Introduction

So, what is it about the rosary?

If you are new to this devotion, the rosary can be intimidating and seem far away (if not flat-out heretical), but it’s worth pursuing for every Christian, Catholic or not, and here’s why.

There are many misunderstandings about the rosary that have come about throughout the centuries.  Devotees have been accused of worshiping Mary; of being pagans; engaging in the vain repetition of prayer, and many more.  What you don’t commonly hear, however, is that the rosary is not about Mary, that its purpose is to draw souls deeply into the life of Christ.

If the rosary is not about Mary, why all the Hail Marys then?  This is a fairly simple question to answer.  Pope John Paul II was fond of the saying, “to Jesus through Mary”:  Mary always brings us straight to her Son.  Christ helps us to understand this in the Scripture of the Wedding at Cana.  When Mary asked Jesus to enter into His ministry, He protested, saying, “My time has not yet come.”  Mary’s response?  She disregarded His response completely, turning instead to the servers and instructing them to “do whatever He tells you.”  And Jesus, keeping every Commandment with Divine Perfection, obeyed His Mother–and the world was never the same.  What would our contemplative life be like if Christ had reproached Mary and not performed that first miracle?  Truly, Mary opened the door to Christ and we can confidently say, “to Jesus through Mary!”

As for vain repetition, this is an important question.  How many times have you said the Pledge of Allegiance?  Does it have less meaning for you because you say it every day, or does it instead strengthen your love of country and your fellow citizen?  Have you ever prayed the Our Father?  That is certainly a prayer with the same words; is it vain repetition to pray it, just because we pray the same words every time we pray it?  Does the prayer change when we say it, or do we change for having prayed it?  The answers to those questions lie in the fact that Christ Himself gave us these very words to pray, because He wanted them prayed.

Applying this understanding to the Hail Mary, we can approach this prayer with peaceful hearts and settled minds.  It is not repeating prayers that we are rightly warned against, but the vain repetition.  In other words?  Engage!  Be present to Our Lord in the rosary and let His Mother take you there.  For the rosary, also known as “the School of Mary” has untold treasures just waiting to enrich your heart.  It is a beautiful, edifying prayer, indeed.