brings salvation, redemption and salvation. In Jesus, God showed us his loving, gentle face, showing his universal love[29]: for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Through his death on the cross and his resurrection, Jesus opens heaven to us. And in the letter to the Colossians[30] it even says: For in him everything was created in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, thrones and dominions, powers and authorities; everything was created through him and for him. He is the origin, the firstborn of the dead; so he has priority in everything.

So Christ is the center of our life, his name is the focus of this rosary area which is a profoundly christological prayer. The Archbishop of Cologne, Joachim Cardinal Meisner, who has already been mentioned, once said: In the Rosary we have a summary of the Gospel, a compendium of the Holy Scriptures, we can look at Jesus through the eyes of Mary. And Mary's eyes are the eyes of the loving mother, and love, as is well known, sees much more. Look at Jesus with the eyes of Mary, look at his face - the joyful one. the luminous, the painful, and the glorious. And whoever does that - does it like Maria. He absorbs the mysteries of Jesus in his heart and savors them in his soul. Praying the Rosary allows us to breathe in spiritually, as it were, these mysteries of Jesus and his life, allowing us to be formed and grow. Anyone who prays the rosary regularly should not be surprised if it changes. The Rosary can shape those who pray, it is apt to enable those who pray to reach that great goal which Saint James the Apostle calls: to be perfect and blameless so that nothing will be wanting.[31]

We have seen - whenever there have been crises in the history of Christianity, the rosary has experienced a special popularity - as a really precious spiritual means, one might even say as a spiritual weapon. The rosary is a valuable, strong spiritual means in our spiritual struggle and one might also say in the effort and commitment for peace - first of all because we are knocking with Mary, so to speak, at the door of the heart of Jesus - the heart of God. At the wedding at Cana, Mary says, Lord, they have no more wine.[32] In doing so, she makes herself the advocate of our human concerns - forever. With her we go to the door of the heart of Jesus.

The rosary is very well suited to stand up for peace with it. He makes us calmer, quieter, more ordered, more collected, more filled with peace. Perhaps this will also be your experience of praying the Rosary?

In the middle of the rosary prayer is the name of Jesus. And we worship Jesus as the Prince of Peace. He says:[33] I leave you peace, I give you my peace; I do not give you a peace such as the world gives. Don't let your heart be troubled and don't be discouraged. That's what we ask in the rosary and this peace - it really goes deep, it didn't come about because of lazy compromises, but is based on truth, justice and love. He is our peace – writes also the holy apostle Paul[34]. And the gift of the risen Lord is also peace[35]: peace be with you! 

This greeting at the beginning of the Mass is the Risen Lord's greeting to the disciples, to the Church for all time, it is at the same time a precious gift. And finally, when we look at Jesus and look at various mysteries of the Rosary, we inevitably end up looking at all those with whom Jesus identifies - when he says[36]: What you did for one of my least brothers you did that to me. 

In the midst of the joyful mysteries, contemplating the child Jesus praying in the manger is reason also to think of the many children in need around the world, and the many children in the womb who have not yet had a voice and who are among the weakest in our world. As you contemplate the luminous mysteries and pray the middle law that proclaimed the kingdom of God to us, the Beatitudes immediately come to mind: Blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the meek, blessed are the merciful and poor in spirit and also undergo persecution for his sake. In the middle of the painful hey mysteries are the cross and the carrying of the cross by Simon of Cyrene[37], who can become a model for us when it comes to carrying the crosses and burdens of other people[38], encouraged by the prayer of the rosary, to have compassion, and thereby alleviate their suffering and bring comfort donate[39]. Why shouldn't we slip into the role of Simon of Cyrene here and there again and again?

