my life with mary

Re: Marian Spirituality, Personal Testimony
Fr: Rayco, D. (2007 May). http://filipinopsychologist.blogspot.com

MY LIFE WITH MARY (I)

Part I: My Marian Roots

"And Mary said '.... Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;'" - Lk 1: 46, 48

I grew up in a family atmosphere where the Catholic faith was kept alive through such traditions as praying the rosary. Both my father's and mother's side contributed in the laying down of the foundations of my Marian devotion.

I have a paternal aunt who is a Dominican sister (Sor Lorenza Regorgo, OP, who already celebrated her golden anniversary as a religious) who I remember as a young child vividly at one time unabashedly led the praying of the Holy Rosary in the car going from Legaspi City where we lived to Oas, Albay, the hometown of both my parents. Praying the rosary was very much part of their congregation's spirituality.

Oh, by the way, I was named after my father, Domingo. It means "Sunday" in Spanish. It is also the name of the founder of the Dominican order, Sto. Domingo de Guzman who is largely credited for spreading the devotion to the Holy Rosary. What I clearly remember about him is that he would pray the rosary every time he would offer Mass and preach. He asked for the guidance and intercession of the Mother of Jesus in preaching against the heresies (false doctrines) of his time, which was his mission. Thus, they were called the "Order of Preachers" (OP).

Whenever I could, in the recent years, I would attend (or more properly "offer" with the main celebrant, as one recent retreat master said) Mass at the Sto. Domingo church in Quezon City during my birthday to ask for the intercession of my assigned patron saint, to get re-connected with him, and together to go to Mama Mary to thank Jesus for another year and to seek for guidance and blessings for another year in this journey called life. The church would always be "royally" decorated as it is the month of the rosary, October. Oh, yes, my birth date also falls on the day after Our Lady of Fatima's sixth and last apparition on October 13, 1917 to three children (Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco) in Portugal where the Blessed Mother identified herself as "Our Lady of the Rosary."

On my mother's side, which was matriarchal (in the sense that my Grandma held more influence than my Grandpa through socio-economic status), I also vividly remeber my Grandma leading us to prayer in her old Spanish-style house in Oas, Albay in Spanish!!! That was the language in which the Catholic faith was brought to the Philippines and the language in which prayers like the rosary were said during my Grandma's time. Although I could not follow as a child, we were required to also kneel and be reverent. Eventually, I did learn the prayers in Spanish (and Latin!) in my first year High School at St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Tabaco, Albay. The image of Our Lady with outstretched arms with rays (symbolizing graces) coming from her hands (I believe this is the Lady of the Mirculous Medal) enclosed in glass on which we prayed is still in our house today (where my Mom lives) in Pag-asa, Quezon City.

Speaking of the Miraculous Medal, my paternal aunt (Auntie Manay) was a devotee of this icon and would travel all the way from Bicol to visit the Vincentian church in Manila (opposite Adamson University).

Although my father was not what you would call a "religious" person, one of my vivid memories about him is that before I left for my Overseas Training Program in Taiwan in 1986 as an SVD seminarian then, he handed me over a Marian medal that was his. He asked me to keep it, saying that on it was the image of "Nuestra Señora del Salvacion" (Our Lady of Salvation) which was made in order to commemorate a religious event (I forgot what) in Bicol. Unfortunately, I don't know where it is now. Speaking of my father, he died after I came back from Taiwan as a lay person. On that day, (August 30, 1989) he uncharacteristically went to church to attend Mass in the parish church near our house. Being a Wednesday, the Mass was with the novena to our Lady of Perpetual Help. Putting these events together, I hypothesize, my father must have been assisted by Our Lady of Salvation at the "hour of his death" to his eternal salvation.

Again, speaking of medals, I also vividly remember having been given by my mother a gold medal with the image of the Blessed Mother during elementary which I proudly wore in school. However, my Mom eventually took it back because people remarked it looked like one designed for ladies and was dangerously expensive.

During the month of October at one point, I remember that we were led to praying the rosary in school. It must have been in our religion class. Our School Director was Fr. John Chang (now Monsignior), a rare pure Chinese diocesan priest who established St. Jude Catholic School of Lepaspi City, a Filipino-Chinese school from scratch. My mother wanted us to be enrolled in this school I think because, aside from the availability of a school bus, we have Chinese ancestry. That also explains why I was inspired to volunteer for the Overseas Training Program in Taiwan.

Although praying the rosary at home was not done daily, it was done when my Mom had the time and on special occasions as the annual renewal of Family Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus when all the family members gathered around the family altar. The consecration prayer was preceded by the praying of the rosary. Like my maternal Grandma, my Mom would lead the praying on her knees, regardless of her tiredness or age. My Mom, convinced about the practice, still continues to lead us in prayer by taking advantage of our annual Christmas or New Year's family reunion.

Although we sort of criticize the way the rosary is said so speedily and mechanically, as Mom must have modeled after Grandma, the good intention and the very act itself left an impression on me. Behavioral psychologists tell us that it is the "doing" and not so much the "saying" that more powerfully inculcates values.

MY LIFE WITH MARY (II)

Part II: My Protector from Evil

"The LORD God said to the serpent, '.... I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.'" - Genesis 3: 14-15

A. Teachings

"Ad Jesum per Mariam" (To Jesus through Mary). This slogan seems to be very applicable in my case.

In one of the homilies I heard at Sto. Domingo parish in Quezon City during the month of the Rosary (October), the priest said that from afar, it's difficult to see the child Jesus, but it's very easy to spot Mary, the Mother. And, if we just keep our sights on her and follow the path that leads to her, we will eventually and invariably find Jesus with her. This is physically very true in a big church like Sto. Domingo. I also heard it from someone in the past, probably from our Spiritual Director in my Legion of Mary days, that Mary is like a mirror that reflects not herself but Jesus / God.

Although if I were to live my live over again, I may not necessarily choose to enter the seminary, I am very thankful that my spiritual ties with Mary deepened in my 12 years of training under priests and religious. And, the more I encountered evil, the stronger I clung on to her and sealed my love and loyalty to the Queen of Heaven.

I quoted Genesis 3:15 above because I like the image of Mary with Jesus stepping on the head of the serpent that we see in the churches. I've also heard or read it somewhere that EVA (Eve) in the Old Testament has become AVE (as in "Ave, Maria") in the New Testament in the same way that the old Adam has become the new Adam (Christ) in the New Testament (cf.: Romans 5:12-21). As though to confirm what I just said above, this passage of St. Paul to the Romans says: "but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Rom 5:20).

I just remembered again one story. I can't accurately recall the details, but the essence of it is that contrary to out thinking that evil is kept out of the seminary, this saint in the story said that in fact he saw more devils roaming around the compound of the seminary because it is a strategic place to attack. It's like the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World Ward II targeting military installations and camps which ultimately decided the victor.

Going back to Mary's role in Jesus' mission to defeat evil in the world, I like Mel Gibson's depiction of Mary in Jesus' suffering in the movie "The Passion of the Christ." The most memorable scene in the movie for me is Jesus carrying the cross on the way to calvary with Mary walking along on one side and the serpent in human form on the other with the devil's sarcastic look and sneer on his face across the street to Mary, the Spotless One. This, for me is the realization of the Old Testament prophecy in Genesis 3:15: "'I will put enmity between you (the serpent) and the woman ....'"

Mary, Immaculate Spouse of the Holy Spirit, pray for us.

MY LIFE WITH MARY (III)

Part II: Protector from Evil

“Lucia [visionary of Our Lady of Fatima] said Mary asked them to say the Rosary every day, reiterating many times that the Rosary was the key to personal and world peace." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Fatima#_note-7, accessed 2007 May 01

B. Application (1): Sexual Improprieties

I learned from talks on relationships, especially from the Couples' groups of the Renewal Movement that there are three distinct stages in marriage: (1) illusion (honeymoon), (2) disillusion, and (3) real love. In my experience and reflections, I find these three present in most long-term relationships. I think I also went through these stages, somehow at some level, in my journey into the religious life.

In my 12 years of stay in the seminary, I have met priests, lay teachers, and fellow seminarians who were mostly a good influence to me. And I thank them and God for this rare privilege! There were, however, a number who, sad to say, were a bad influence. The sex scandals that have plagued the US seminaries and religious institutions in recent years have their own local versions in the Philippines, perhaps only lesser in frequency and intensity and / or are perhaps just better kept secret in contrast to the supposedly more open attitude of the West toward the matter. In all the instances where these "scandals" happened during my time, starting High School, I firmly believe the Blessed Mother protected me with her maternal mantle of love and purity.

It is in this context (without going into details lest I create more scandal) that I made a personal vow to pray the Most Holy Rosary daily, as much as possible. Fr. Robert DeGradis, SSJ said that in life we make private "vows" that shape our lives. Some of these are constructive, others destructive. This is one example, as far as I'm concerned, of a largely constructive private "vow." I am sharing this not to sound self-righteous but to speak the truth (which sets us free, cf.: Jn 8:32 "... and the truth will make you free.") that I am part of the evil happening in my surrounding (wherever I am) either as an active participant of a passive observer unless I do something about it within my own sphere of influence, however limited it may be.

In the novitiate, I was attracted to and became a member and then the president of the Legion of Mary Preaesidium, Mary, Mother of the Divine Word. One of our patrons in the Legion is St. Louis Marie de Montfort. Just last Thursday (May 17, 2007), I tried to search for internet material under his name since I saw in the Bible Diary that it was his feast day last April 28. I just found another affirmation of my experience from his spirituality. It said, "Devotion to Mary is a means to the end [i.e., our ascent to God], and indeed only one among several means to the acquisition of divine Wisdom, although 'the greatest means of all, and the most wonderful of all secrets for obtaining and preserving divine Wisdom' (St. Louis Marie de Montfort, "The Love of Eternal Wisdom" 203) percisely because she was the means chosen by God for bringing into being his plan of love." (Monfort Missionaries, 2001. "A synthesis of Montfortian spirituality", http://www.montfort.org/English/SpiritLM.htm) As these series of biographical entries will testify, Mary became the means God must have chosen for bringing into being his plan of love for me, personally. "'Happy, indeed sublimely happy, is the person to whom the Holy Spirit reveals the secret of Mary, thus imparting to him true knowledge of her." (St. Louie Marie de Montfort, "The Secret of Mary" 20, Ibid.)

When I finally left the religious life (under temporary vows) at age 26, after coming to a conscious awareness and what I consider a courageous decision that I was peaceful but not happy inside, I also praise and thank the Lord through the help of the Blessed Mother for making me generally keep my morals as a Catholic. Again, I have to admit that I am part and parcel of the evil that happened and is happening around me, but as a fellow ex-seminarian jokingly remarked in one informal reunion years back, because of our seminary training, we commit sin but in a "controlled" or modulated way. We all laughed because I think we could all somehow relate. On the other hand, this is not to say that sin is acceptable. It only highlights the fact that as human beings, we all have our own human frailties which the saints also faced and struggled with and triumphed over in the end.

Mary, Immaculate Spouse of the Holy Spirit, pray for us.

MY LIFE WITH MARY (IV)

Part II: Protector from Evil

"Our Queen, our Mother, remember we are your very own. Defend and protect us as your personal possession." – Angelus Prayer

B. Application (2): Voyeurism Case

Some years back, I read a newspaper (Philippine Daily Inquirer) article about the reported apparition of the Blessed Mother to Sister Teresita Castillo in the Carmelite convent in Lipa, Batangas, Philppines. I also heard some colleagues, like Malou or Maria Lourdes (Is it a coincidence that her name is Marian? One wonders.), who have visited the place and know the story behind. At this time in my life, I felt I needed to give in to my curiosity and was I think a bit getting tired about work routine. Thus, all alone, I decided to go on a personal pilgrimage early one Saturday morning to the convent without knowing exactly where the buses were supposed to stop. I asked around and the people knew the famous convent.

I spent practically the whole day in the church -- praying the rosary, attending mass, reflecting, thinking, looking around, just resting -- trying to listen to what the Lord might be trying to tell me. I even included fasting to my prayer and reflection. Towards the afternoon, it was very quiet as there were times I was the only person in church. I moved to the right side where the statue of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace was, a replica of the apparition image which the Blessed Mother asked to be made (see left side of this website for the actual picture I took). It was admiringly adorned with white and yellow flowers even if it was an "ordinary" day. With nothing particular to do, I prayed the 4 sets of mysteries of the rosary. Later in the afternoon, it began to drizzle. Still, nothing "special" happened. Perhaps, I was expecting something extraordinary because of what I read about the apparition.

I finally decided it was time to go home as it would take at least 2 hours of travel back home. On my way out, on the right side of the compound were some sayings or quotes. One particularly struck me. It said more or less like this: "The way to peace is through conflict." At initial glance, "peace" and "conflict", I thought, were diametrically opposed! I just kept the intriguing thought in my heart, probably like Mary when she treasured all the events surrounding Jesus' birth in her heart amidst the contrasting poverty and simplicity on the one hand and the glory of the choirs of angels singing as reported by shepherds, on the other (Lk 2:19).

Little did I know, some time later, when I was back to work, a colleague from another department whom I didn't even know personally accused me of being a Peeping Tom on her. Although she was not very sure of it, she wrote an email to my immediate superior and our division superior created an investigation committee. Although I kept externally calm throughout, especially since my conscience was clear, it was psychologically, sociologically, and spiritually excruciating. Much later, I remember seeing on TV the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago being interviewed about a legal case of sexual harassment against him by a former seminarian which eventually turned out to be a false accusation. He said it was one of the most agonizing moments of his life and identified with Jesus as he prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, especially the "Agony in the Garden". At that time, I felt the same, somehow.

I thank my family and colleagues for all their prayers and moral support for me during this time. At one point, I became physically sick just going through the turmoil. I felt the full support of my wife Carol who cried the first time she heard about it.

I had wanted the whole story to be as anonymous as possible to protect the personal identities of the people concerned, but since I would like to publicly honor specific individuals, I'd like to mention three significant people who I felt acted in behalf of the Blessed Mother for me: Dr. Estrellita V. Gruenberg, Mrs. (now Dr.) Flora Dy-Calleja, and a cleaning lady I only came to know as "Aling Maria" (Again, was the name coincidental?)

