St. Paul of
the Cross, Founder of the Passionists shared the meaning of prayer in a
dialogue with Sister Maria Cherubina Bresciani, May 31, 1740:
“Prayer is
accessible to us in every moment of every day. It is our immediate connection with a God who
is both transcendent and immanent. Prayer
can be verbal, meditative, or contemplative. We can pray with our whole body
through movement, ritual actions or by serving others.”
The rosary
fits into a whole lot of those categories if you ask me. But the Psalms also remind us to, “Be
still and know that I am God”. (Psalm 46:10)
Lent is a
time to renew and intensify our relationship with Jesus. I’ve found that it’s relatively easy to take
time out of the busyness of daily life and spend 15 minutes talking with our
God or in silence just being. You can
pray while jogging or walking or just being still sitting and enjoying the
silence. How much time daily are you
willing to enhance your relationship with God this Lent?
As I’ve been
writing about the last few days, the rosary is an important part of my everyday
life experience. Meditating on the
“Mysteries” in the life of Jesus and Mother Mary is what keeps my mind on the
prayer. Otherwise, the repetition of the
prayers can get monotonous.
When I
started praying the rosary in earnest, I was grateful for other sources of
inspiration for reflection. The more
I’ve prayed the rosary, the more comfortable I’ve become in infusing my own
life into the meditations. Over the
years that I’ve been praying the rosary, I’ve come across many, many different
meditations for each of the “Mysteries” in the life of Jesus and His mother. For Lent, I hope to present meditations in
two formats for each of them; a brief two to four paragraph meditation and a
set of Scriptural meditations said before each Hail Mary.
I find
myself using one method or the other, depending on my state of mind or my
attention span on any given day. Most
days though, I prefer the brief meditation.
A few weeks ago during one of my reflections I noticed how often I used
or thought about the words “up”, “down”, “high”, “low”, and other directional
words and phrases as well as words describing the “highs and lows” of life.
Over the
next remaining 40 days or so, I will post meditations one mystery at a time,
beginning with the Joyful mysteries, then the Luminous, followed by the
Sorrowful, ending with the Glorious as we end Lent and begin the Easter season. I will highlight in red
words or phrases that I feel keep with my theme of “The Highs and Lows and Ups
and Downs of the Holy Rosary”. Please
enjoy!
The
Annunciation
Brief
meditation
In the
Annunciation, the birth of the Son of God in the flesh was made to hinge on the
consent of a woman, as the fall of man in the
garden of Paradise hinged on the consent of a man.
God in His
power might have assumed a human nature by force, but He willed not to invade
His great gift of freedom without His creature’s free response. Through the angel who saluted Mary in words
that have become the first part of the Hail Mary, “Hail, full of grace, the
Lord is with thee,” Mary was asked if she would give God a son!
Mary
learning that she would conceive without human love, but with the overshadowing of divine Love, consented, and a new
humanity began, with Mary as the new Eve, and Christ the new Adam.
The
Annunciation is the Mystery of the joy of freedom. Our free will is the only thing in the world
that is our own. God can take away
anything else, our health, wealth, power, but God will never force us to love
Him or to obey Him. The charm of Yes
lies in the possibility that one might have said No.
Scriptural
meditation
1. The Angel Gabriel was sent from God....to a virgin betrothed to a man, named Joseph, of
the house of David. The virgin's name
was Mary. (Luke 1: 26-27) - Hail Mary...
2. The angel said to her: "Rejoice O highly
favored daughter! The Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women."
(Luke 1: 28) - Hail Mary...
3. She was deeply
troubled by his words, and wondered what his greeting meant. (Luke 1: 29)
- Hail Mary...
4. The angel said to her: "Do not fear, Mary.
You have found favor with God."
(Lk. 1: 30) - Hail Mary...
5. "You shall conceive and bear a son and
give him the name of Jesus." (Luke
1: 31) - Hail Mary...
6. "Great will be his dignity and he will
be called Son of the Most High. And His reign will be without end." (Luke 1: 32-33) - Hail Mary...
7. Mary said to the angel, "How can this be since I do not know
man?" (Luke 1: 34) - Hail Mary...
8. The angel answered Her: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and
the power of the Most High will overshadow
you." (Luke 1: 35) - Hail Mary...
9. "The holy offspring to be born will be
called Son of God." (Luke 1:
35) - Hail Mary...
10. Mary said:
"I am the servant of the Lord.
Let it be done to me as you say."
With that the angel left her. (Luke 1: 38) - Hail Mary...
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