And finally the glorious mysteries that express and spread all the joy of the Resurrection. It can always be our concern to motivate others and ourselves to teach the glorious mysteries with this joy to those around us - as best we can - through our testimony of faith, passing on the gospel, but also by trying this joy, this hope, to share this confidence, which we Christians are right to have, with other people - in other words, all opportunities that can bring us to the point of how we can help build peace in the service of our fellow human beings - in the church and in the world. The rosary is a powerful prayer when it comes to advocating and working for peace. Given the terrible war in Ukraine and Holy Land, this seems to be a very important goal and a good reason to pick up this pearl necklace or make use of this app and praying the rosary also means communion with the Trinity God and to connect with the crucified Lord, because the cross is at the top, and finally also with Mary, who intercedes for us, who leads us to Jesus and lets us pray a prayer that brings calm, concentration and the mystery of salvation.

The rosary is not a relic of our Lord, but as we have seen, it arose in the Church praying through the ages. Whole generations have prayed to it.

Years ago, in the Vatican Museum in Rome, you could see an exhibition of rosaries from many centuries. One could see many rosaries from emperors and kings, but also from peasants and workers, from very simple people. I was very impressed by the rosary of Empress Maria Theresia. Sixteen golden hearts hung from her rosary, and each heart contained the lock of hair from one of her sixteen children. The empress always carried the rosary with her, and with it her children, when she went about her various governmental affairs. In this rosary exhibition, a very simple, unsightly rosary chain was particularly moving for me. They were made of very cheap material. The beads were formed from breadcrumbs, the chain, or cord, was made from threads of fabric that the concentration camp inmates had made from their inmate clothing. What had accompanied them to the hell of the concentration camp was the rosary, which at that time was even more important to them than bread!

What a precious prayer that is! The rosary with its five mysteries of faith is like the hand of the Mother of God with her five fingers, which holds and carries us through thick and thin or like a lifebelt that saves people from drowning and brings them to a safe shore. It really is a godsend. But we will especially appreciate this gift if we look at his mysteries not with our eyes but with our praying hearts and groping fingers as the gospel of Jesus Christ to be deciphered. And in this way, the life of Jesus imprints itself more deeply in our hearts, in our lives, than if we only read the Scriptures. Here it is possible for the worshiper to touch the hem of his robe, even if it was only from behind. "For power went out from him that healed everyone"[40].

When we reach for the rosary, we share that touch. Not only do we see the Lord, we not only hear his voice, but we come into contact with him. We often underestimate the sense of touch. But blind people develop it and particularly appreciate it, because they experience orientation with their hands by touching, by groping, by grasping what surrounds them.

The daily prayer of the imperial general Tilly in the Thirty Years' War has been handed down to us:

The rosary in my hands,

at the cross the last look,

this is how i want to end my life

Mother, give me this happiness.

I think we can all sign that. The rosary is the guarantee that it will actually be given to us. And when the heart confidently grasps the hand of God in prayer, our hand also doesn't want to reach into the void. When this hand grasps the beads of the rosary, the praying person feels that God is ready to hear and to help. For the believing Christian, the rosary is the cord that hangs over his sick bed. He focuses on it. The rosary is like the rope that eases the difficult path for the climber. He sticks to it when the abysses open up to the right and left of the path. The rosary is like a ladder with many steps that must be climbed if faith, hope and love are not to remain empty words, but rather enticing goals and effective forces. In a nutshell, the rosary is the bond that binds God and man closer together.

That is why God also gave us the sacraments, these holy signs that can be heard and seen and – think of the Holy Eucharist – that we can eat and drink. The rosary belongs to this sacramental order, although it is not a sacrament, it is a sacramental sign that helps us to grasp not only with our heads but also with our hands for the reality of the living God.