Dr. Gruenberg was my College Dean at that time. I will never forget the scene when she personally came to my Counseling room, sat down, sincerely looked at my eyes and said, "Jun, I'd like you to take this in stride." I, the Counselor, became the Counselee in my own Counseling room. Mrs. (now Dr.) Calleja was my Department (Counseling) Head. I can proudly say that of all my professional superiors, I felt she gave me the most trust, confidence, and faith all throughout her short term even before this incident happened. Her presence was enough consolation for me. Most importantly, this unknown and seemingly insignificant cleaning lady (named after the Blessed Mother herself!!!) was an indirect key in the solving of the case. Aling Maria coincidentally (or more properly, "providentially") saw me with the "investigating team" go to the "crime scene". Spontaneously, she self-confidently related to the investigators that she would see a male Chinese-looking guy come out of the Ladies' comfort room but that he definitely wasn't me! Although the "investigators" only used the physical evidence of the impossibility of the incident given my height and weight and the time of the incident in the official report, Aling Maria's unofficial testimony was pivotal, I believe. During this period, one day, I saw Aling Maria kneeling on one of the pews in the small chapel. That was the most concrete sign for me that she was God-sent, i.e., that the Blessed Mother was acting in my defense against evil.

Last, but not least, I'd like to also honor my mother-in-law Mama Lily (Librada Quilantang-Uno) and my dissertation mentor Dr. Alexa Priela-Abrenica as among the Godly and courageous women God used in the defense of the truth (Again, the truth will set us free, Jn 8:32). Mama Lily responded to my Vice Dean's inquiry about the time I was home during that fateful day. Dr. Abrenica was asked by the Dean to be part of the investigation team and also gave me unswerving support, although she had to show impartiality throughout.

I wanted to write next "needless to say" because throughout my stay in the University, these two lovely colleagues were always true, faithful, supportive, and most importantly, very prayerful: Mrs. Regina Andrade-Munson and Mrs. Marissa Caluyong-Pascual. They were my prayer warriors. The best!

Oh, on the legal side, I did consult Atty. (now Quezon City Judge) Joseph Asis and Atty. Tyrone Cimafranca, both fellow ex-SVD seminarians who both gave me not only free legal advice, but moral support as well.

Unfortunately, I cannot mention all the "supporting cast" but I'd just like to put "on record" the goodness of the people I mentioned above to serve as the expression of my never-ending gratitude and as a living testimony of the power of God's love and the Blessed Mother's courageous fight against all forms of evil. (The heroines in the Old Testament like Judith, as quoted above, are considered as types or figures of the New Testament Mary.)

I pray that none of you reading this have to go through the same ordeal, but I believe that the moral of the story is that no matter what happens, the Blessed Mother will not abandon us, especially if we remain true to the truth! "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil...." (Psalm 23:4) In Filipino, we say, "Walang iwanan." (Losely translated: "No abandonment.") [I remember the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines, saying this, too.]

PS: I have since asked my wife Carol to buy a statue of Our Lady, Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace from the Carmelite Convent in Lipa (while I was here in Dubai working as an OFW) which is now prominently displayed in the porch of our humble Montalban house (see background of the picture on the left of this website titled "My Archangels") as a living reminder that indeed, Mary is the Mediatrix of All Grace (cf. Ex.: Jesus changes water to wine in Cana through Mary's intercession, Jn 2:1-12) (despite the fact that this title is not yet officially proclaimed to date by the Vatican).

Mary, Immaculate Spouse of the Holy Spirit, pray for us.

MY LIFE WITH MARY (V)

Part II: My Protector from Evil

“Que soi er immaculada concepcion.” (“I am the Immaculate Conception.”)
-- Our Lady of Lourdes to St. Bernadette Soubirous, March 25, 1858

Application (3): A Spiritual Entity

Some years back, when my elder brother Benny was building his own house at NIA Village in Tandang Sora, Quezon City, something unusual started to happen. I was informed by his wife Ruth that their daughter Monique (Dominique, my namesake) began to tell her about an imaginary friend she had been conversing with. This was especially so after she and her older brother Benjie would play on the land on which their future house was being built. We were also living in the same Village at that time. I did not really bother to go and see, but they said there was an anthill or a mound of earth somewhere there. We have a mythological expression in Filipino, “nuno sa punso” (lose translation: “an ancestral spirit in the mound of earth”), perhaps something like the leprechaun in the west. The old people, especially in the provinces, are said to believe that invisible entities live in places like this. Not having seen one myself, I would just usually shrug it off as myth.

Ruth, my sister-in-law, made me understand that she could clearly distinguish between Monique’s having an imaginary play with an imaginary friend and one that seemed real as Monique would point to a specific place where she saw her invisible “friend.”

To be able to quickly diagnose and solve the problem, I called up Ate Baby Dirige, my Catholic lay spiritual guide who has the Charismatic gift of discernment of spirits. She apparently inherited this from her ancestors. Immediately, she “sensed” and confirmed the truth about the spiritual entity. We set up a schedule to have her picked up to do something about the issue.

On the day when Ate Baby came, I did not go near the place for fear of the unknown. After they came back, Ate Baby recommended that (1) the children stay away from the place until the house construction was completed, and (2) for her to “bless” the place after completion to just do it once and for all and to include the finished house. Then, the official blessing by my elder brother priest Bet (Fr. Vic) could follow.

Before leaving, Ate Baby prayed over Monique and the whole household and I saw her off. Then, I went back home, which was just the next block. In the evening, my wife Carol, who also has a “third eye” (I prefer to call it the Holy Spirit’s gift of spiritual discernment in the context of the Catholic Renewal Movement since it fits in with my spiritual framework) sensed “someone” in spiritual form in the house in the room that was not lighted. She saw “it” in a shadowy form. She also “inherited” this ability or gift from her maternal grandmother who was able to see spirits.

Since Carol could usually “sense” whether the psycho-spiritual state of a person or being is “heavy” or “light”, especially spirits, I asked her whether she sensed it to be “heavy” or “evil” and she said “yes.”

Being an ex-seminarian and a “Charismatic” with a ready holy water blessed by the priest, I started praying in Jesus’ name and sprinkling holy water around the house while praying “in tongues” (or praying in the Holy Spirit, one of the Charismatic gifts, which I received while attending the Life in the Spirit Seminar in our parish, Our Lady of Hope in Pag-asa, Quezon City). After the ritual, I asked Carol for her spiritual sensing again. Her response was still positive.

My instinctual reaction was to call Ate Baby again. But then, Carol and I did not want to bother her unnecessarily for the second time in a day and it was already dark.

Suddenly, I remembered my seminary days when a classmate, Paul Mayor (now a priest in the US) narrated how they “exorcised” a girl in Mindoro during their summer camp there by merely placing a rosary on the hands of the possessed and by reverently praying the rosary as a group.

So, I called Carol and my kids (who are named after the Archangels) to the living room, lighted a candle, and reverently prayed the Holy Rosary. After reciting the 5 decades, I asked Carol again for “sensing” or discernment. The response this time was negative. We did it … with Jesus through Mary!

This particular incident strengthened my personal vow and resolve to continue the practice of daily praying of the rosary, as much as possible.

PS: When I narrated the incident to Ate Baby afterwards, she said she should have prayed over me too for “shielding” before she left, for my protection.

MY LIFE WITH MARY (VI)

Part III: Mediatrix of All Grace

"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place." – Acts 2:!

Application (1): Spiritual Healing

In 1994, as a graduate student in Counseling Psychology, we were informed by our professor Dr. Ma. Teresa Gustilo-Villasor (again, "Maria" as if it's a clue to a trail I'm being led to) [or "Dido" for short] that she gets invited to occasionally conduct workshops at the Cenacle House of Prayer at Katipunan Street in Diliman, Quezon City (opposite Ateneo de Manila University) and that she would be conducting one on "Jungian Dream Interpretation" soon. So, on the first weekend of July of that year, I went I was the only one in our class to come, as far as I can recall. This was the time in my life when I wanted to find out as much as I could about myself, my psyche and aabout psychology. It was a live-in workshop.

We were assigned to small dormitory-type rooms by gender. For one reason or the other, only tow of us "reported for duty" in our room, i.e., the other male occupants did not arrive. They must have backed out at the last minute.

As if by design of God, I was assigned with a guy named Gaine Dusaban. In the evening of the first day, before sleeping, we got to introduce ourselves to each other on the surface level. I found out he was in the Charismatic Renewal Movement.

During the day's morning session, Gaine was so interested, he was seated in front. i think it was at the start of the whole program when Dido started asking the participants why they came. I vividly remember Gaine giving an unusual answer. He said that he discovered he had the gift of interpretation of dreams (like Joseph in the bible) in that whenever people tell their dreams, he just knows intuitively the meaning. Dido said that this is an intuitive way of understanding dreams that does not necessarily need the analysis that we were to study.

In the evening, in our room, Gaine explained to me in detail how (like Joseph in the Bible) he was able to interpret dreams prophetically, i.e., things he said took place in reality. Years later, I chanced upon a dream interpretation book in one of the Book Sale outlets classifying dreams and one of these in “prophetic” dream (Other dreams may just be caused by anxieties or worries during the day. Others may have a message from the unconscious, and so on.) He also shared with me some of his “missionary” journey sand trials (like St. Paul).

In the process of his self-revelation, I started to trust him. Because of his sharing on the Charismatic gifts, including healing, I shared with him my flat-footed condition causing pain on my heels when I walk. Actually, I have been wearing an arch support for my feet for quite some time then, as recommended by the Orthropedic doctor I consulted. He spontaneously, but matter-of-factly suggested we meet during the break time on our last day.

During that break time, we met in our room as agreed upon. Gaine asked me to kneel down and in my heart, ask for forgiveness from God and people I have hurt and to forgive people who have hurt me. Then, he prayed over me. He asked me to stand and stretch my arms as far as I could reach them. He remarked that they were not of equal length and prayed to God to make them equal. I did not totally agree with him, keeping a skeptical stance, but I was desperate for healing and decided to believe in him and in what divine assistance he could possibly offer. Then, he let me sit down and stretched my feet and prayed over them as with my arms. After the ritual, he asked me to walk without my arch support and inquired whether it was still painful. I said, there was still some pain, but no longer as painful as before. Gaine led in praying a simple thanksgiving prayer to God through Jesus in repeated fashion. I had a “heady” feeling, as though I was half dreaming and half in reality after the event. Keeping my faith in God, I kept on praying and hoping that the pain would completely subside. Looking back, I must have prayed, "Lord, I believe you; but, please help my lack of faith" (cf.: Mark 8:24). I needed it because I commuted daily to work via the LRT (Light Rail Transit) station at Monumento in Kalookan City. In faith, I set aside my arch support and after some weeks, the pain completely subsided and I never returned back to my Orthropedic doctor. This was also the stage in my life (post-religious life years) when I was re-evaluating my PERSONAL FAITH in the Lord. Perhaps, the Lord's answer to me was: "... then believe me because of the works themselves" (John 14:11).

I never personally saw Gaine again as he was moving around a lot. I think I got to talk to him a few more time over the phone after this when he was in Manila. Years later, I saw him on TV being interviewed during Holy Week. I pray Lord, for Gaine, his family, and his ministry. Please embrace him in the abode of Your Most Merciful Heart.

PS: I quoted Acts 2:1 above because it was at Cenacle that the Apostles awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost) and tradition tells us that Mary must have been there with them, encouraging and binding the frightened apostles together as a mother would. Recently, as I researched on St. Louis Marie de Montfort (May 19, 2007), I found this quote from him: "God has decided to begin and accomplish his greatest works through the Blessed Virgin" (True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 15, as quoted in http://www.montfort.org/English/SpiritLM.htm). I take it as a form of confirmation of my connection of my healing with the Blessed Mother.

PS 2: Last night (May 10, 2007), I saw a program on Discovery Channel – Science on the “placebo effect,” i.e., the power of suggestion. Now, I ask: Is this experience just an example of the so-called “placebo effect”? I respect the opinions of my readers here, but as far I was and am concerned, it was Gods first physical healing miracle in my life.
PS 3: Today’s (Sep 10, 2007) Gospel (Lk 6:6-11 “the man with a withered hand”) all of a sudden reminds and somehow confirms my healing, especially Lk 6:10 “… he said to him, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He did so, and his hand was restored.”

Our Lady ,Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace, pray for us.

MY LIFE WITH MARY (VII)

Part III: Mediatrix of All Grace

Application (2): Office Politics I

“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;” – Luke 1:52

Before actually writing this section, I was asking myself where I got my strong convictions for justice and one person popped up in my mind – my eldest brother whom we just call respectfully as “Manoy” in Bicol (with accent on the first syllable). He pursued law at midlife and is now a practicing lawyer. Of course, my formation in the family and the seminary helped a lot, too. I remember that my highest grades in Philosophy were in Episttemology, the philosophical study of truth. I realized through the years that truthfulness is one of my core values.

In 2003, I was terminated from full-time employment together with two other colleagues for reasons of “redundancy.” I had been working in this institution for the past nine years. Previous to this event, I sand my colleague, Lolong, were officers of the Faculty Association, both as Secretary for a term each. During our time, the idea of forming a faculty union was at its height. As far as I am concerned, I believe there is a significant relationship between my employment termination and the impetus for unionization (which, by the way, never materialized).

I joined this high profile “world-class” institution for (1) prestige, (2) money, and (3) career development (specifically, the opportunity to facilitate completion of my PhD which was already half-way through at that time). Previous to this, I was in a clinical setting, my first and last love (!) but gave it up for “greener pastures.”

