G
George
Below is a portion of a super long document I found on
http://www.catholic.com/library/Apostolic_Letter_Rosarium_Virginis_Mariae.asp
I'm trying to figure out how to copy/paste this into Word, then work with
reducing text size, and margins (perhaps 1/2 inch top to bottom and left to
right). Also trying to figure out an easy way to get rid of the millions of
extra spaces that seem to have come from the website somehow. One space
between sections is enough, no more.
My goal here is to minimize the number of pages that I will end up printing
out. That will save trees and make the life of my printer a little longer.
To get this far, I copied the text from the web page in Internet Explorer.
Then I did a Copy Special in Word and selected unformatted text. Now I just
need a procedure on how to refine this fluff that is left to reduce the
number of pages to the absolute minimum. I'm looking for an easy-to-follow
procedure on how to do this. The paragraph sections need to wrap around
nicely.
Thanks!
==================================================
APOSTOLIC LETTER
ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
JOHN PAUL II
TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY
AND FAITHFUL
ON THE MOST HOLY ROSARY
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 Saviour, “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 turnâ€.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 prayerof Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the
redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the
Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is 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 1 September
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 29 October 1978, scarcely two weeks after my
election to the See of Peter, I frankly admitted: “The Rosary is my favourite
prayer. A marvellous prayer! Marvellous 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
which 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 neighbour, especially those who are closest to us,
who are dearest to us. Thus the simple prayer of the Rosary marks the rhythm
of human lifeâ€.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 Christâ€,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 programmes 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 centre of the Christian faith, in
such a way that “when the Mother is honoured, the Son ... is duly known,
loved and glorifiedâ€.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 holinessâ€: “What is needed is a Christian life
distinguished above all in the art of prayerâ€.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 prayerâ€.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 which began with the
terrifying attacks of 11 September 2001, a millennium which witnesses every
day innumerous 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 peaceâ€, 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!†(Jn19:26). 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, on account 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!â€.13 As a result,
he felt called to build a Church dedicated to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in
Pompei, 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
Saturdaysâ€, Bartolo Longo promoted the Christocentric and contemplative heart
of the Rosary, and received great encouragement and support from Leo XIII,
the “Pope of the Rosaryâ€.
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 sunâ€
(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 splendour
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†(2Cor 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†(Lk2:7).
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†which 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 disclosedâ€.14
It is worth pausing to consider this profound insight of Paul VI, in order
to bring out certain aspects of the Rosary which 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 “yesterdayâ€; 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
which 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 flowsâ€,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.1Thes 5:17)â€.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 himâ€. 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 faithâ€.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 which 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 which is Christ (cf. Jn 15:5) and makes him a member of
Christ's mystical Body (cf.1Cor 12:12; Rom 12:5). This initial unity,
however, calls for a growing assimilation which 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 which 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 perfectionâ€.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 memberâ€,19 is at the same time the
“Mother of the Churchâ€. 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 powerâ€.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 Christâ€.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. 1Jn 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 which 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 Maryâ€.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 mysteriesâ€.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).
http://www.catholic.com/library/Apostolic_Letter_Rosarium_Virginis_Mariae.asp
I'm trying to figure out how to copy/paste this into Word, then work with
reducing text size, and margins (perhaps 1/2 inch top to bottom and left to
right). Also trying to figure out an easy way to get rid of the millions of
extra spaces that seem to have come from the website somehow. One space
between sections is enough, no more.
My goal here is to minimize the number of pages that I will end up printing
out. That will save trees and make the life of my printer a little longer.
To get this far, I copied the text from the web page in Internet Explorer.
Then I did a Copy Special in Word and selected unformatted text. Now I just
need a procedure on how to refine this fluff that is left to reduce the
number of pages to the absolute minimum. I'm looking for an easy-to-follow
procedure on how to do this. The paragraph sections need to wrap around
nicely.
Thanks!
==================================================
APOSTOLIC LETTER
ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
JOHN PAUL II
TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY
AND FAITHFUL
ON THE MOST HOLY ROSARY
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 Saviour, “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 turnâ€.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 prayerof Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the
redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the
Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is 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 1 September
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 29 October 1978, scarcely two weeks after my
election to the See of Peter, I frankly admitted: “The Rosary is my favourite
prayer. A marvellous prayer! Marvellous 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
which 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 neighbour, especially those who are closest to us,
who are dearest to us. Thus the simple prayer of the Rosary marks the rhythm
of human lifeâ€.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 Christâ€,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 programmes 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 centre of the Christian faith, in
such a way that “when the Mother is honoured, the Son ... is duly known,
loved and glorifiedâ€.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 holinessâ€: “What is needed is a Christian life
distinguished above all in the art of prayerâ€.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 prayerâ€.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 which began with the
terrifying attacks of 11 September 2001, a millennium which witnesses every
day innumerous 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 peaceâ€, 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!†(Jn19:26). 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, on account 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!â€.13 As a result,
he felt called to build a Church dedicated to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in
Pompei, 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
Saturdaysâ€, Bartolo Longo promoted the Christocentric and contemplative heart
of the Rosary, and received great encouragement and support from Leo XIII,
the “Pope of the Rosaryâ€.
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 sunâ€
(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 splendour
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†(2Cor 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†(Lk2:7).
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†which 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 disclosedâ€.14
It is worth pausing to consider this profound insight of Paul VI, in order
to bring out certain aspects of the Rosary which 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 “yesterdayâ€; 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
which 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 flowsâ€,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.1Thes 5:17)â€.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 himâ€. 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 faithâ€.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 which 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 which is Christ (cf. Jn 15:5) and makes him a member of
Christ's mystical Body (cf.1Cor 12:12; Rom 12:5). This initial unity,
however, calls for a growing assimilation which 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 which 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 perfectionâ€.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 memberâ€,19 is at the same time the
“Mother of the Churchâ€. 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 powerâ€.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 Christâ€.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. 1Jn 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 which 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 Maryâ€.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 mysteriesâ€.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).