“It’s a lesson in humility” was my thought as I drove to visit my father last weekend. I find it very peaceful to pray the rosary during the hour drive to visit my parents. Sometimes I pray the one set of mysteries assigned for the day but many times, if I find myself in traffic, I do all four sets of mysteries. This way, I focus more on prayer while in traffic than on the aggravation I could feel knowing I’m going nowhere fast.
This weekend there was traffic and so God, in His infinite wisdom, gave me the opportunity to focus on the rosary. What I love about the Rosary is that it is a form of contemplative prayer that calls us to focus on the life of Christ and His ministry. While many people feel it’s a Catholic’s way of “worshipping” Mary – nothing could be further from the truth.
Why devotion to Mary?
At the cross Jesus spoke to His mother and the disciple He loved and said: “Woman behold your son and behold your Mother!” What more can I say. We were given a spiritual mother to turn to in our time of need. The Rosary, while considered a special devotion to the Blessed Mother, is actually a prayer we use to contemplate her Son and meditate on His life. The prayers of the Rosary are the background music to our meditation. They keep us focused and less distracted.
Where is the lesson in humility?
Our approaching the Rosary is our first step in humility. In our devotion to the Blessed Mother of Jesus, we present our humility to Christ in not presuming that we are worthy to stand alone before the King of Kings. Don’t get me wrong, we CAN approach, we have been wiped clean through Baptism and the Cross but let’s not be presumptuous in His Presence.
So, as you may know, there are 4 sets of mysteries of the Rosary which we recite on specified days of the week. There are five mysteries for each set. For each individual mystery there is a corresponding fruit that I believe is taking root in our souls each time we pray the rosary. In thinking about these fruits, I realized that the entire rosary is a lesson in humility. Before I get into what I mean by that, I’d like to list them all.
The Joyful Mysteries: Monday and Saturday
The Annunciation – Fruit: humility; The Visitation – Fruit: love of neighbor; The Nativity – Fruit: poverty; The Presentation – Fruit: obedience; The Finding of the Child Jesus at the Temple – Fruit: Joy in finding Jesus
The Sorrowful Mysteries: Tuesday and Friday
The Agony in the Garden – Fruit: Sorrow for Sin; The Scourging at the Pillar – Fruit: Purity; The Crowning with Thorns – Fruit: Courage; The Carrying of the Cross – Fruit: Patience; The Crucifixion – Fruit: Perseverance
The Glorious Mysteries: Wednesday and Sunday
The Resurrection – Fruit: Faith; The Ascension – Fruit: Hope; The Descent of the Holy Spirit – Fruit: Love of God; The Assumption of Mary – Fruit: Grace of a happy death; The Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth – Fruit: Trust in Mary’s Intercession
The Luminous Mysteries: Thursday
The Baptism of Jesus – Fruit: Openness to the Holy Spirit; The Wedding Feast at Cana – Fruit: To Jesus through Mary; The Proclamation of the Kingdom – Fruit: Repentance and trust in God; The Transfiguration – Fruit: Desire for holiness; The Institution of the Eucharist – Fruit: Adoration
So Sunday afternoon, since I knew I was going to pray the entire 4 mysteries, I decided to start with the Joyful ones. Of course, the first fruit is humility. I recognized Mary’s humility in accepting the task of being Christ’s mother and all the heartache and uncertainty that came along with it. As I continued on with the prayer it dawned on me that humility was the necessary ingredient. I recognized that all the other fruits are reaped from the humility we sow.
The fruit of the joyful mysteries
Love of neighbor: we humble ourselves in sacrificial love to bring compassion, mercy and love to others.
Poverty: poverty of spirit – we empty ourselves of our perceived power and control in order to allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us.
Obedience: We follow the commandments no matter how hard they may seem. We imitate Christ in acknowledging our desire for God’s will to be done in our lives not our will.
Joy in finding Jesus: we humble ourselves and find joy in finding Jesus because we know that without Him we are nothing.
The fruit of the sorrowful mysteries
Sorrow for Sin: our acknowledgment of the wrong we have committed against love of God or neighbor; our ability to look in the mirror and say, I have done something wrong and I am sorry. That is a sure sign of humility.
Purity: accepting life’s “scourges” in faith knowing God’s plans for us are better than anything we could ever imagine for ourselves.
Courage: standing strong in the face of adversity with complete trust in God’s love for us.
Patience: accepting our “crosses” and never asking why but instead asking why not?
Perseverance: keep on fighting the good fight, accepting God’s will, turning to Him for strength and guidance; never losing hope but just simply asking Him constantly to restore us!
The fruit of the glorious mysteries
I think they speak for themselves – they are all about us placing our trust in something we cannot see. If that’s not a sure sign of humility, I don’t know what is.
The fruit of the luminous mysteries
Last but certainly not least, the Luminous Mysteries. The fruit of these mysteries have everything to do with our dependence on someone or something other than ourselves for guidance, our acknowledgement of Christ and our desire to be more like Him. These mysteries focus on us giving up our false selves, the selves driven by the ego and putting on Christ. Living a life where we acknowledge the existence of a world beyond this physical world and making IT our first priority!
For me the Rosary is so much more than most people give it credit for. I hope this post has presented some insight into the depth and power of this prayer.
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