In my last years in this institution, I knew I was in danger of harassment and / or eventual “expulsion” because of my active involvement in the unionization process, as was evidenced by harassment of other interim officers of the union that was being formed. But I decided to choose what I saw as a fight for justice and truth. Moreover, deep within me, although I was performing well (since I was being consistently promoted to the next higher rank every year) based on performance ratings and scholarly output) I felt I was no longer happy. I felt somehow, that this was not a permanent place for me to be in. Internally, I thought my clinical inclinations and skills were not being fully utilized and developed. Externally, I thought, the rich students of the institution could easily afford clinical psychology and psychiatric services outside. These clinical services were not expected of us in this setting as we were paid to take care of the healthy majority population. In the end, I had to give justice to myself, professionally.

Initially, Administration asked Lolong and I (meanwhile, the other colleague decided to resign) to move to the Center for Social Concern and Action (COSCA). In hindsight, as I write this now, I’m thinking, perhaps they wanted us to use our “social action” energies to fight social ills outside the walls of the institution, but not against their very own acts of injustice towards the other members of the community (internal). Lolong and I felt it was a demotion of some sort. Moreover, we felt we would be doing injustice against our profession and against the social work profession as well if we conceded to the transfer.

Although Lolong and I sought legal advice (initially accompanied by Cecil Crudo, a fellow “fighter” colleague: Thanks Cecil!), we realized it would take a lot of our resources – both monetary and time and energy – to fight a big and rich institution. And if legal battle ensured, it was expected to take years to resolve. And, our time was running out in looking for other employments and in putting our lives back on course toward the future. Thus, we both decided to let bygones be bygones in order to be able to “travel light” towards the future.

What are the blessings amidst the trials of this period in my life?

(1) Because we did not give in to the pressure to resign, we were terminated, thus, given separation pay according to Philippine Labor Law. I used the money for down payment for a low-cost house in the quite remote mountains of Montalban. Up to this point, after seven years of marriage, we still did not have our own house. I also bought a third-had 1981 model box-type Mitsubishi Lancer offered to me by Lolong before he left for the US, which we used to transport our parish priest to our village once a month to offer mass.

(2) We were able to detect the subtle workings of evil in a highly respected institution and know people, otherwise decent, who can willingly cooperate in the staged process of deception and how power can corrupt people and the institutions they run.

And, (3) I was given a graceful and self-respecting exit out of a job I know I did not want to be permanently in.

Lest I come across as self-servingly too self-righteous, I have to admit as I mentioned above that I myself was “blinded” by the tempting appeal of prestige and money and career advancement – the motives behind my joining the institution in the first place.

Where does the Blessed Mother come into the picture? All the while, I have clung on to her maternal protection and guidance in and out of trials like this one, asking her to intercede for me to her son Jesus, the Sun of Justice.

Our Lady, Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace, pray for us.

MY LIFE WITH MARY (VIII)

Part III: Mediatrix of All Grace

“he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” – Luke 1:53

Application (2): Office Politics II

On December 8, 2004 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception) at around 11:30 PM (midnight), while I was fast asleep with my family in the quiet barrio (village) of San Jose, Montalban, Rizal, I received a long distance call form Duabi, United Arab Emirates. It was Lolong, my “co-conspirator” in my former office (see previous section). He said his boss wanted to interview me over the phone now! That was how I was hired as Senior Consulting Psychologist in this desert land I never dreamed nor desired to be in.

I attribute the blessing of this job to the intercession of the Blessed Mother, obviously because of the “coincidental” date of the call, although this was not in the consciousness of both Lolong and his boss, a non-practicing Christian. Months before, I’ve been in constant email communication with Lolong and his boss, processing my application. Several times, dates and specific times were set for the interview but did not push through, leaving me frustrated every time. Thus, the “prefect timing” had to come at the “last minute” on the day of the patrol feast of the Philippines.

After the blessing came the trials. My wife was seven months pregnant with our fourth child, Daniele Hope. When asked when I would be available, I said April 2005 (in my mind, I though, my wife Carol would have already borne our one and only daughter). However, I was informed by Edna (pseudonym), the boss and owner of the newly established consultancy firm, that the job opening was in need of immediate hiring and that if I were not immediately available, she had other applicants to consider. Hearing this, I immediately said I could re-consider the date.

And so, I resigned my fate. Carol and I reluctantly agreed to prioritize the job over family, this time. We told our young children (ages 8, 6 and 4) I would try to find out first the possibility of bringing the whole family to Dubai. I arrived in Dubai on the late evening of February 24, 2005.

During my first week, I found out Edna had a “volcanic” temper which would explode without warning. She can be verbally abusive. She is also clearly narcissistic and as time went on, I realized she had not much to offer professionally. However, her greatest asset seems to be her natural ability to intuit the personalities of people at first glance. As psychologists, we identified sense of control as one of her core issues in life. When it comes to money, she needed to be in full control. It was a struggle for her to let go of even a very small amount of money.

I don’t want to be accused of subjective “character assassination” here, but just consider the mere fact that in my two years’ stay in the company, she has had four Personal Assistants and none of them stayed beyond four months – an Iraqi, a Lebanese, an Indian, and a Romanian. The position is still vacant up to the present. Among us psychologist, four have resigned, despite the slim prospect of finding another similar job here – two Indians (male and female), a South African, and a Lebanese. There is a famous book titled “Emotional Vampires: Dealing with people who drain you dry” by bestselling author Albert Bernstein, Ph.D. to describe people with personality disorders. I believe Edna falls into this category.

I wanted to return home during my first month, but was told I had to pay back for the plane ticket. I would also be asked to pay for my employment visa if I leave before completion of one year. And so, although I felt trapped, I decided to stay. I now have somehow a vicarious experience of the Hebrew people’s slavery in Egypt in the Old Testament.

Yesterday (May 11, 2007), I attended the first talk in the Christian Life Program of the Couples for Christ here in Dubai titled “God’s Love” and the speaker, Bro. Leo compared our trials in our daily lives to the dirt that enters the oyster in the sea. It is painfully irritating and annoying, but to cope, the oyster enfolds the dirt with its saliva and in due time, transforms it into pearl! It s a beautiful image of God’s love transforming the chosen people’s sufferings into gems. The courage and conviction with which I write these biographical entries is just a proof of the inner transformation that I have been going through like the oyster, or like the butterfly coming out if it’s dark and narrow cocoon. That is why I call my appointed “time” here in Dubai “my desert experience” – literally and figuratively.

In my two years of stay here in Dubai, so far, my daily (more or less) private praying of the Holy Rosary has been a major coping or survival mechanism, unwinding me from stress, keeping me relaxed – physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

I do not have the space here to go into details about the many confrontational “encounters” I had with my boss, but let me just cite an incident that highlights Mary’s continuing role in my life as a protector from all forms of evil and deception. This incident is what actually prompted me to write these series of biographical entries on the role of the Blessed Mother in my life so far.

The last psychologist to just resign (it was her last day yesterday, May 12, 2007) revealed to me very recently that as soon as she came, she was informed by our boss how she disliked me and destroyed my reputation to my colleague-to-be. However, as soon as this new colleague came to the office, she saw the image of our Blessed Mother with the Infant Jesus on her arms on the wall of my office table (my picture on the left side of this blogspot is from my desk here) and started to take all she heard about me with a grain of salt. This colleague is also a Christian (a Maronite Catholic) and has a great respect for the Blessed Mother and the holy images I have on my desk. Although we became enemies along the way, we are parting as friends, after having discovered the truth behind the lies.

I have already informed my boss that I am leaving her own consultancy firm. In the process, I have uncharacteristically told her face-to-face: "I have an issue with your personality" in a calm and steady voice despite my rage and fear inside. I mark this as a BREAKTHROUGH in my personality development as I am characteristically passive or passive-aggressive rather than assertive. After 16 long years of professional life, this is the first time I gave a boss what I believe she truly and truthfully needed to hear and what I and my colleagues have been wanting to tell her but were afraid to because of her "volcanic" temper. This is the best way I know of breaking the cycle of trauma and abuse in a relationship in this context between an abuser and a victim of verbal and psychological abuse. A favorite psychotherapist author, Charles Whitfield, MD (1987) said: "To get free from mistreatment, we usually need to get angry. (p. 103) We do so not with aggressiveness, but with assertiveness. (p. 105)"

Oh, if you want to know what my abusive boss said in reply, she spontaneously reacted, this time without a rage: "My personality will prevail!" And that, coming from a Clinical Psychologist!

Truly, I have proven once again through this experience that the TRUTH will set us free (John 8:32). If only for this liberating personal anecdote, my "desert experience" in Dubai would have been a worthwhile physical and psychospiritual journey. I therefore hereby mark Dubai as the place where I found once again, my VOICE -- my dignity, my humanity, my spirituality, my True Self. Taas noo, Filipino!

Our Lady, Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace, pray for us.

MY LIFE WITH MARY (IX)

Part III: Mediatrix of All Grace

“He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,” – Luke 1:54

Application (3): My Long-standing Love Affair with Psychology

In September of 1988, I started with excitement and enthusiasm my PhD studies in Counseling Psychology. This was my first year of “life in the world” outside the religious life, as I just “resigned” from my Overseas Training Program in Taiwan and as my status as a temporarily professed religious in the SVD (Society of the Divine Word). Having no money of my own to start with, I asked my parents for financial support. Later, I applied for partial scholarship from the University. Then, in 1994, when I was accepted as a University Counselor, my tuition fees were then finally subsidized.

I started as a full-time student taking up 15 units of core master’s level subjects in Counseling because my master’s degree was in Philosophy. I enjoyed every bit of it because this was the inner desire of my heart.

In 1979, when I first left the seminary after graduating from High School, I applied at the University of the Philippines in Diliman (where everyone wanted to go, being the premier university in the country) for an undergraduate Psychology program. Since this was a quota course (as it was being used as a pre-medical degree), my entrance test scores and High School grades were not enough to reach the cut-off score and so, I followed the Registrar’s suggestion of initially taking up an “AB General” program which was offered during that time, which was only good for Freshmen students. After my one year of “culture shock,” being a tender-minded introvert suddenly thrown on my own in the big wide world, I retreated back to my comfortable “shell” in the “safe walls” of the seminary. A schoolmate at that time compared the university to a jungle where only the fittest survive! I guess I was not among the “fittest” in terms of personality.

Anyway, I just mentioned this here to trace back my long-standing love affair with the art and science of Psychology. My mother was even hypothesizing at that time that I just wanted to take up Psychology to better understand myself. Well, that may be true, but I also wanted to understand other people and be in a position to help them psychologically.

My love affair with Psychology got rekindled when I was taking up my Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy at the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay (1983-1985). Fr. Faustino Maramot, who had a master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling from De La Salle University – Manila, was our teacher in “Mental Health.” We used the book “Theories of Personality” as out textbook. I realized I was enjoying every bit of the course. In contrast to studying Philosophy which I felt was “heady,’ Psychology appealed more to intuition and the emotions of the heart. I realized I could absorb the concepts almost effortlessly and could explain them in my own words even without memorizing the technical terms. This experience was an instance that connected me once again with my “real self”. I was doing very well in Philosophy academically; but, I was falling in love with Psychology. I must have felt that this course spoke directly to my heart and to what was probably deep down hidden somewhere else.

Charles Whitfield, MD (1987), a psychotherapist in Atlanta, speaks about the “real self” (the “Child Within” each of us) in contrast to the “false” or “co-dependent” self which dependently gets its identity form others like parents and authority figures. He defines the real self (the “Child Within”) as “that part of each of us which is ultimately alive, energetic, creative and fulfilled; it is … who we are” (p. 1).

My change of life status and career course is connected with this simple but profound ongoing self-discovery that I feel more “real” studying Psychology compared to Philosophy. I still like Philosophy, but I use it now in the service of understanding both my profession as a psychologist and my faith and spirituality as a Catholic.

Aside from Fr. Maramot, I had two other very good professors in Psychology at the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay who further triggered my Real Self and inspired me indirectly to pursue this life career that I have chosen: Fr. Robert “Bob” Mallonee, SVD, PhD and Rose Marie Salazar-Clemeña, PhD. To have professors with PhDs teaching the “secular” sciences in the seminary is rare, even to this day. But Divine Providence must have arranged it that I experience learning from both of them not only theoretically but experientially as well. Fr. Bob became my psychotherapist for about a year until I left for my Overseas Training Program in Taiwan. The insights he led me to realize 20 years earlier (!), I just recently re-visited and confirmed while reading John Bradshaw’s bestselling book Family Secrets (1995). It’s really amazing how Divine Providence works with the Blessed Mother. About 10 years back, I had the rare privilege of being actively involved in a Payatas (Quezon City) parish run by the Missionaries of Our Lady of Divine Providence. Mary mediates and attracts Divine Providence (again cf.: The Wedding at Cana, Jn 2:1-12).

Anyway, as “fate” would have it, I met Ma’am Rose again in La Salle in 1988 as Chair of the Post-Graduate Counseling Programs. She accepted me in the PhD program, after passing the exams, on the condition that I gain some counseling experience while studying. Again, I believe that Divine Providence led me to Dr. Thelma Abiva, then Chair of the Guidance and Counseling Program at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, in order to satisfy this counseling experience requirement. I was searching for a copy of the local Ethical Standards for Counselors for a course requirement and made an appointment with Dr. Abiva in her office. Out of the blue, she informed me that there was an opening at the UP Integrated School High School Department for a Guidance Counselor position. That was the start of my professional career in Counseling Psychology.

Since I was already working full-time, I became a part-time graduate student. At this time, I also started becoming an “adolescent” (“nagbibinata” in Filipino), a developmental phase I sort of missed while being in the seminary, and explored exclusive relationships with members of the opposite sex. This, together with the fast-paced trimestral system of La Salle and the inherent difficulty and need for time to comply with course requirements of some subjects contributed to my experiencing academic failures for the first time in my life! And, for one who graduated summa cum laude in Philosophy, that was a big blow to my ego. In fact, I was starting to have doubts as to whether I could really finish the long program. My self-esteem was at one of its lowest levels at this time.