Mary was and is, as it were, the first rosary prayer. She will never have held a rosary in her hands, but she handled Jesus with love as she placed him in the manger in Bethlehem as an infant. She cared for, fed, washed and carried him as he grew as a child. So she not only looked at him, but also served him, and she was always present in his public life as a kind of "crisis manager". She did not place herself in front of him, but always behind him. And where necessary and dangerous for became him, she stepped in: in the flight into Egypt; in her search for him in the temple of Jerusalem; in her assistance when the inhabitants of Nazareth wanted to push him down the mountain; in his way of the cross in Jerusalem and under the cross on Golgotha . She was never missing where she was needed. She was always there with head, heart, hand, eye and ear. The fact that we too can live, speak, walk and communicate with Jesus in the flesh is made possible by the rosary, which allows us to do this "Ave Maria" leads to "Ave Jesus" and to "Gloria patri et filio et spiritui sancto", the "Hail Mary" to "We adore you, Lord Jesus Christ", to "Glory to the Father and to the Son". and the Holy Spirit". Who knows - maybe Bernadette in Lourdes and Lucia in Fatime appeared to Jesus Christ himself through his mother Mary, because she was not only the mother of Jesus, but - because she endured to the cross and stood by him, the first witness of Jesus Christ - and thus the mother of the church.

When Brahms wanted to perform his German Requiem for the first time in Germany, in Bremen, there was strong resistance from the evangelicals because the text did not contain enough of Christ's act of redemption and the Last Judgment; the performance was only approved on condition that the aria "I know that my redeemer lives"[41] from the Messiah be sung between the numbers. Musically very problematic, but Brahms noticed that a soprano aria was missing and added number five to the work, in which the chorus sings to the soprano solo "I will comfort you, as your mother comforts you". The maternal love that we experience in childhood and that characterizes us is found above all in Mary and love is something that neither the mind nor the eyes see, but the heart. And God absolutely wants to leave that to people, even if there are some exaggerations in popular piety. But exaggerations are also a feature of the same love!

Fr. Dietrich v. Bülow-Sternbeck

[1] Cardinal Joachim Meissner: Sermon at the pilgrimage of the Russian Germans in St. Antonius in Kevelaer on September 22, 2012. Quoted in: "Rosenkranz" ed. from the pastoral office of the German Bishops' Conference for Catholic Germans from the CIS. Bonn 2014.

[2] 1. Thess 5,3

[3] Ps 60,2-3.6-8

[4] Mt.7,7

[5] 1. Thess.5,17

[6] My prayer rise like incense before your face (Psalm 141:2)

[7] Luke 1:28: Hail, blessed one, the Lord is with you.

[8] Psalm 62:2

[9] 1 Kings 19:12

[10] Mt.28,19

[11] "The Invitatory always comes at the beginning of the daily Liturgy of the Hours, either before Lauds or before the Liturgy, depending on which of the two hours one begins the day with." General Introduction to Book of Hours No. 35

[12] Psalm 51:17

[13] Psalm 51:6

[14] 2 Sam.12:13

[15] cf.Ps 51:12: Create for me, O God, a pure heart and give me a new, steadfast spirit!

[16] Psalm 70:2.6

[17] Called "Credo Romanum"

[18] rule of belief

[19] Latin for "Glory to the Father".

[20] Markus Eham: Gloria patri. In: Walter Kasper  (Hrsg.): Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche. 3. Auflage. Band 4. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1995, Sp. 752 f.

[21] Josef Andreas Jungmann: Missarum Sollemnia, Band 1, 5. Auflage, Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1962, S. 423. 

[22] Mt 6:8

[23] Mt 6:14

[24] Lk 1:29

[25] Lk 1:34

[26] Lk 1:38

[27] Lk 1:42

[28] Joh 19:26-27

[29] Joh 3,16

[30] Kol 1,16.18

[31] Jak 1,4

[32] Joh 2,3

[33] Joh 14,27

[34] Eph 2,14

[35] Joh 20,19.21

[36] Mt 25,40

[37] Mt.27,32; Mk.15,21; Lk.23,26

[38] Gal 6,2

[39] 2.Kor 1,4

[40] Lk.6,19

[41] The Messiah, KV 572, is an arrangement made by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1789 of Handel's oratorio Messiah. His version is based on a German text and uses an orchestra that uses wind instruments differently from Handel's baroque work, first performed in Dublin in 1742. Mozart wrote the version on the initiative of Gottfried van Swieten for several performances before invited guests in Viennese aristocratic houses. Though intended for these performances only, his version was published in 1803, twelve years after Mozart's death. It appeared in a critical edition in 1961 in the New Mozart Edition and is still played today.