Why We Pray the Rosary
ONE
Today is the feast of St. Dominic.
Mary gave St. Dominic the Rosary, but not exactly the way most people think of it. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, one of the greatest Dominican theologians explained Dominic’s method: At the end of the 12th century southern France was ravaged by the Albigensian heresy – a heresy which denied the infinite goodness and power of God by admitting a principle of evil which was often victorious…It was at that moment that Our Blessed Lady made known to St. Dominic a kind of preaching until then unknown, which she said would be one of the most powerful weapons against future errors and in future difficulties. Under her inspiration, St. Dominic went into the villages of the Albigensians, gathered the people, and preached to them the truths of salvation — the Incarnation, the redemption, eternal life. As Mary had taught him to do, he distinguished the different kinds of mysteries, and after each short instruction, he had ten Hail Mary’s recited… And what the word of the preacher was unable to do, the sweet prayer of the Hail Mary did for hearts. As Mary promised, it proved to be a most fruitful form of preaching., p. 255
So, we pray the Rosary in a new way that is actually a really old way introduced by St. Dominic - a short teaching from the Word of God which is composed of SS, ST, and the Magisterium, – followed by meditating or thinking about the short instruction while we pray the decade, and we do this five times.
TWO
The Rosary is supposed to be a Meditation on the Word of God.
The traditional mysteries of the Rosary were meant to serve as an outline for the life and teachings of Jesus. They were never meant to limit us to those scenes. Imagine reading the table of contents of a book over and over and never reading the book. Sooner or later, you will lose interest in the table of contents because you want to know more, you desire to go deeper.
During the Rosary we can meditate upon all that Jesus, the Word of God revealed through His life and His teachings. The full Word of God comes to us through Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium. We can meditate or think about all of this during the Rosary. The Old and New Testament, the writings of Augustine, Aquinas, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux or St. Faustina; and the teachings of the Magisterium. In fact, the best synthesis of the Word of God is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is great to meditate upon during the Rosary.
Most importantly the Rosary is meant to be a meditation on the Word of God. Meditation is to read or listen to something from the Word of God, then to reflect on it during the Our Father and Hail Mary’s so that we can grow in our knowledge and love of God and finally to draw a practical resolution we put into practice so that our lives change.
The Rosary presupposes we are reading the Word of God each day. Though many aren’t. That’s why we include it in the Rosary for you.
One last thing – this isn’t just a recording you are listening to. Even if some or all of the content is the same, we record every day because you are not alone. We are praying with you. We pray together!
THREE
In the approved apparition of Cuapa, Nicaragua in 1980 Our Lady warned us of what we must do to avoid a third world war.
She said; "Pray, pray, my son, the Rosary for all the world. Tell believers and non-believers that the world is threatened by grave dangers. I ask the Lord to appease His justice, but, if you don't change, you will hasten the arrival of the Third World War."
Then She said;
"I want the Rosary to be prayed every day. I want it to be prayed permanently, within the family ... including the children old enough to understand and to be prayed at a set hour…in the home."
Then Mary gave a vision of how the Rosary began and how she wanted it prayed.
Mary instructed Bernardo to look up at the sky where he saw something like a movie being played before him:
“After seeing the procession of martyrs, there followed a group of saints dressed in white and carrying luminous rosaries in their hands. The rosaries had extremely white beads and gave off light in a variety of different colors. It was made known to him that St. Dominic led the procession while he carried a very large open book. Dominic would read, and after listening - they silently meditated. After this period of prayer and silence, they then prayed the Our Father and ten Hail Mary’s and the Glory Be. When the rosary was finished, Our Lady said to me: “These are the first ones to whom I gave the rosary. That is the way that I want all of you to pray the rosary.”
FOUR
Mary informed Bernando, the visionary of Cuapa, that she was not pleased when the Rosary was prayed mechanically or in a rushed manner.
She said; “Pray the Rosary, meditate on the mysteries. Listen to the Word of God spoken in them…Put into practice the Word of God.”
Mary does not want us to just say the Rosary while our minds wander. She wants us to meditate, to think about the Word of God and then make a resolution we will put into practice and change our lives.
That is how Mary wants the Rosary prayed.
FIVE
When St. Dominic's mother, Blessed Jane of Aza, was pregnant, she had a dream of a dog with a torch in its mouth, running around the world and setting everything on fire. She went to the monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos and asked a monk what it meant. He replied that the child in her womb would be a great preacher, who would set the world ablaze with the fire of his words.” In fact, the word “Dominican” is a play on the Latin, Domini canes, which means “dogs of the Lord.”
When Mary gave Dominic her method of the Rosary she made known to him a kind of preaching until then unknown, which she said would be one of the most powerful weapons against future errors and in future difficulties.
Let’s be dogs of the Lord running about setting the world on fire with the Rosary by sharing this podcast with others and inviting them to pray with it with us, forming our teams and taking back Sundays.