The subjects I failed due to inability to submit course requirements on time were Research Methods II and Marital and Family Therapy. I had difficulty with social science research because my background is Philosophy where we only did archival research without statistics. And, since I tend to be a perfectionist and an idealist (still am!), not wanting to submit something I was not convinced was quality work according to my personal standards, I passive-aggressively allowed the one year grace period to lapse which effectively disqualified me from graduating with honors, for which I was a candidate based on my current grade point average at that time. Furthermore, since our teacher in Marital and Family Therapy, the late Dr. Margaret Sawin, was a guest professor from the US and had to leave right after the course, I had no chance to complete the term paper requirement according to the usual academic policy.

And since having two course failures amounted to being dropped from the program, I appealed for reconsideration. Dr. Salud Evangelista, who was our Associate Dean at then, fully supported me. As all graduate students in the Department know, she is always supportive! Thank you very much, Ma’am Sally! You’re one of a kind! I believe it was providential again that she was where she was during that time. I was again encouraged by her presence in my dissertation proposal defense in 1999 and in my final defense in 2006. As far as I can recall, she was the only one who verbally gave positive feedback about my work. And, that was enough to buoy me up amidst the critical appraisal of all the other panelists, as would be expected of a dissertation defense. As of this writing, she is already in wheel chair and I pray to God to continue to bless her with love, peace, and contentment in this life and the next. That is how long it took me to write my “obra maestra”!

My original dissertation topic in my Research class was on Child Abuse. However, since at least two graduate students have already written on the topic in the meantime, I shifted to Paternal Nurturance. I was already a father of two at this time and having attended the workshop on Reparenting the Child Within and based on my personal intuition of what I felt I missed while growing up, I chose this novel, cutting-edge research topic. In my Research Methods II retake class under Dr. Rose Salazar-Clemeña, two of us (both fathers!) picked up the topic on Filipino Fathers. La Salle Psychology faculty member Bob Mendoza tackled the qualitative (phenomenological) aspect, while I did the quantitative (statistical) side.

Again, I consider my PhD a “miraculous” triumph of God’s undying love through Mama Mary because, as I narrated above, I failed in both Research Methods and Marital and Family Therapy classes and here I was doing heavy statistical research (test construction using factor analysis all by myself!) for the first time in my life and in the area of Family research!

In 1999, I had to change mentor because Dr. Joal Reyes obtained a research grant in Japan. The occasion pushed me to defend my proposal a few weeks before he flew to Japan! I prayed earnestly to God in the small chapel in La Salle to lead me to the “right” mentor. All of a sudden, the name of Dr. Alexa Priela-Abrenica popped up in my mind. The rest is history. Thank you, Ma’am Alexa for your undying patience through the years.

I also thank Dr. Melissa Lopez-Reyes, who has a rare double PhD in Statistics and Psychology from the Ohio State University (a Balik-Scientist Scholar of the Philippine Government, as far as I know) for much needed guidance in my “favorite” subject Statistics! Honestly, I fell in love with Statistics while doing my dissertation especially when I realized that numbers had “life” in them since if I move one number, the rest of the equation or table will move accordingly as a system, like a living organism. Amazing! This was my statistical “eureka”! Now, I actively encourage my children to love Math, too.

My silent partners in my academic journey were my colleagues at the Counseling Office at the College of Liberal Arts, fellow Counselors Mrs. Regina “Regs” Andrade-Munson and Mrs. Marissa “Mars” Caluyong-Pascual. Regs, who is the most “spiritual” among us, always understood that I was taking time (years) writing my dissertation most probably because God was making me experience what I was writing about. He was helping me “incarnate” the “word” from my dissertation into my life as a father. In retrospect, that makes a lot of sense, Regs. Thanks for your prophetic words.

That leads me to our common spiritual companion and guide, Ate Baby Dirige who prayed over me and my papers (the manual of my instrument) before my final defense. It proved to be providential because a figure that was unwittingly missing in my dissertation had a copy in the manual which Dr. Mel Reyes pointed out to the panel during my final defense. God, indeed, works in mysteriously loving and caring ways.

My heartfelt thanks also goes to the late Sr. Jose Bagtas, ICM, PhD, our professor in Projective Techniques and Rorschach I and II who continued to serve God and his people by teaching us at that time despite her Parkinson’s disease and the pain and suffering it brought her. You are an example of commitment and service to me, Sister. I remember handing over her glass of water when it was time for her to take her medicines while we held classes at the sisters’ library at St. Theresa’s College. In the long process of writing my dissertation, a fellow graduate student priest suggested we pray for her intercession to the Lord for the success of our academic endeavors. We are all connected in spirit and the love of God.

I also acknowledge and honor the late Bro. William “Bill” Garvery, FSC, EdD, who encouraged me and my colleague, Lolong to finish our PhDs amidst our impending termination as he said it would help us in our life beyond La Salle. Well-loved Brother Bill, thank you! You are also an image of perpetual optimism to me with your perennial winsome smile! Please continue to pray for us in the life hereafter. May your words become “prophetic”.

When I was terminated in my job as University Counselor at the College of Liberal Arts which I held for nine long years, I tried working full-time on my dissertation which was already in the writing stage. However, since it was taking up too much time and needed a third revision, I found work in the meantime. I was just too exhausted and frustrated at this point to even look at my research work. I was working till in the wee hours of the morning for days on end to be free of distractions from my kids and my wife Carol was telling me to give myself a break. Until, this job opportunity in Dubai came.

I finally got my act together during my first year of my work as an Overseas Filipino Worker here in Dubai, after settling down in my work. I had all the time after office to myself. I reduced the original 250 pages or so to only its half since my mentor’s main comment was that it was too long!

During my one-month paid annual vacation leave from Dubai, I finally defended my “historic” (“makasaysayan” in Filipino) dissertation on April 4, 2006 at Conference Room B of the St. La Salle Building. I thank the supportive presence of my colleagues who were not on vacation at that time, Joey Alejo and Ennan Abellaneda (both are ex-seminarians like myself!). Special mention goes to Ms. Daryl Pimentel, a colleague, who was my “official liaison officer” to my mentor while I was sending through email my revised chapters from Dubai one at a time, as well as to Dr. Susan Estanislao, a colleague also, who paid my tuition fees and processed my enrollment papers for me (I chose her to do this because of her famous efficiency).

I’d also like to thank all my other dissertation panel members for cooperating: Dr. Carmelita Pabiton, Dr. Natividad Dayan, and Dr. Nancy Rayos. Special mention goes to one content expert, Dr. Jasmin Acuña of UP-Diliman and Miriam College, a nationally-awarded researcher, who challenged me to write the items in Filipino to make the instrument I was developing truly indigenous. Again, I think it is not a coincidence that 20 years back in 1979, Dr. Acuña was my Freshman “Introduction to Psychology” professor at UP-Diliman (though I had to remind her so).

Last but not least, I’d like to heartily thank my ever-supportive wife Carol for doing all the rush leg work leading up to the approval of my final dissertation copy to beat the deadline last May 12, 2007. With my encouragement, she took the plane (for the first time!) all the way to Davao (southernmost major island of the Philippines) to get the signature of my mentor who was already on summer break.

Finally, all throughout my graduate studies, especially my 19-year-long (1988-2007) PhD journey, the Woman who was behind it all was Our Lady, Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace. I dedicated my dissertation to her (as reflected in the Dedication page) for the following reasons:
(1) to help me keep the servant attitude of total surrender (“Totus Tuus”) to His will (“I am the maid servant of the Lord.” – Luke 1:38),
(2) to remind me that without God, I am really nothing and I can do nothing (“...’For mortals it is impossible, but … for God all things are possible.’” – Mk 10:27)
(3) to ensure that the glory in the fruits of my labors goes to God and not to my selfish aims (“Ad maiorem Dei gloriam” – the Jesuit motto prominently written on the wall of my Elementary Alam Mater, St. Jude Catholic School of Legaspi), and
(4) to be guided in the right use of my research output, i.e., for the good of self, family, and others.

Writing these reasons explicitly in detail here was an enlightening, self-awareness enhancing and values clarifying exercise. Publishing it here makes it a public proclamation and a “binding” act. I hope to be continually reminded by who I really am and what I was meant to be through this, my Marian spirituality. As our famous Filipino saying goes, “Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinaggalinan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan” (lose translation: One who doesn’t know how to look back to where one originated cannot reach one’s destination.).

“And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” – Luke 1:45

holy rosary: definition: JP II

Re: Rosary, Definition and Importance
Fr: Pope John Paul II (2002 June 29). Angelus address. http://www.wf-f.org/OurLadyRosary.html, (2002 Oct 16). Rosarium Virigins Mariae (Apostolic Letter). http://www.wf-f.org/RosariumVirginisMariae. html

- “a compendium of the Gospel” (2002 Oct 16)
- “… this traditional prayer, so simple yet so profound.” (2002 Jun 29)
- “The rosary is a way of contemplating the face of Christ seeing him – we may say – with the eyes of Mary….” (2002 Jun 29)
- “… the Rosary, the great prayer of intercession to Mary.” (2002 Jun 29)

rosarium virginis mariae (2002)

Re: Holy Rosary, Importance
Fr: Pope John Paul II (2002 Oct 16). Rosarium Virginis Mariae (Apostolic Letter).
http://www.wf-f.org/RosariumVirginisMariae.html

APOSTOLIC LETTER
ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
JOHN PAUL II
TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY
AND FAITHFUL
ON THE MOST HOLY ROSARY
________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
The Popes and the Rosary
October 2002 ¬ October 2003: The Year of the Rosary
Objections to the Rosary
A path of contemplation
Prayer for peace and for the family
"Behold, your Mother!" (Jn 19:27)
Following the witnesses
CHAPTER I -- CONTEMPLATING CHRIST WITH MARY
A face radiant as the sun
Mary, model of contemplation
Mary's memories
The Rosary, a contemplative prayer
Remembering Christ with Mary
Learning Christ from Mary
Being conformed to Christ with Mary
Praying to Christ with Mary
Proclaiming Christ with Mary
CHAPTER II -- MYSTERIES OF CHRIST ¬ MYSTERIES OF HIS MOTHER
The Rosary, "a compendium of the Gospel"
A proposed addition to the traditional pattern
The Joyful Mysteries
The Mysteries of Light
The Sorrowful Mysteries
The Glorious Mysteries
From "mysteries" to the "Mystery": Mary's way
Mystery of Christ, mystery of man
CHAPTER III -- "FOR ME, TO LIVE IS CHRIST"
The Rosary, a way of assimilating the mystery
A valid method...
... which can nevertheless be improved
Announcing each mystery
Listening to the word of God
Silence
The "Our Father"
The ten "Hail Marys"
The "Gloria"
The concluding short prayer
The Rosary beads
The opening and closing
Distribution over time
CONCLUSION
"Blessed Rosary of Mary, sweet chain linking us to God"
Peace
The family: parents...
... and children
The Rosary, a treasure to be rediscovered
INTRODUCTION
1. The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to "set out into the deep" (duc in altum!) in order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, "the way, and the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6), "the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilization turn".1

The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium.2 It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation that began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the Christian people sit at the school of Mary and are led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of His love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer.

The Popes and the Rosary
2. Numerous predecessors of mine attributed great importance to this prayer. Worthy of special note in this regard is Pope Leo XIII, who on September 1, 1883 promulgated the Encyclical Supremi Apostolatus Officio,3 a document of great worth, the first of his many statements about this prayer, in which he proposed the Rosary as an effective spiritual weapon against the evils afflicting society. Among the more recent Popes who, from the time of the Second Vatican Council, have distinguished themselves in promoting the Rosary, I would mention Blessed John XXIII4 and above all Pope Paul VI, who in his Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus emphasized, in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, the Rosary's evangelical character and its Christocentric inspiration. I myself have often encouraged the frequent recitation of the Rosary. From my youthful years this prayer has held an important place in my spiritual life. I was powerfully reminded of this during my recent visit to Poland, and in particular at the Shrine of Kalwaria. The Rosary has accompanied me in moments of joy and in moments of difficulty. To it I have entrusted any number of concerns; in it I have always found comfort. Twenty-four years ago, on October 29, 1978, scarcely two weeks after my election to the See of Peter, I frankly admitted: "The Rosary is my favourite prayer. A marvelous prayer! Marvelous in its simplicity and its depth.... It can be said that the Rosary is, in some sense, a prayer-commentary on the final chapter of the Vatican II Constitution Lumen Gentium, a chapter that discusses the wondrous presence of the Mother of God in the mystery of Christ and the Church. Against the background of the words Ave Maria the principal events of the life of Jesus Christ pass before the eyes of the soul. They take shape in the complete series of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries, and they put us in living communion with Jesus through - we might say - the heart of his Mother. At the same time our heart can embrace in the decades of the Rosary all the events that make up the lives of individuals, families, nations, the Church, and all mankind. Our personal concerns and those of our neighbor, especially those who are closest to us, who are dearest to us. Thus the simple prayer of the Rosary marks the rhythm of human life".5

With these words, dear brothers and sisters, I set the first year of my Pontificate within the daily rhythm of the Rosary. Today, as I begin the twenty-fifth year of my service as the Successor of Peter, I wish to do the same. How many graces have I received in these years from the Blessed Virgin through the Rosary: Magnificat anima mea Dominum! I wish to lift up my thanks to the Lord in the words of His Most Holy Mother, under whose protection I have placed my Petrine ministry: Totus Tuus!

October 2002 ¬ October 2003: The Year of the Rosary
3. Therefore, in continuity with my reflection in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, in which, after the experience of the Jubilee, I invited the people of God to "start afresh from Christ",6 I have felt drawn to offer a reflection on the Rosary, as a kind of Marian complement to that Letter and an exhortation to contemplate the face of Christ in union with, and at the school of, His Most Holy Mother. To recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ. As a way of highlighting this invitation, prompted by the forthcoming 120th anniversary of the aforementioned Encyclical of Leo XIII, I desire that during the course of this year the Rosary should be especially emphasized and promoted in the various Christian communities. I therefore proclaim the year from October 2002 to October 2003 the Year of the Rosary.
I leave this pastoral proposal to the initiative of each ecclesial community. It is not my intention to encumber but rather to complete and consolidate pastoral programs of the Particular Churches. I am confident that the proposal will find a ready and generous reception. The Rosary, reclaimed in its full meaning, goes to the very heart of Christian life; it offers a familiar yet fruitful spiritual and educational opportunity for personal contemplation, the formation of the People of God, and the new evangelization. I am pleased to reaffirm this also in the joyful remembrance of another anniversary: the fortieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council on October 11, 1962, the "great grace" disposed by the Spirit of God for the Church in our time.7

Objections to the Rosary
4. The timeliness of this proposal is evident from a number of considerations. First, the urgent need to counter a certain crisis of the Rosary, which in the present historical and theological context can risk being wrongly devalued, and therefore no longer taught to the younger generation. There are some who think that the centrality of the Liturgy, rightly stressed by the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, necessarily entails giving lesser importance to the Rosary. Yet, as Pope Paul VI made clear, not only does this prayer not conflict with the Liturgy, it sustains it, since it serves as an excellent introduction and a faithful echo of the Liturgy, enabling people to participate fully and interiorly in it and to reap its fruits in their daily lives.

