THE ROSARY: A SPIRIT-FILLED PRAYER

THE ROSARY: A SPIRIT-FILLED PRAYER


By Father Giles Dimock, O.P.



The Rosary, a Spirit-filled prayer? Isn't that a contradiction in terms? Its monotonous and repetitive form seems a far cry from the rush of the Spirit, the spontaneous joy that wells up in the heart when one is touched by the presence of the Lord, or the new awareness of the word of God awakened when the Scriptures seem to leap off the page. How can we settle for prayer formulas like the Rosary when the Holy Spirit seems to give us new words of prayer in the heartfelt inspiration of our own words? What does the Rosary have to offer us?

These are good questions. I asked them myself. The answers came to me gradually from my experience in the charismatic renewal as I saw the need for the "spirituality of the long haul."

When I came into the renewal in 1967 I had long since left the Rosary behind. Like many Vatican II Catholics, I mistakenly thought that the Council had banished such devotions. In the first flush of prayer meetings, renewed interest in reading Scripture, and spontaneous prayer with friends, I had no need of the Rosary.

Only after I'd been in the charismatic renewal for quite some time did I see the need for a quieter, more rhythmic type of prayer. I came to appreciate this form of prayer especially in the "dry" times when the Spirit did not seem so active. I realized that the Rosary is not a prayer foreign to Scriptures, but one drawn directly from it. Most of the mysteries are events in the lives of Jesus and His Mother that are depicted in the synoptic Gospels.

Thomas Howard, a convert to Catholicism who treasures the riches of his Evangelical heritage, explains the Rosary as a way of "gazing" on the Gospel events— prolonging the experience by entering deeply into them in prayer and meditation. The regular rhythm of the Our Fathers and the Hail Marys calms our spirit and creates an inner space where we can encounter the Lord as we ponder particular aspects of the mysteries of his life, death and resurrection.

Pope Paul Vl recommended praying the Rosary in his letter Marialis Cultus ("To Honor Mary"). He pointed out that while the Mass makes Christ sacramentally present in the Paschal Mystery of his life, death and resurrection, the Rosary makes these same mysteries present to the mind in meditation—thus the Rosary can prepare us to celebrate the Eucharist.