Why Pray The Rosary? Pt 2

In Part 2 of this series let us delve into the history of the Holy Rosary.  Most Catholics who know a thing or two will say it started with St. Dominic in the early 13th century, and to a point they would be correct - but the tradition of praying 150 prayers (the full traditional Rosary) and using counting devices goes back much, much further into our Judeo-Christian heritage.  The Psalter of King David goes back to at least the 5th century wherein monks would pray the 150 Psalms.  To keep track, they would use a cord with 150 knots in it, similar to early rosary ropes/beads.  Even prior to Christian use, the Psalms were sung in Jewish ceremonies at the Temple.  Originally, or a very early addition, there were superscriptions to many of the Psalms, indicating the author, the contents and often the melody for that section (Jacobs).

St. Paul of Thebes, Hermit
3rd to 4th Century AD
St. Paul of Thebes was said to carry two bags and 300 pebbles.  As he would say a prayer he would move a pebble from one bag to the other to keep track of his prayers.  St. Clare, the sister of St. Francis of Assisi, also used this method of prayer.  St. Paul was born about 227ad and lived to be 113 years old.  The last 91 years of his life he spent as a hermit, where he also encountered St. Anthony the Great, also an ascetic, who developed a great devotion to the life of St. Paul. (Roman)

The Jewish Tzitzit

The ancient Jewish and biblical use of the prayer shawl or "tzitzit" or "talit" has specific cords tied into knots, similar to rosary cords.  The knots, however, in the tzitzit are not enumerated for prayers - but as a reminder of God's commandments. The total of the cords twists and knots adds up to 613 to represent the Mitzvah, which are the commandments from the Torah beyond the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) most of us know well.  The cords are on the four corners of the prayer shawl, which traditionally was worn all the time, though in modern times it is primarily used ceremonially. In Jewish orthodoxy, the prayer shawl is still worn under ones outer garment. Again, while the knotted cords do not directly refer to prayers - it is on the prayer shawl.

The biblical references to the tzitzit are found in Numbers 15:37-40 and in Deuteronomy 22:12. There is also reference in the New Testament (Luke 8:44) to Jesus wearing such a garment as the woman who suffered from "an issue of blood" for twelve years reached out and touched the tassel (hem or border in some translations) of Jesus' cloak and she was immediately healed.  (Raj, 2013).

St. Dominic
St. Dominic was preaching the Gospel to the heretics embracing Albigensianism (who believed adultery, fornication and suicide were praiseworthy and did not accept there was a heaven or a hell nor a moral code). He was having little success then one day while in deep prayer and penance the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and stated: "Wonder not that you have obtained so little fruit by your labors, you have spent them on barren soil, not yet watered with the dew of Divine grace. When God willed to renew the face of the earth, He began by sending down on it the fertilizing rain of the Angelic Salutation. Therefore preach my Psalter composed of 150 Angelic Salutations and 15 Our Fathers, and you will obtain an abundant harvest" (Feeney). From this St. Dominic produced the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary - each mystery dealing with a significant part of Jesus' life. As he began preaching the Rosary, converts from the Albigenses began and caught fire throughout the land.

As one can clearly see, the use of beads and/or knotted cords is certainly not anti-Christian and is rooted in ancient Jewish tradition. It is a tradition we may proudly embrace.

Resources:
Feeney, Robert, St. Dominic and the Rosary, http://www.catholic-pages.com/prayers/rosary_dominic.asp

Jacobs, Rabbi Louis, The Book of Psalms, http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-book-of-psalms/

Raj, T. V. Antony, September 10, 2013, Are The Tallit and Tzitzit of Jews Equivalent to Prayer Beads Used in Other Religions? https://tvaraj.com/2013/09/10/are-the-tallit-and-tzitzit-of-the-jews-equivalent-to-prayer-beads-used-in-other-religions/

Roman, Dr. Alexander, The Historical Development of the Orthodox Prayer Rope and Its Importance to Our Spiritual Life http://stillstoneandmoss.com/page.php?page=PrayerRopesArticleByAlexanderRoman and also http://www.rosaryworkshop.com/HISTORY-AlexRoman.html

Why Pray The Rosary? Pt 1

The Concluding Prayer
O GOD, Whose only begotten Son, by His life, death and resurrection has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, by meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Last Sunday, in the Extraordinary Rite, was Holy Rosary Sunday.  The actual feast day is October 7th, but when that date does not fall on a Sunday, it is celebrated on the Sunday before.  In our sermon, Father taught on several points, but one which struck me - which I had not really thought much about, was the Concluding Prayer (above), in particular the last part... "by meditating upon these mysteries... imitate what they contain... and obtain what they promise.