Perhaps too, there are some who fear that the Rosary is somehow unecumenical because of its distinctly Marian character. Yet the Rosary clearly belongs to the kind of veneration of the Mother of God described by the Council: a devotion directed to the Christological center of the Christian faith, in such a way that "when the Mother is honored, the Son ... is duly known, loved and glorified".8 If properly revitalized, the Rosary is an aid and certainly not a hindrance to ecumenism!

A path of contemplation
5. But the most important reason for strongly encouraging the practice of the Rosary is that it represents a most effective means of fostering among the faithful that commitment to the contemplation of the Christian mystery, which I have proposed in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte as a genuine "training in holiness": "What is needed is a Christian life distinguished above all in the "art of prayer".9 Inasmuch as contemporary culture, even amid so many indications to the contrary, has witnessed the flowering of a new call for spirituality, due also to the influence of other religions, it is more urgent than ever that our Christian communities should become "genuine schools of prayer".10

The Rosary belongs among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation. Developed in the West, it is a typically meditative prayer, corresponding in some way to the "prayer of the heart" or "Jesus prayer", which took root in the soil of the Christian East.

Prayer for peace and for the family
6. A number of historical circumstances also make a revival of the Rosary quite timely. First of all, the need to implore from God the gift of peace. The Rosary has many times been proposed by my predecessors and myself as a prayer for peace. At the start of a millennium that began with the terrifying attacks of September 11, 2001, a millennium that witnesses every day in numerous parts of the world fresh scenes of bloodshed and violence, to rediscover the Rosary means to immerse oneself in contemplation of the mystery of Christ who "is our peace", since he made "the two of us one, and broke down the dividing wall of hostility" (Eph 2:14). Consequently, one cannot recite the Rosary without feeling caught up in a clear commitment to advancing peace, especially in the land of Jesus, still so sorely afflicted and so close to the heart of every Christian.

A similar need for commitment and prayer arises in relation to another critical contemporary issue: the family, the primary cell of society, increasingly menaced by forces of disintegration on both the ideological and practical planes, so as to make us fear for the future of this fundamental and indispensable institution and, with it, for the future of society as a whole. The revival of the Rosary in Christian families, within the context of a broader pastoral ministry to the family, will be an effective aid to countering the devastating effects of this crisis typical of our age.

"Behold, your Mother!" (Jn 19:27)
7. Many signs indicate that still today the Blessed Virgin desires to exercise through this same prayer that maternal concern to which the dying Redeemer entrusted, in the person of the beloved disciple, all the sons and daughters of the Church: "Woman, behold your son!" (Jn 19:26). Well-known are the occasions in the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries on which the Mother of Christ made her presence felt and her voice heard, in order to exhort the People of God to this form of contemplative prayer. I would mention in particular, because of their great influence on the lives of Christians and the authoritative recognition they have received from the Church, the apparitions of Lourdes and of Fatima;11 these shrines continue to be visited by great numbers of pilgrims seeking comfort and hope.

Following the witnesses
8. It would be impossible to name all the many saints who discovered in the Rosary a genuine path to growth in holiness. We need but mention Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, the author of an excellent work on the Rosary,12 and, closer to ourselves, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, whom I recently had the joy of canonizing. As a true apostle of the Rosary, Blessed Bartolo Longo had a special charism. His path to holiness rested on an inspiration heard in the depths of his heart: "Whoever spreads the Rosary is saved!"13. As a result, he felt called to build a Church dedicated to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Pompeii, against the background of the ruins of the ancient city, which scarcely heard the proclamation of Christ before being buried in 79 A.D. during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, only to emerge centuries later from its ashes as a witness to the lights and shadows of classical civilization. By his whole life's work and especially by the practice of the "Fifteen Saturdays", Bartolo Longo promoted the Christocentric and contemplative heart of the Rosary, and received great encouragement and support from Leo XIII, the "Pope of the Rosary".

CHAPTER I
CONTEMPLATING CHRIST WITH MARY

A face radiant as the sun
9. "And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun" (Mt 17:2). The Gospel scene of Christ's transfiguration, in which the three Apostles Peter, James and John appear entranced by the beauty of the Redeemer, can be seen as an icon of Christian contemplation. To look upon the face of Christ, to recognize its mystery amid the daily events and the sufferings of His human life, and then to grasp the divine splendor definitively revealed in the Risen Lord, seated in glory at the right hand of the Father: this is the task of every follower of Christ and therefore the task of each one of us. In contemplating Christ's face we become open to receiving the mystery of Trinitarian life, experiencing ever anew the love of the Father and delighting in the joy of the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul's words can then be applied to us: "Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are being changed into His likeness, from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (II Cor 3:18).

Mary, model of contemplation
10. The contemplation of Christ has an incomparable model in Mary. In a unique way the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It was in her womb that Christ was formed, receiving from her a human resemblance, which points to an even greater spiritual closeness. No one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary. The eyes of her heart already turned to Him at the Annunciation, when she conceived Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the months that followed she began to sense His presence and to picture His features. When at last she gave birth to Him in Bethlehem, her eyes were able to gaze tenderly on the face of her Son, as she "wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger" (Lk 2:7).

Thereafter Mary's gaze, ever filled with adoration and wonder, would never leave Him. At times it would be a questioning look, as in the episode of the finding in the Temple: "Son, why have you treated us so?" (Lk 2:48); it would always be a penetrating gaze, one capable of deeply understanding Jesus, even to the point of perceiving His hidden feelings and anticipating His decisions, as at Cana (cf. Jn 2:5). At other times it would be a look of sorrow, especially beneath the Cross, where her vision would still be that of a mother giving birth, for Mary not only shared the passion and death of her Son, she also received the new son given to her in the beloved disciple (cf. Jn 19:26-27). On the morning of Easter hers would be a gaze radiant with the joy of the Resurrection, and finally, on the day of Pentecost, a gaze afire with the outpouring of the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).

Mary's memories
11. Mary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ, treasuring His every word: "She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Lk 2:19; cf. 2:51). The memories of Jesus, impressed upon her heart, were always with her, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her Son's side. In a way those memories were to be the "rosary" that she recited uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life.

Even now, amid the joyful songs of the heavenly Jerusalem, the reasons for her thanksgiving and praise remain unchanged. They inspire her maternal concern for the pilgrim Church, in which she continues to relate her personal account of the Gospel. Mary constantly sets before the faithful the "mysteries" of her Son, with the desire that the contemplation of those mysteries will release all their saving power. In the recitation of the Rosary, the Christian community enters into contact with the memories and the contemplative gaze of Mary.

The Rosary, a contemplative prayer
12. The Rosary, precisely because it starts with Mary's own experience, is an exquisitely contemplative prayer. Without this contemplative dimension, it would lose its meaning, as Pope Paul VI clearly pointed out: "Without contemplation, the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation runs the risk of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas, in violation of the admonition of Christ: 'In praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think they will be heard for their many words' (Mt 6:7). By its nature the recitation of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord. In this way the unfathomable riches of these mysteries are disclosed".14

It is worth pausing to consider this profound insight of Paul VI, in order to bring out certain aspects of the Rosary that show that it is really a form of Christocentric contemplation.

Remembering Christ with Mary
13. Mary's contemplation is above all a remembering. We need to understand this word in the biblical sense of remembrance (zakar) as a making present of the works brought about by God in the history of salvation. The Bible is an account of saving events culminating in Christ himself. These events not only belong to "yesterday"; they are also part of the "today" of salvation. This making present comes about above all in the Liturgy: what God accomplished centuries ago did not only affect the direct witnesses of those events; it continues to affect people in every age with its gift of grace. To some extent this is also true of every other devout approach to those events: to "remember" them in a spirit of faith and love is to be open to the grace that Christ won for us by the mysteries of His life, death and resurrection.

Consequently, while it must be reaffirmed with the Second Vatican Council that the Liturgy, as the exercise of the priestly office of Christ and an act of public worship, is "the summit to which the activity of the Church is directed and the font from which all its power flows",15 it is also necessary to recall that the spiritual life "is not limited solely to participation in the liturgy. Christians, while they are called to prayer in common, must also go to their own rooms to pray to their Father in secret (cf. Mt 6:6); indeed, according to the teaching of the Apostle, they must pray without ceasing" (cf. I Thes 5:17).16 The Rosary, in its own particular way, is part of this varied panorama of "ceaseless" prayer. If the Liturgy, as the activity of Christ and the Church, is a saving action par excellence, the Rosary too, as a "meditation" with Mary on Christ, is a salutary contemplation. By immersing us in the mysteries of the Redeemer's life, it ensures that what he has done and what the Liturgy makes present is profoundly assimilated and shapes our existence.

Learning Christ from Mary
14. Christ is the supreme Teacher, the revealer and the one revealed. It is not just a question of learning what He taught but of "learning Him". In this regard could we have any better teacher than Mary? From the divine standpoint, the Spirit is the interior teacher who leads us to the full truth of Christ (cf. Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:13). But among creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of His mystery better than His Mother.
The first of the "signs" worked by Jesus ¬ the changing of water into wine at the marriage in Cana ¬ clearly presents Mary in the guise of a teacher, as she urges the servants to do what Jesus commands (cf. Jn 2:5). We can imagine that she would have done likewise for the disciples after Jesus' Ascension, when she joined them in awaiting the Holy Spirit and supported them in their first mission. Contemplating the scenes of the Rosary in union with Mary is a means of learning from her to "read" Christ, to discover His secrets and to understand His message.

This school of Mary is all the more effective if we consider that she teaches by obtaining for us in abundance the gifts of the Holy Spirit, even as she offers us the incomparable example of her own "pilgrimage of faith".17 As we contemplate each mystery of her Son's life, she invites us to do as she did at the Annunciation: to ask humbly the questions that open us to the light, in order to end with the obedience of faith: "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38).

Being conformed to Christ with Mary
15. Christian spirituality is distinguished by the disciple's commitment to become conformed ever more fully to his Master (cf. Rom 8:29; Phil 3:10,12). The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Baptism grafts the believer like a branch onto the vine that is Christ (cf. Jn 15:5) and makes him a member of Christ's mystical Body (cf. I Cor 12:12; Rom 12:5). This initial unity, however, calls for a growing assimilation that will increasingly shape the conduct of the disciple in accordance with the "mind" of Christ: "Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:5). In the words of the Apostle, we are called "to put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. Rom 13:14; Gal 3:27).

In the spiritual journey of the Rosary, based on the constant contemplation - in Mary's company - of the face of Christ, this demanding ideal of being conformed to Him is pursued through an association that could be described in terms of friendship. We are thereby enabled to enter naturally into Christ's life and as it were to share his deepest feelings. In this regard Blessed Bartolo Longo has written: "Just as two friends, frequently in each other's company, tend to develop similar habits, so too, by holding familiar converse with Jesus and the Blessed Virgin, by meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary and by living the same life in Holy Communion, we can become, to the extent of our lowliness, similar to them and can learn from these supreme models a life of humility, poverty, hiddenness, patience and perfection".18

In this process of being conformed to Christ in the Rosary, we entrust ourselves in a special way to the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin. She who is both the Mother of Christ and a member of the Church, indeed her "pre-eminent and altogether singular member",19 is at the same time the "Mother of the Church". As such, she continually brings to birth children for the mystical Body of her Son. She does so through her intercession, imploring upon them the inexhaustible outpouring of the Spirit. Mary is the perfect icon of the motherhood of the Church.

The Rosary mystically transports us to Mary's side as she is busy watching over the human growth of Christ in the home of Nazareth. This enables her to train us and to mold us with the same care, until Christ is "fully formed" in us (cf. Gal 4:19). This role of Mary, totally grounded in that of Christ and radically subordinated to it, "in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power".20 This is the luminous principle expressed by the Second Vatican Council, which I have so powerfully experienced in my own life and have made the basis of my episcopal motto: Totus Tuus.21 The motto is of course inspired by the teaching of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, who explained in the following words Mary's role in the process of our configuration to Christ: "Our entire perfection consists in being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus Christ. Hence the most perfect of all devotions is undoubtedly that which conforms, unites and consecrates us most perfectly to Jesus Christ. Now, since Mary is of all creatures the one most conformed to Jesus Christ, it follows that among all devotions that which most consecrates and conforms a soul to our Lord is devotion to Mary, His Holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to her the more will it be consecrated to Jesus Christ".22 Never as in the Rosary do the life of Jesus and that of Mary appear so deeply joined. Mary lives only in Christ and for Christ!

Praying to Christ with Mary
16. Jesus invited us to turn to God with insistence and the confidence that we will be heard: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Mt 7:7). The basis for this power of prayer is the goodness of the Father, but also the mediation of Christ himself (cf. I Jn 2:1) and the working of the Holy Spirit who "intercedes for us" according to the will of God (cf. Rom 8:26-27). For "we do not know how to pray as we ought" (Rom 8:26), and at times we are not heard "because we ask wrongly" (cf. Jas 4:2-3).
In support of the prayer that Christ and the Spirit cause to rise in our hearts, Mary intervenes with her maternal intercession. "The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary".23 If Jesus, the one Mediator, is the Way of our prayer, then Mary, His purest and most transparent reflection, shows us the Way. "Beginning with Mary's unique cooperation with the working of the Holy Spirit, the Churches developed their prayer to the Holy Mother of God, centering it on the person of Christ manifested in his mysteries".24 At the wedding of Cana the Gospel clearly shows the power of Mary's intercession as she makes known to Jesus the needs of others: "They have no wine" (Jn 2:3).

