October 11 - The Living Rosary, a great resource for the apostolate

For Pauline, the Living Rosary was the gathering of people praying to God through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. She considered it an initiative of the poor and simple people, an initiative whose goal consists in loving and making others love Jesus and Mary through the means of prayer and meditation of the Rosary joined to works of charity. Pauline knew how to give thanks for the many experiences the people had by sharing in the living Rosary: She would declare, what a joy to be united with such good souls! How beautiful is this work of love, which transforms a multitude of people of all ages, of all conditions, of all countries, into a single family whose mother is Mary and into a body of which Mary is the chief but whose heart is Our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no army comparable to that of Mary’s army! May the Faith be victorious over gold, numbers, the power of strong men that hell has gathered under its banner to destroy religion. (Pauline Jaricot, The Living Rosary, op. Cit., p. 39-40)

Are we to think that Saint Dominic, or later Alain de la Roche, are the ones who developed the Rosary in the Church? What is certain is that the founder of the Order of Preachers encouraged his contemporaries, especially those in the Toulouse region, to pray the rosary and to form themselves in order to remain faithful to the Catholic faith. Through debates and preaching, together with his Dominican brothers, he propagated the Catholic faith in the face of the heresy of the Albigensians or Cathars, who formed a true counter-church whose success was due to a paradoxical mixture of austerity and laxity. They demanded great austerity from the perfects in their ranks, in opposition to the wealth of the Church and the lax morals of many clerics. But, they were lax with regard to the other members and offered the prospect of cheap salvation to all. Only the mendicant orders (Franciscans and Dominicans), in full conformity with the spirit of renewal that had animated the leaders of the Church since the eleventh century, were to truly overcome the Albigensian heresy, the wars and the persecutions. They were to respond to the essential expectations of the people, namely a return to the spirit of poverty and fraternity of the Christian origins. The apostolate of the Friars Preachers (St. Dominic, from 1215) and that of the Friars Minor (St. Francis of Assisi, from 1210) aimed at the heart of the society of their time, i.e. the cities where the future of society was at stake. In fact, various economic and financial functions developed in urban areas and we can observe the growth of universities and their intellectual influence.

Did the Blessed Virgin give Saint Dominic a vision while he was preaching against the Albigenses in 1208? Did she tell him to offer the people the recitation of the Holy Rosary in order to achieve greater success in his preaching and his debates? (Pauline Jaricot, The Living Rosary, op. Cit., p. 47). Saint Dominic’s love of truth, his admirable devotion of the Rosary, without forgetting the strength and wisdom of his preaching have helped many people on the road to conversion. Pauline’s concern for the poor, neglected “little ones” included how she directed them towards God through the Blessed Mother. Of particular note is her insistence on the contemplation of the mysteries of Christ, to discover more fully and more deeply the Mystery of the Incarnation, God becoming Man, so that he be formed in us. The meeting with Jesus in prayer should be a source of joy, hence thanksgiving and the manifestation of our gratitude to Mary who gives us her Son.

By meditating on the Mysteries of the life of Jesus, through the Rosary, the believer is invited to welcome the Gospel to the depths of his or her heart. The simplicity of the recitation of the Living Rosary includes offering Christians the possibility to meditate on the contents of the Gospel. Pauline wanted to offer the Blessed Virgin “wreaths” of prayers by organizing these groups of 15With the five joyful mysteries (Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Purification, Jesus found in the Temple), we are invited to follow Mary and Jesus during the first years of his life in our human history. With the five sorrowful mysteries (agony in the Garden of Olives, flagellation, crowning of thorns, carrying of the cross, death of Christ on the cross), we follow Jesus confronted with human violence. The Son said "yes" to his Father’s will and was faithful to the end: he stripped himself of glory, assuming the condition of a servant; and he humbled himself by becoming obedient even to death, and death on a cross (see Phil 2:5-11). The Saviour suffers and dies, he gave himself as a ransom for all, so that all human beings may be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He the only mediator between God and men (see 1Tm2:1-7).

Meditation on the five glorious mysteries (Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, Assumption, and Coronation of the Virgin) opens us to hope and eternal joy. Indeed, if we have died with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer with him, will also reign with him. (2Tm2:11-12). In 2020 Pope St. John Paul II, expanded the mediations to include five luminous mysteries: The Baptism of Christ in the Jordan, the wedding at Cana, the announcement of the Kingdom of God, the transfiguration of Christ and the institution of the Eucharist. Meditating these mysteries, we are invited to live our mission as baptised members of the Church with joy in the heart of the world. (Evangelii gaudium, Rome, November 24, 2013).

The missionary is happy to unite with Jesus, and to bring the Savior to the world; to work with him, in the Spirit, that all people may work to build a more just world, where peace reigns so that the kingdom of God may come (Mt 6:10).  (Pope Francis, Fratelli tutti,) God invites us to live this fully in the Eucharist, the Sacrament of union with God, but also of fraternal love. In Jesus Christ, God gives himself and we receive him, but we also give ourselves and God receives us. In the love where we are fully turned towards God without turning away from our neighbour, God sends us on mission. The Church being the Body of Christ, the People of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit, it is also the Church that sends on mission, following Mary who offers us the Savior of the world.