To Meditate
Meditating on the mysteries is more than just thinking about them as you pray each decade, but going into deeper thought about them.  The mysteries are various stages in the life of Jesus Christ.  We meditate on the joyful parts, the sorrowful and the glorious parts.  In the modern version we have added stages which bear light on the life of Christ in the Luminous Mysteries.  To meditate, we take it beyond just the 15 minutes spent in prayer of the Rosary itself.

To Imitate
One cannot really imitate the life of Christ without first meditating on it.  By imitating Christ, we bring Him into us and allow us to become more like Him.  The more we meditate upon Him and His life, the more we can and hopefully will, imitate Him.

To Obtain
Through the Holy Rosary we hope to obtain our share in the Resurrection, that is, eternal life in and with Jesus Christ.  If we imitate His life, and He lives in and through us, then we will be resurrected with Him in Heaven as co-heirs with Him.

Aids and instruction for praying the Holy Rosary may be found here:

http://cathapol.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

Catholic Baptism

As this child was being baptized the water forms the image of a Rosary!  This was posted by a Ferde in the Catholic Debate Forum who got it from his wife.  I'm not sure of the origin, but there you have it!  

Swan on Madrid and the Rosary

In doing some research for another article I'm working on, I came across the following from James Swan on the aomin.org blog.  Note, Swan's objection is to Madrid's mentioning of the Rosary - yet if you listen to the clip, it's mostly about confession and getting out of mortal sin.  The Rosary is a tool or weapon against falling into mortal sin - but we ALL make mistakes - we ALL fall and we ALL need to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession or Penance). 

Swan writes:  This MP3 clip is from a broadcast of Catholic Answers live (December 2008). Catholic apologist Patrick Madrid answered a caller concerned about her mortal sin. After explaining how the Catholic Church instructs such a person to go through confession, absolution, and penance, Madrid says to pray the Rosary because it is the "strongest weapon outside the sacraments that we have to combat mortal sin." The Rosary is not just a repetitious prayer in the Catholic veneration of Mary, but thestrongest weapon to keep one from mortal sin.

Again, whereas the Rosary is mentioned, the main thrust of Madrid's response is to answer this person in regard to mortal sin and that it was important still to go to Mass, but not receive the Eucharist until one has made it to Confession first.  That being said, the Rosary is, perhaps, one of the strongest if not the strongest weapons to use to keep one from committing mortal sin.  Why is it such a strong weapon?  Because the Rosary in not "vain repetition" as our Protestant friends would think (as I used to think too!), no it is sets of meditations primarily upon the life and passion of Jesus Christ!  In the standard Rosary of 15 decades (each "decade" being 10 "Hail Mary" prayers), each decade is spent in meditation upon an event - 13 of which primarily deal with the life and passion of Jesus Christ!  If we add in the Luminous Mysteries, added by Pope John Paul II, that's 5 more decades devoted to the life of Jesus Christ!  So, of the 20 decades - TWO of them have meditations primarily upon Mary (the Assumption and the Coronation).  

So, how about all those "Hail Mary" prayers?  Aren't we praying TO Mary?  Why not pray directly to Jesus?  There's NOTHING to stop the Catholic from praying directly to Jesus!  However, the "Hail Mary" is moreso a prayer or petition asking Mary to pray for and with us TO JESUS!  How often, when we are in need, do we ask our fellow Christians to pray for us and/or with us?  That being said, much of the "Hail Mary" comes to us directly from Scripture!  Allow me to illuminate: 

"Hail Mary, Full of Grace!"  The Lord is with thee! (Luke 1:28)

"Blessed art thou, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb (Jesus)!" (Luke 1:42)

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.  Amen."  (This second part, as you can see, is not so much a prayer TO Mary, but rather a petition asking Mary to pray for us now, and as we're dying). 

So you can see, there's not a whole lot to get excited about here!  The first half of the "Hail Mary" comes directly from the greeting of the Angel (Gabriel) to Mary and the greeting her cousin Elizabeth made upon Mary's visit.  It seems an appropriate manner to greet her when petitioning her to pray for us. The second part recognizes that Jesus is God and Mary is His mother, and asks her to pray for us both now and at the hour of our death.  Keep in mind too, while praying this - we're actually meditating primarily on the life of Christ!