The Rosary is both meditation and supplication. Insistent prayer to the Mother of God is based on confidence that her maternal intercession can obtain all things from the heart of her Son. She is "all-powerful by grace", to use the bold expression, which needs to be properly understood, of Blessed Bartolo Longo in his Supplication to Our Lady.25 This is a conviction that, beginning with the Gospel, has grown ever more firm in the experience of the Christian people. The supreme poet Dante expresses it marvelously in the lines sung by Saint Bernard: "Lady, thou art so great and so powerful, that whoever desires grace yet does not turn to thee, would have his desire fly without wings".26 When in the Rosary we plead with Mary, the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1:35), she intercedes for us before the Father, who filled her with grace and before the Son born of her womb, praying with us and for us.

Proclaiming Christ with Mary
17. The Rosary is also a path of proclamation and increasing knowledge, in which the mystery of Christ is presented again and again at different levels of the Christian experience. Its form is that of a prayerful and contemplative presentation, capable of forming Christians according to the heart of Christ. When the recitation of the Rosary combines all the elements needed for an effective meditation, especially in its communal celebration in parishes and shrines, it can present a significant catechetical opportunity that pastors should use to advantage. In this way too, Our Lady of the Rosary continues her work of proclaiming Christ. The history of the Rosary shows how this prayer was used in particular by the Dominicans at a difficult time for the Church due to the spread of heresy. Today we are facing new challenges. Why should we not once more have recourse to the Rosary, with the same faith as those who have gone before us? The Rosary retains all its power and continues to be a valuable pastoral resource for every good evangelizer.


CHAPTER II
MYSTERIES OF CHRIST ¬ MYSTERIES OF HIS MOTHER

The Rosary, "a compendium of the Gospel"
18. The only way to approach the contemplation of Christ's face is by listening in the Spirit to the Father's voice, since "no one knows the Son except the Father" (Mt 11:27). In the region of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus responded to Peter's confession of faith by indicating the source of that clear intuition of His identity: "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Mt 16:17). What is needed, then, is a revelation from above. In order to receive that revelation, attentive listening is indispensable: "Only the experience of silence and prayer offers the proper setting for the growth and development of a true, faithful and consistent knowledge of that mystery".27

The Rosary is one of the traditional paths of Christian prayer directed to the contemplation of Christ's face. Pope Paul VI described it in these words: "As a Gospel prayer, centered on the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation, the Rosary is a prayer with a clearly Christological orientation. Its most characteristic element, in fact, the litany-like succession of Hail Marys, becomes in itself an unceasing praise of Christ, who is the ultimate object both of the Angel's announcement and of the greeting of the Mother of John the Baptist: 'Blessed is the fruit of your womb' (Lk 1:42). We would go further and say that the succession of Hail Marys constitutes the warp on which is woven the contemplation of the mysteries. The Jesus that each Hail Mary recalls is the same Jesus whom the succession of mysteries proposes to us now as the Son of God, now as the Son of the Virgin".28

A proposed addition to the traditional pattern
19. Of the many mysteries of Christ's life, only a few are indicated by the Rosary in the form that has become generally established with the seal of the Church's approval. The selection was determined by the origin of the prayer, which was based on the number 150, the number of the Psalms in the Psalter.

I believe, however, that to bring out fully the Christological depth of the Rosary it would be suitable to make an addition to the traditional pattern which, while left to the freedom of individuals and communities, could broaden it to include the mysteries of Christ's public ministry between His Baptism and His Passion. In the course of those mysteries we contemplate important aspects of the person of Christ as the definitive revelation of God. Declared the beloved Son of the Father at the Baptism in the Jordan, Christ is the one who announces the coming of the Kingdom, bears witness to it in His works and proclaims its demands. It is during the years of his public ministry that the mystery of Christ is most evidently a mystery of light: "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world" (Jn 9:5).
Consequently, for the Rosary to become more fully a "compendium of the Gospel", it is fitting to add, following reflection on the Incarnation and the hidden life of Christ (the joyful mysteries) and before focusing on the sufferings of His Passion (the sorrowful mysteries) and the triumph of His Resurrection (the glorious mysteries), a meditation on certain particularly significant moments in His public ministry (the mysteries of light). This addition of these new mysteries, without prejudice to any essential aspect of the prayer's traditional format, is meant to give it fresh life and to enkindle renewed interest in the Rosary's place within Christian spirituality as a true doorway to the depths of the Heart of Christ, ocean of joy and of light, of suffering and of glory.

The Joyful Mysteries
20. The first five decades, the "joyful mysteries", are marked by the joy radiating from the event of the Incarnation. This is clear from the very first mystery, the Annunciation, where Gabriel's greeting to the Virgin of Nazareth is linked to an invitation to messianic joy: "Rejoice, Mary". The whole of salvation history, in some sense the entire history of the world, has led up to this greeting. If it is the Father's plan to unite all things in Christ (cf. Eph 1:10), then the whole of the universe is in some way touched by the divine favor with which the Father looks upon Mary and makes her the Mother of His Son. The whole of humanity, in turn, is embraced by the fiat with which she readily agrees to the will of God.
Exultation is the keynote of the encounter with Elizabeth, where the sound of Mary's voice and the presence of Christ in her womb cause John to "leap for joy" (cf. Lk 1:44). Gladness also fills the scene in Bethlehem, when the birth of the divine Child, the Savior of the world, is announced by the song of the angels and proclaimed to the shepherds as "news of great joy" (Lk 2:10).

The final two mysteries, while preserving this climate of joy, already point to the drama yet to come. The Presentation in the Temple not only expresses the joy of the Child's consecration and the ecstasy of the aged Simeon; it also records the prophecy that Christ will be a "sign of contradiction" for Israel and that a sword will pierce His mother's heart (cf Lk 2:34-35). Joy mixed with drama marks the fifth mystery, the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple. Here He appears in His divine wisdom as He listens and raises questions, already in effect one who "teaches". The revelation of His mystery as the Son wholly dedicated to His Father's affairs proclaims the radical nature of the Gospel, in which even the closest of human relationships are challenged by the absolute demands of the Kingdom. Mary and Joseph, fearful and anxious, "did not understand" His words (Lk 2:50).

To meditate upon the "joyful" mysteries, then, is to enter into the ultimate causes and the deepest meaning of Christian joy. It is to focus on the realism of the mystery of the Incarnation and on the obscure foreshadowing of the mystery of the saving Passion. Mary leads us to discover the secret of Christian joy, reminding us that Christianity is, first and foremost, euangelion, "good news", which has as its heart and its whole content the person of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the one Savior of the world.

The Mysteries of Light
21. Moving on from the infancy and the hidden life in Nazareth to the public life of Jesus, our contemplation brings us to those mysteries that may be called in a special way "mysteries of light". Certainly the whole mystery of Christ is a mystery of light. He is the "light of the world" (Jn 8:12). Yet this truth emerges in a special way during the years of His public life, when He proclaims the Gospel of the Kingdom. In proposing to the Christian community five significant moments ¬ "luminous" mysteries ¬ during this phase of Christ's life, I think that the following can be fittingly singled out: (1) His Baptism in the Jordan, (2) His self-manifestation at the wedding of Cana, (3) His proclamation of the Kingdom of God, with His call to conversion, (4) His Transfiguration, and finally, (5) His institution of the Eucharist, as the sacramental expression of the Paschal Mystery.

Each of these mysteries is a revelation of the Kingdom now present in the very person of Jesus. The Baptism in the Jordan is first of all a mystery of light. Here, as Christ descends into the waters, the innocent one who became "sin" for our sake (cf. II Cor 5:21), the heavens open wide and the voice of the Father declares Him the beloved Son (cf. Mt 3:17 and parallels), while the Spirit descends on Him to invest Him with the mission that He is to carry out. Another mystery of light is the first of the signs, given at Cana (cf. Jn 2:1- 12), when Christ changes water into wine and opens the hearts of the disciples to faith, thanks to the intervention of Mary, the first among believers. Another mystery of light is the preaching by which Jesus proclaims the coming of the Kingdom of God, calls to conversion (cf. Mk 1:15) and forgives the sins of all who draw near to Him in humble trust (cf. Mk 2:3-13; Lk 7:47- 48): the inauguration of that ministry of mercy that He continues to exercise until the end of the world, particularly through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which He has entrusted to His Church (cf. Jn 20:22-23). The mystery of light par excellence is the Transfiguration, traditionally believed to have taken place on Mount Tabor. The glory of the Godhead shines forth from the face of Christ as the Father commands the astonished Apostles to "listen to Him" (cf. Lk 9:35 and parallels) and to prepare to experience with Him the agony of the Passion, so as to come with Him to the joy of the Resurrection and a life transfigured by the Holy Spirit. A final mystery of light is the institution of the Eucharist, in which Christ offers His body and blood as food under the signs of bread and wine, and testifies "to the end" His love for humanity (Jn 13:1), for whose salvation He will offer himself in sacrifice.

In these mysteries, apart from the miracle at Cana, the presence of Mary remains in the background. The Gospels make only the briefest reference to her occasional presence at one moment or other during the preaching of Jesus (cf. Mk 3:31-5; Jn 2:12), and they give no indication that she was present at the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist. Yet the role she assumed at Cana in some way accompanies Christ throughout His ministry. The revelation made directly by the Father at the Baptism in the Jordan and echoed by John the Baptist is placed upon Mary's lips at Cana, and it becomes the great maternal counsel that Mary addresses to the Church of every age: "Do whatever He tells you" (Jn 2:5). This counsel is a fitting introduction to the words and signs of Christ's public ministry and it forms the Marian foundation of all the "mysteries of light".

The Sorrowful Mysteries
22. The Gospels give great prominence to the sorrowful mysteries of Christ. From the beginning, Christian piety, especially during the Lenten devotion of the Way of the Cross, has focused on the individual moments of the Passion, realizing that here is found the culmination of the revelation of God's love and the source of our salvation. The Rosary selects certain moments from the Passion, inviting the faithful to contemplate them in their hearts and to relive them. The sequence of meditations begins with Gethsemane, where Christ experiences a moment of great anguish before the will of the Father, against which the weakness of the flesh would be tempted to rebel. There Jesus encounters all the temptations and confronts all the sins of humanity, in order to say to the Father: "Not my will but yours be done" (Lk 22:42 and parallels). This "Yes" of Christ reverses the "No" of our first parents in the Garden of Eden. And the cost of this faithfulness to the Father's will is made clear in the following mysteries; by His scourging, His crowning with thorns, His carrying the Cross and His death on the Cross, the Lord is cast into the most abject suffering: Ecce homo!

This abject suffering reveals not only the love of God but also the meaning of man himself.

Ecce homo: the meaning, origin and fulfillment of man is to be found in Christ, the God who humbles Himself out of love "even unto death, death on a cross" (Phil 2:8). The sorrowful mysteries help the believer to relive the death of Jesus, to stand at the foot of the Cross beside Mary, to enter with her into the depths of God's love for man and to experience all its life-giving power.

The Glorious Mysteries
23. "The contemplation of Christ's face cannot stop at the image of the Crucified One. He is the Risen One!"29 The Rosary has always expressed this knowledge born of faith and invited the believer to pass beyond the darkness of the Passion in order to gaze upon Christ's glory in the Resurrection and Ascension. Contemplating the Risen One, Christians rediscover the reasons for their own faith (cf. I Cor 15:14) and relive the joy not only of those to whom Christ appeared ¬ the Apostles, Mary Magdalene and the disciples on the road to Emmaus ¬ but also the joy of Mary, who must have had an equally intense experience of the new life of her glorified Son. In the Ascension, Christ was raised in glory to the right hand of the Father, while Mary herself would be raised to that same glory in the Assumption, enjoying beforehand, by a unique privilege, the destiny reserved for all the just at the resurrection of the dead. Crowned in glory ¬ as she appears in the last glorious mystery ¬ Mary shines forth as Queen of the Angels and Saints, the anticipation and the supreme realization of the eschatological state of the Church.

At the center of this unfolding sequence of the glory of the Son and the Mother, the Rosary sets before us the third glorious mystery, Pentecost, which reveals the face of the Church as a family gathered together with Mary, enlivened by the powerful outpouring of the Spirit and ready for the mission of evangelization. The contemplation of this scene, like that of the other glorious mysteries, ought to lead the faithful to an ever greater appreciation of their new life in Christ, lived in the heart of the Church, a life of which the scene of Pentecost itself is the great "icon". The glorious mysteries thus lead the faithful to greater hope for the eschatological goal toward which they journey as members of the pilgrim People of God in history. This can only impel them to bear courageous witness to that "good news" that gives meaning to their entire existence.

From "mysteries" to the "Mystery": Mary's way
24. The cycles of meditation proposed by the Holy Rosary are by no means exhaustive, but they do bring to mind what is essential and they awaken in the soul a thirst for a knowledge of Christ continually nourished by the pure source of the Gospel. Every individual event in the life of Christ, as narrated by the Evangelists, is resplendent with the Mystery that surpasses all understanding (cf. Eph 3:19): the Mystery of the Word made flesh, in whom "all the fullness of God dwells bodily" (Col 2:9). For this reason the Catechism of the Catholic Church places great emphasis on the mysteries of Christ, pointing out that "everything in the life of Jesus is a sign of his Mystery".30 The "duc in altum" of the Church of the third millennium will be determined by the ability of Christians to enter into the "perfect knowledge of God's mystery, of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col 2:2-3). The Letter to the Ephesians makes this heartfelt prayer for all the baptized: "May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power ... to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (3:17-19).

