Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 7, 2021 - Oct. 7 - Our Lady of the Rosary
[Acts 1:12-14 and Luke 1:26-38]"And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For evesryone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." [Luke]
OCTOBER 7 OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY
[Malachi 3:13-20b and Luke 11:5-13. These are the scriptures in the Roman calendar. They will vary at Dominican locations since this is an important feast for our order.]
"And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For evesryone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." [Luke]
In the western or Latin rite of our church, there is no prayer more popular than the rosary. A rosary hanging from a rearview mirror in a car is a sure sign the driver is a Catholic! I have noticed students from our Catholic student center here at Texas Tech wearing a rosary dangling from their pocket or belt as a sign of their faith. We Dominicans became identified with the devotion of the rosary from its earliest beginnings. Although legend has the Blessed Mother personally giving the rosary to St. Dominic, we have a Dominican preacher, Bl. Alain de la Roche, O.P., to thank for that in a vision he experienced. He was instrumental in founding Confraternities of the Rosary in the 15th century, a movement still in existence today. The rosary most of us are familiar with was standardized by Pope Pius V (a Dominican) in the 16th century. The list of 15 "mysteries" endured until Pope St. John Paul II added five more [the "llluminative Mysteries].
The original purpose of the rosary was (and still is) a combination of devotional and catechetical goals. It is not meant to be only a devotion for the Blessed Mother, but a reflection on God's plan of salvation in various scenes from the gospels. The mere announcement of a "mystery" without reflection on it deprives the rosary of some of its purpose. (I know this from my own experience and celebration with others!) One could take five of Jesus' teachings, or miracles, or encounters and substitute these for the traditional 15 (20?) that we learn as children.
Although the gospel assigned for today in the Roman calendar is not the one we Dominicans will be using, it still speaks to the importance of persistent prayer. I think of it like friendship. We cannot expect even our closest friends to meet every need we think we have, but that should not stop us from sharing our needs with one another. We can do that in our relationship to God. How God can help is not always going to occur in the way we would want, but at least, as in any good friendship, we will have a listener who is always there. The rosary is a traditional part of our "vocabulary of prayer" and it is a comforting way to express our friendship with God and the Communion of Saints, of which Mary is the pre-eminent member! AMEN