Swan continues:  In his book, Where Is That In The Bible?, Madrid mentions the repetitious Rosary helps Catholics "meditate on key episodes of the Gospel narrative, as well as mysteries of the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (p. 136). This prayer asks "Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant, to intercede on our behalf and use her prayers as a weapon of grace against the evil one, the Red Dragon spoken of in Revelation 12... when we pray the Rosary, we go well-armed into battle against the adversary, who is 'prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour'" (p.137).

   True, all Christians are engaged in a real battle against the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Yet God has not left us to fend against the ravages of sin on our own. But before we consider Madrid's "strongest weapon," why not look into the Scriptures?

There is nothing to stop one from looking to the Scriptures!

Swan continues:  Over the years I've heard many sermons on "putting on the full armor of God" as expounded by Paul in Ephesians 6. Paul exhorts us to "put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." He mentions the "belt of truth," "the breastplate of righteousness," "the shield of faith," and "the helmet of salvation." He says to pray in the Spirit on all occasions. In Ephesians Paul doesn't tell Christians to meditate on the "mysteries of the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

Well, this would be a rather anachronistic argument, now wouldn't it Mr. Swan?   The Most Holy Rosary was not given to us for quite a number of centuries, even though the counting on beads, or knots in a rope, actually predate Christendom. 

Swan continues: Rather, he asks the Ephesians to pray for him as he proclaims the mystery of the gospel (Eph. 6:19). In fact, the entire epistle to the Ephesians is soaked in devotion to Christ. Christians are instructed to be "imitators of God," while Mary, Madrid's strongest weapon, is conspicuously absent.

And again, there is nothing to stop the Christian from petitioning fellow Christians and other Saints - the benefit of the Holy Rosary is a) in the meditations, putting your heart and mind focused on Christ and b) petitioning Jesus' mom to pray for us to Him as well.

Swan states:  Paul doesn't mention the Rosary as a means of fighting sin and standing strong in the faith. 

And again with the anachronism!  One has to wonder why a Protestant apologist would think such an "out of time" argument would be valid.  Perhaps to someone weak in their faith or one who thinks St. Paul carried with him the King James Version of the Bible, maybe someone like that might be fooled by such argumentation but no one who knows even a little bit of history of the Holy Rosary would be fooled by this.

Swan posits:  One would think if the Rosary is the "strongest weapon outside the sacraments that we have to combat mortal sin" he would've mentioned it. Perhaps Paul mentioned it elsewhere to the Ephesians, but didn't write it down? Perhaps this is an unwritten Tradition?

And more and more of the anachronistic argument!  Perhaps Mr. Swan should consider that the Holy Rosary was first given to St. Dominic by the Blessed Virgin in the late 12th to early 13th century.  Yes, that's some 1200 years AFTER St. Paul was martyred in Rome - so it's not very likely that St. Paul would be talking about something which would not exist for another 1200 years!

Swan asks:  Perhaps it's been defined as such by an infallible authority?

Actually, no - there is no infallible teaching on the Rosary.  It was a private revelation to St. Dominic - and though intended to be shared, it is still a matter of private revelation.  No Catholic HAS to participate in Rosary prayers.

Swan continues:  Perhaps Madrid is engaging in private judgment as to his positive disposition towards the Rosary?

No again.  Patrick Madrid is expounding upon private revelation which has been approved/authenticated by the Church.  I reiterate, it has not been elevated to a "de fide" or dogmatic teaching - so no Catholic HAS to participate in the Holy Rosary.  If I may share, when I first converted from being a Lutheran, I asked my confessor about this.  Since I was a Lutheran previously, I had some reservations about praying the Rosary, the good Monsignor Waterhouse (may he rest in peace) simply said, "then don't do it!"  He went on to say, "I can't understand why you wouldn't - but if you're uncomfortable with the Rosary, don't say it."  That removed a lot of concern from me, and then when I studied the Rosary itself from a more objective point of view, I came to understand it better and those earlier reservations have gone by the wayside.

Swan concludes:  The answers to these questions probably won't be forthcoming any time soon.

Well, "soon" is relative.  Mr. Swan posted this over a year ago, so my answers did not come "soon" after he posted this blog, but they came within the same day of me reading the blog - I trust that is "soon enough" for him.  I cannot say if Patrick has or has not directly responded to Mr. Swan.

In JMJ,
Scott<<<

For more information on the Most Holy Rosary and its history, please look at these links:
http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/ROSARYHS.HTM
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2002/0212fea4sb1.asp
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13184b.htm