The Rosary is at the service of this ideal; it offers the "secret" that leads easily to a profound and inward knowledge of Christ. We might call it Mary's way. It is the way of the example of the Virgin of Nazareth, a woman of faith, of silence, of attentive listening. It is also the way of a Marian devotion inspired by knowledge of the inseparable bond between Christ and His Blessed Mother: the mysteries of Christ are also in some sense the mysteries of His Mother, even when they do not involve her directly, for she lives from Him and through Him. By making our own the words of the Angel Gabriel and Saint Elizabeth contained in the Hail Mary, we find ourselves constantly drawn to seek out afresh in Mary, in her arms and in her heart, the "blessed fruit of her womb" (cf Lk 1:42).

Mystery of Christ, mystery of man
25. In my testimony of 1978 mentioned above, where I described the Rosary as my favorite prayer, I used an idea to which I would like to return. I said then that "the simple prayer of the Rosary marks the rhythm of human life".31
In the light of what has been said so far on the mysteries of Christ, it is not difficult to go deeper into this anthropological significance of the Rosary, which is far deeper than may appear at first sight. Anyone who contemplates Christ through the various stages of His life cannot fail to perceive in Him the truth about man. This is the great affirmation of the Second Vatican Council, which I have so often discussed in my own teaching since the Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis: "it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man is seen in its true light".32 The Rosary helps to open up the way to this light. Following in the path of Christ, in whom man's path is "recapitulated",33 revealed and redeemed, believers come face to face with the image of the true man. Contemplating Christ's birth, they learn of the sanctity of life; seeing the household of Nazareth, they learn the original truth of the family according to God's plan; listening to the Master in the mysteries of His public ministry, they find the light that leads them to enter the Kingdom of God; and following Him on the way to Calvary, they learn the meaning of salvific suffering. Finally, contemplating Christ and His Blessed Mother in glory, they see the goal toward which each of us is called, if we allow ourselves to be healed and transformed by the Holy Spirit. It could be said that each mystery of the Rosary, carefully meditated, sheds light on the mystery of man.

At the same time, it becomes natural to bring to this encounter with the sacred humanity of the Redeemer all the problems, anxieties, labors and endeavors that go to make up our lives. "Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you" (Ps 55:23). To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and His Mother. Twenty-five years later, thinking back over the difficulties that have also been part of my exercise of the Petrine ministry, I feel the need to say once more, as a warm invitation to everyone to experience it personally: the Rosary does indeed "mark the rhythm of human life", bringing it into harmony with the "rhythm" of God's own life, in the joyful communion of the Holy Trinity, our life's destiny and deepest longing.

CHAPTER III
"FOR ME, TO LIVE IS CHRIST"

The Rosary, a way of assimilating the mystery
26. Meditation on the mysteries of Christ is proposed in the Rosary by means of a method designed to assist in their assimilation. It is a method based on repetition. This applies above all to the Hail Mary, repeated ten times in each mystery. If this repetition is considered superficially, there could be a temptation to see the Rosary as a dry and boring exercise. It is quite another thing, however, when the Rosary is thought of as an outpouring of that love that tirelessly returns to the person loved with expressions similar in their content but ever fresh in terms of the feeling pervading them.

In Christ, God has truly assumed a "heart of flesh". Not only does God have a divine heart, rich in mercy and in forgiveness, but also a human heart, capable of all the stirrings of affection. If we needed evidence for this from the Gospel, we could easily find it in the touching dialogue between Christ and Peter after the Resurrection: "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Three times this question is put to Peter, and three times he gives the reply: "Lord, you know that I love you" (cf. Jn 21:15-17). Over and above the specific meaning of this passage, so important for Peter's mission, none can fail to recognize the beauty of this triple repetition, in which the insistent request and the corresponding reply are expressed in terms familiar from the universal experience of human love. To understand the Rosary, one has to enter into the psychological dynamic proper to love.

One thing is clear: although the repeated Hail Mary is addressed directly to Mary, it is to Jesus that the act of love is ultimately directed, with her and through her. The repetition is nourished by the desire to be conformed ever more completely to Christ, the true program of the Christian life. Saint Paul expressed this project with words of fire: "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil 1:21). And again: "It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20). The Rosary helps us to be conformed ever more closely to Christ until we attain true holiness.

A valid method...
27. We should not be surprised that our relationship with Christ makes use of a method. God communicates Himself to us respecting our human nature and its vital rhythms. Hence, while Christian spirituality is familiar with the most sublime forms of mystical silence in which images, words and gestures are all, so to speak, superseded by an intense and ineffable union with God, it normally engages the whole person in all his complex psychological, physical and relational reality.

This becomes apparent in the Liturgy. Sacraments and sacramentals are structured as a series of rites that bring into play all the dimensions of the person. The same applies to non-liturgical prayer. This is confirmed by the fact that, in the East, the most characteristic prayer of Christological meditation, centered on the words "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner"34 is traditionally linked to the rhythm of breathing; while this practice favours perseverance in the prayer, it also in some way embodies the desire for Christ to become the breath, the soul and the "all" of one's life.

... which can nevertheless be improved
28. I mentioned in my Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte that the West is now experiencing a renewed demand for meditation, which at times leads to a keen interest in aspects of other religions.35 Some Christians, limited in their knowledge of the Christian contemplative tradition, are attracted by those forms of prayer. While the latter contain many elements that are positive and at times compatible with Christian experience, they are often based on ultimately unacceptable premises. Much in vogue among these approaches are methods aimed at attaining a high level of spiritual concentration by using techniques of a psychophysical, repetitive and symbolic nature. The Rosary is situated within this broad gamut of religious phenomena, but it is distinguished by characteristics of its own which correspond to specifically Christian requirements.

In effect, the Rosary is simply a method of contemplation. As a method, it serves as a means to an end and cannot become an end in itself. All the same, as the fruit of centuries of experience, this method should not be undervalued. In its favor one could cite the experience of countless Saints. This is not to say, however, that the method cannot be improved. Such is the intent of the addition of the new series of mysteria lucis to the overall cycle of mysteries and of the few suggestions that I am proposing in this Letter regarding its manner of recitation. These suggestions, while respecting the well-established structure of this prayer, are intended to help the faithful to understand it in the richness of its symbolism and in harmony with the demands of daily life. Otherwise there is a risk that the Rosary would not only fail to produce the intended spiritual effects, but even that the beads, with which it is usually said, could come to be regarded as some kind of amulet or magic object, thereby radically distorting their meaning and function.

Announcing each mystery
29. Announcing each mystery, and perhaps even using a suitable icon to portray it, is as it were to open up a scenario on which to focus our attention. The words direct the imagination and the mind toward a particular episode or moment in the life of Christ. In the Church's traditional spirituality, the veneration of icons and the many devotions appealing to the senses, as well as the method of prayer proposed by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises, make use of visual and imaginative elements (the compositio loci), judged to be of great help in concentrating the mind on the particular mystery. This is a methodology, moreover, that corresponds to the inner logic of the Incarnation: in Jesus, God wanted to take on human features. It is through His bodily reality that we are led into contact with the mystery of His divinity.

This need for concreteness finds further expression in the announcement of the various mysteries of the Rosary. Obviously these mysteries neither replace the Gospel nor exhaust its content. The Rosary, therefore, is no substitute for lectio divina; on the contrary, it presupposes and promotes it. Yet, even though the mysteries contemplated in the Rosary, even with the addition of the mysteria lucis, do no more than outline the fundamental elements of the life of Christ, they easily draw the mind to a more expansive reflection on the rest of the Gospel, especially when the Rosary is prayed in a setting of prolonged recollection.

Listening to the Word of God
30. In order to supply a Biblical foundation and greater depth to our meditation, it is helpful to follow the announcement of the mystery with the proclamation of a related Biblical passage, long or short, depending on the circumstances. No other words can ever match the efficacy of the inspired Word. As we listen, we are certain that this is the Word of God, spoken for today and spoken "for me".
If received in this way, the Word of God can become part of the Rosary's methodology of repetition without giving rise to the ennui derived from the simple recollection of something already well known. It is not a matter of recalling information but of allowing God to speak. In certain solemn communal celebrations, this Word can be appropriately illustrated by a brief commentary.

Silence
31. Listening and meditation are nourished by silence. After the announcement of the mystery and the proclamation of the Word, it is fitting to pause and focus one's attention for a suitable period of time on the mystery concerned, before moving into vocal prayer. A discovery of the importance of silence is one of the secrets of practicing contemplation and meditation. One drawback of a society dominated by technology and the mass media is the fact that silence becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. Just as moments of silence are recommended in the Liturgy, so too in the recitation of the Rosary it is fitting to pause briefly after listening to the Word of God, while the mind focuses on the content of a particular mystery.

The "Our Father"
32. After listening to the Word and focusing on the mystery, it is natural for the mind to be lifted up toward the Father. In each of His mysteries, Jesus always leads us to the Father, for as He rests in the Father's bosom (cf. Jn 1:18) He is continually turned toward Him. He wants us to share in His intimacy with the Father, so that we can say with Him: "Abba, Father" (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). By virtue of His relationship to the Father He makes us brothers and sisters of Himself and of one another, communicating to us the Spirit that is both His and the Father's. Acting as a kind of foundation for the Christological and Marian meditation, which unfolds in the repetition of the Hail Mary, the Our Father makes meditation upon the mystery, even when carried out in solitude, an ecclesial experience.

The ten "Hail Marys"
33. This is the most substantial element in the Rosary and also the one that makes it a Marian prayer par excellence. Yet when the Hail Mary is properly understood, we come to see clearly that its Marian character is not opposed to its Christological character, but that it actually emphasizes and increases it. The first part of the Hail Mary, drawn from the words spoken to Mary by the Angel Gabriel and by Saint Elizabeth, is a contemplation in adoration of the mystery accomplished in the Virgin of Nazareth. These words express, so to speak, the wonder of heaven and earth; they could be said to give us a glimpse of God's own wonderment as He contemplates His "masterpiece" ¬ the Incarnation of the Son in the womb of the Virgin Mary. If we recall how, in the Book of Genesis, God "saw all that He had made" (Gen 1:31), we can find here an echo of that "pathos with which God, at the dawn of creation, looked upon the work of His hands".36 The repetition of the Hail Mary in the Rosary gives us a share in God's own wonder and pleasure: in jubilant amazement we acknowledge the greatest miracle of history. Mary's prophecy here finds its fulfillment: "Henceforth all generations will call me blessed" (Lk 1:48).

The center of gravity in the Hail Mary, the hinge as it were, that joins its two parts, is the name of Jesus. Sometimes, in hurried recitation, this center of gravity can be overlooked, and with it the connection to the mystery of Christ being contemplated. Yet it is precisely the emphasis given to the name of Jesus and to His mystery that is the sign of a meaningful and fruitful recitation of the Rosary. Pope Paul VI drew attention, in his Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus, to the custom in certain regions of highlighting the name of Christ by the addition of a clause referring to the mystery being contemplated.37 This is a praiseworthy custom, especially during public recitation. It gives forceful expression to our faith in Christ, directed to the different moments of the Redeemer's life. It is at once a profession of faith and an aid in concentrating our meditation, since it facilitates the process of assimilation to the mystery of Christ inherent in the repetition of the Hail Mary. When we repeat the name of Jesus ¬ the only name given to us by which we may hope for salvation (cf. Acts 4:12) ¬ in close association with the name of His Blessed Mother, almost as if it were done at her suggestion, we set out on a path of assimilation meant to help us enter more deeply into the life of Christ.

From Mary's uniquely privileged relationship with Christ, which makes her the Mother of God, Theotókos, derives the forcefulness of the appeal we make to her in the second half of the prayer, as we entrust to her maternal intercession our lives and the hour of our death.

The "Gloria"
34. Trinitarian doxology is the goal of all Christian contemplation. For Christ is the way that leads us to the Father in the Spirit. If we travel this way to the end, we repeatedly encounter the mystery of the three divine Persons, to whom all praise, worship and thanksgiving are due. It is important that the Gloria, the high-point of contemplation, be given due prominence in the Rosary. In public recitation it could be sung, as a way of giving proper emphasis to the essentially Trinitarian structure of all Christian prayer.

To the extent that meditation on the mystery is attentive and profound, and to the extent that it is enlivened ¬ from one Hail Mary to another ¬ by love for Christ and for Mary, the glorification of the Trinity at the end of each decade, far from being a perfunctory conclusion, takes on its proper contemplative tone, raising the mind, as it were, to the heights of heaven and enabling us in some way to relive the experience of Tabor, a foretaste of the contemplation yet to come: "It is good for us to be here!" (Lk 9:33).

The concluding short prayer
35. In current practice, the Trinitarian doxology is followed by a brief concluding prayer, which varies according to local custom. Without in any way diminishing the value of such invocations, it is worthwhile to note that the contemplation of the mysteries could better express their full spiritual fruitfulness if an effort were made to conclude each mystery with a prayer for the fruits specific to that particular mystery. In this way the Rosary would better express its connection with the Christian life. One fine liturgical prayer suggests as much, inviting us to pray that, by meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary, we may come to "imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise".38

Such a final prayer could take on a legitimate variety of forms, as indeed it already does. In this way the Rosary can be better adapted to different spiritual traditions and different Christian communities. It is to be hoped, then, that appropriate formulas will be widely circulated, after due pastoral discernment and possibly after experimental use in centers and shrines particularly devoted to the Rosary, so that the People of God may benefit from an abundance of authentic spiritual riches and find nourishment for their personal contemplation.

The Rosary beads
36. The traditional aid used for the recitation of the Rosary is the set of beads. At the most superficial level, the beads often become a simple counting mechanism to mark the succession of Hail Marys. Yet they can also take on a symbolism which can give added depth to contemplation.

Here the first thing to note is the way the beads converge upon the Crucifix, which both opens and closes the unfolding sequence of prayer. The life and prayer of believers is centered upon Christ. Everything begins from Him, everything leads toward Him, everything, through Him, in the Holy Spirit, attains to the Father.

As a counting mechanism, marking the progress of the prayer, the beads evoke the unending path of contemplation and of Christian perfection. Blessed Bartolo Longo saw them also as a "chain" that links us to God. A chain, yes, but a sweet chain; for sweet indeed is the bond to God who is also our Father. A "filial" chain that puts us in tune with Mary, the "handmaid of the Lord" (Lk 1:38) and, most of all, with Christ Himself, who, though He was in the form of God, made Himself a "servant" out of love for us (Phil 2:7).

A fine way to expand the symbolism of the beads is to let them remind us of our many relationships, of the bond of communion and fraternity that unites us all in Christ.

The opening and closing
37. At present, in different parts of the Church, there are many ways to introduce the Rosary. In some places, it is customary to begin with the opening words of Psalm 70: "O God, come to my aid; O Lord, make haste to help me", as if to nourish in those who are praying a humble awareness of their own insufficiency. In other places, the Rosary begins with the recitation of the Creed, as if to make the profession of faith the basis of the contemplative journey about to be undertaken. These and similar customs, to the extent that they prepare the mind for contemplation, are all equally legitimate. The Rosary is then ended with a prayer for the intentions of the Pope, as if to expand the vision of the one praying to embrace all the needs of the Church. It is precisely in order to encourage this ecclesial dimension of the Rosary that the Church has seen fit to grant indulgences to those who recite it with the required dispositions.

If prayed in this way, the Rosary truly becomes a spiritual itinerary in which Mary acts as Mother, Teacher and Guide, sustaining the faithful by her powerful intercession. Is it any wonder, then, that the soul feels the need, after saying this prayer and experiencing so profoundly the motherhood of Mary, to burst forth in praise of the Blessed Virgin, either in that splendid prayer the Salve Regina or in the Litany of Loreto? This is the crowning moment of an inner journey which has brought the faithful into living contact with the mystery of Christ and his Blessed Mother.

Distribution over time
38. The Rosary can be recited in full every day, and there are those who most laudably do so. In this way it fills with prayer the days of many a contemplative, or keeps company with the sick and the elderly who have abundant time at their disposal. Yet it is clear ¬ and this applies all the more if the new series of mysteria lucis is included ¬ that many people will not be able to recite more than a part of the Rosary, according to a certain weekly pattern. This weekly distribution has the effect of giving the different days of the week a certain spiritual "color", by analogy with the way in which the Liturgy colors the different seasons of the liturgical year.

According to current practice, Monday and Thursday are dedicated to the "joyful mysteries", Tuesday and Friday to the "sorrowful mysteries", and Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday to the "glorious mysteries". Where might the "mysteries of light" be inserted? If we consider that the "glorious mysteries" are said on both Saturday and Sunday, and that Saturday has always had a special Marian flavor, the second weekly meditation on the "joyful mysteries", mysteries in which Mary's presence is especially pronounced, could be moved to Saturday. Thursday would then be free for meditating on the "mysteries of light".

This indication is not intended to limit a rightful freedom in personal and community prayer, where account needs to be taken of spiritual and pastoral needs and of the occurrence of particular liturgical celebrations that might call for suitable adaptations. What is really important is that the Rosary should always be seen and experienced as a path of contemplation. In the Rosary, in a way similar to what takes place in the Liturgy, the Christian week, centered on Sunday, the day of Resurrection, becomes a journey through the mysteries of the life of Christ, and He is revealed in the lives of His disciples as the Lord of time and of history.


CONCLUSION

"Blessed Rosary of Mary, sweet chain linking us to God"
39. What has been said so far makes abundantly clear the richness of this traditional prayer, which has the simplicity of a popular devotion but also the theological depth of a prayer suited to those who feel the need for deeper contemplation.

The Church has always attributed particular efficacy to this prayer, entrusting to the Rosary, to its choral recitation and to its constant practice, the most difficult problems. At times when Christianity itself seemed under threat, its deliverance was attributed to the power of this prayer, and Our Lady of the Rosary was acclaimed as the one whose intercession brought salvation.

Today I willingly entrust to the power of this prayer ¬ as I mentioned at the beginning ¬ the cause of peace in the world and the cause of the family.

Peace
40. The grave challenges confronting the world at the start of this new Millennium lead us to think that only an intervention from on high, capable of guiding the hearts of those living in situations of conflict and those governing the destinies of nations, can give reason to hope for a brighter future.

The Rosary is by its nature a prayer for peace, since it consists in the contemplation of Christ, the Prince of Peace, the one who is "our peace" (Eph 2:14). Anyone who assimilates the mystery of Christ ¬ and this is clearly the goal of the Rosary ¬ learns the secret of peace and makes it his life's project. Moreover, by virtue of its meditative character, with the tranquil succession of Hail Marys, the Rosary has a peaceful effect on those who pray it, disposing them to receive and experience in their innermost depths, and to spread around them, that true peace that is the special gift of the Risen Lord (cf. Jn 14:27; 20.21).

The Rosary is also a prayer for peace because of the fruits of charity that it produces. When prayed well in a truly meditative way, the Rosary leads to an encounter with Christ in His mysteries and so cannot fail to draw attention to the face of Christ in others, especially in the most afflicted. How could one possibly contemplate the mystery of the Child of Bethlehem, in the joyful mysteries, without experiencing the desire to welcome, defend and promote life, and to shoulder the burdens of suffering children all over the world? How could one possibly follow in the footsteps of Christ the Revealer, in the mysteries of light, without resolving to bear witness to His "Beatitudes" in daily life? And how could one contemplate Christ carrying the Cross and Christ Crucified, without feeling the need to act as a "Simon of Cyrene" for our brothers and sisters weighed down by grief or crushed by despair? Finally, how could one possibly gaze upon the glory of the Risen Christ or of Mary Queen of Heaven, without yearning to make this world more beautiful, more just, more closely conformed to God's plan?

In a word, by focusing our eyes on Christ, the Rosary also makes us peacemakers in the world. By its nature as an insistent choral petition in harmony with Christ's invitation to "pray ceaselessly" (Lk 18:1), the Rosary allows us to hope that, even today, the difficult "battle" for peace can be won. Far from offering an escape from the problems of the world, the Rosary obliges us to see them with responsible and generous eyes, and obtains for us the strength to face them with the certainty of God's help and the firm intention of bearing witness in every situation to "love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Col 3:14).

The family: parents...
41. As a prayer for peace, the Rosary is also, and always has been, a prayer of and for the family. At one time this prayer was particularly dear to Christian families, and it certainly brought them closer together. It is important not to lose this precious inheritance. We need to return to the practice of family prayer and prayer for families, continuing to use the Rosary.

In my Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte I encouraged the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours by the lay faithful in the ordinary life of parish communities and Christian groups;39 I now wish to do the same for the Rosary. These two paths of Christian contemplation are not mutually exclusive; they complement one another. I would therefore ask those who devote themselves to the pastoral care of families to recommend heartily the recitation of the Rosary.

The family that prays together stays together. The Holy Rosary, by age-old tradition, has shown itself particularly effective as a prayer that brings the family together. Individual family members, in turning their eyes toward Jesus, also regain the ability to look one another in the eye, to communicate, to show solidarity, to forgive one another and to see their covenant of love renewed in the Spirit of God.

Many of the problems facing contemporary families, especially in economically developed societies, result from their increasing difficulty in communicating. Families seldom manage to come together, and the rare occasions when they do are often taken up with watching television. To return to the recitation of the family Rosary means filling daily life with very different images, images of the mystery of salvation: the image of the Redeemer, the image of His most Blessed Mother. The family that recites the Rosary together reproduces something of the atmosphere of the household of Nazareth: its members place Jesus at the center, they share His joys and sorrows, they place their needs and their plans in His hands, they draw from Him the hope and the strength to go on.

... and children
42. It is also beautiful and fruitful to entrust to this prayer the growth and development of children. Does the Rosary not follow the life of Christ, from His conception to His death, and then to His Resurrection and His glory? Parents are finding it ever more difficult to follow the lives of their children as they grow to maturity. In a society of advanced technology, of mass communications and globalization, everything has become hurried, and the cultural distance between generations is growing ever greater. The most diverse messages and the most unpredictable experiences rapidly make their way into the lives of children and adolescents, and parents can become quite anxious about the dangers their children face. At times parents suffer acute disappointment at the failure of their children to resist the seductions of the drug culture, the lure of an unbridled hedonism, the temptation to violence, and the manifold expressions of meaninglessness and despair.

To pray the Rosary for children, and even more, with children, training them from their earliest years to experience this daily "pause for prayer" with the family, is admittedly not the solution to every problem, but it is a spiritual aid that should not be underestimated. It could be objected that the Rosary seems hardly suited to the taste of children and young people of today. But perhaps the objection is directed to an impoverished method of praying it. Furthermore, without prejudice to the Rosary's basic structure, there is nothing to stop children and young people from praying it ¬ either within the family or in groups ¬ with appropriate symbolic and practical aids to understanding and appreciation. Why not try it? With God's help, a pastoral approach to youth that is positive, impassioned and creative ¬ as shown by the World Youth Days! ¬ is capable of achieving quite remarkable results. If the Rosary is well presented, I am sure that young people will once more surprise adults by the way they make this prayer their own and recite it with the enthusiasm typical of their age group.

The Rosary, a treasure to be rediscovered
43. Dear brothers and sisters! A prayer so easy and yet so rich truly deserves to be rediscovered by the Christian community. Let us do so, especially this year, as a means of confirming the direction outlined in my Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, from which the pastoral plans of so many particular Churches have drawn inspiration as they look to the immediate future.

I turn particularly to you, my dear Brother Bishops, priests and deacons, and to you, pastoral agents in your different ministries: through your own personal experience of the beauty of the Rosary, may you come to promote it with conviction.

I also place my trust in you, theologians: by your sage and rigorous reflection, rooted in the word of God and sensitive to the lived experience of the Christian people, may you help them to discover the Biblical foundations, the spiritual riches and the pastoral value of this traditional prayer.

I count on you, consecrated men and women, called in a particular way to contemplate the face of Christ at the school of Mary.

I look to all of you, brothers and sisters of every state of life, to you, Christian families, to you, the sick and elderly, and to you, young people: confidently take up the Rosary once again. Rediscover the Rosary in the light of Scripture, in harmony with the Liturgy, and in the context of your daily lives.

May this appeal of mine not go unheard! At the start of the twenty-fifth year of my Pontificate, I entrust this Apostolic Letter to the loving hands of the Virgin Mary, prostrating myself in spirit before her image in the splendid Shrine built for her by Blessed Bartolo Longo, the apostle of the Rosary. I willingly make my own the touching words with which he concluded his well-known Supplication to the Queen of the Holy Rosary: "O Blessed Rosary of Mary, sweet chain that unites us to God, bond of love that unites us to the angels, tower of salvation against the assaults of Hell, safe port in our universal shipwreck, we will never abandon you. You will be our comfort in the hour of death: yours our final kiss as life ebbs away. And the last word from our lips will be your sweet name, O Queen of the Rosary of Pompeii, O dearest Mother, O Refuge of Sinners, O Sovereign Consoler of the Afflicted. May you be everywhere blessed, today and always, on earth and in heaven".

From the Vatican, on the 16th day of October in the year 2002, the beginning of the twenty- fifth year of my Pontificate.
JOHN PAUL II
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1 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 45.
2 Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus (February 2, 1974), 42: AAS 66 (1974), 153.
3 Cf. Acta Leonis XIII, 3 (1884), 280-289.
4 Particularly worthy of note is his Apostolic Epistle on the Rosary Il religioso convegno (September 29, 1961): AAS 53 (1961), 641-647.
5 Angelus: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, I (1978): 75-76.
6 AAS 93 (2001), 285.
7 During the years of preparation for the Council, Pope John XXIII did not fail to encourage the Christian community to recite the Rosary for the success of this ecclesial event: cf. Letter to the Cardinal Vicar (September 28, 1960): AAS 52 (1960), 814-816.
8 Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 66.
9 No. 32: AAS 93 (2001), 288.
10 Ibid., 33: loc. cit., 289.
11 It is well-known and bears repeating that private revelations are not the same as public revelation, which is binding on the whole Church. It is the task of the Magisterium to discern and recognize the authenticity and value of private revelations for the piety of the faithful.
12 The Secret of the Rosary.
13 Blessed Bartolo Longo, Storia del Santuario di Pompeii, Pompeii, 1990, 59.
14 Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus (February 2, 1974), 47: AAS (1974), 156.
15 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10.
16 Ibid., 12.
17 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 58.
18 I Quindici Sabati del Santissimo Rosario, 27th ed., Pompeii, 1916, 27.
19 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 53.
20 Ibid., 60.
21 Cf. First Radio Address Urbi et Orbi (17 October 1978): AAS 70 (1978), 927.
22 Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
23 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2679.
24 Ibid., 2675.
25 The Supplication to the Queen of the Holy Rosary was composed by Blessed Bartolo Longo in 1883 in response to the appeal of Pope Leo XIII, made in his first Encyclical on the Rosary, for the spiritual commitment of all Catholics in combating social ills. It is solemnly recited twice yearly, in May and October.
26 Divina Commedia, Paradiso XXXIII, 13-15.
27 John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (January 6, 2001), 20: AAS 93 (2001), 279.
28 Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus (February 2, 1974), 46: AAS 6 (1974), 155.
29 John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (January 6, 2001), 28: AAS 93 (2001), 284.
30 No. 515.
31 Angelus Message of October 29, 1978: Insegnamenti, I (1978), 76.
32 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22.
33 Cf. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, Adversus Haereses, III, 18, 1: PG 7, 932.
34 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2616.
35 Cf. No. 33: AAS 93 (2001), 289.
36 John Paul II, Letter to Artists (April 4, 1999), 1: AAS 91 (1999), 1155.
37 Cf. No. 46: AAS 66 (1974), 155. This custom has also been recently praised by the Congregation for Divine Worship and for the Discipline of the Sacraments in its Direttorio su pietà popolare e liturgia. Principi e orientamenti (December 17, 2001), 201, Vatican City, 2002, 165.
38 "...concede, quaesumus, ut haec mysteria sacratissimo beatae Mariae Virginis Rosario recolentes, et imitemur quod continent, et quod promittunt assequamur". Missale Romanum 1960, in festo B.M. Virginis a Rosario.
39 Cf. No. 34: AAS 93 (2001), 290.