Most Holy Rosary
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7 October 1989
Santa Rosa de Cabal, Colombia

My dear Friends in Jesus Christ,

Whenever I visit our sick, aged and dying in hospitals or in our infirmaries, my eye invariably catches sight of rosary beads in their hands, or protruding from under their pillows, or resting on their bedside tables. I have noticed almost always that the sick and aged members of our Vincentian family have their rosary beads within easy reach of the grasp of their fingers. I recall visiting a priest in the hospital over a protracted period of time. When he entered the hospital, at first he kept beside his bed a number of history books in which he was very interested, his breviary, his watch and his rosary beads. All of these kept company with each other for a time. Then one by one he took leave of them as he became progressively weaker, until there remained only his watch and his rosary beads. These two personal objects alone witnessed his passing from time into eternity.

Neither a watch nor a rosary is essential for human existence. Some of us are rather heedless of time, unpunctual, and often wasteful of time, so that one wonders what purpose a watch serves. As for rosary beads, one can count the Hail Marys on one's fingers or on a rosary ring. But it is a common experience that, when we have a taste for no other forms of prayer, we will reach for our rosary beads, or rather move towards reflecting on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as we see it through the eyes of His Mother, Mary.

Pope Paul VI said on one occasion in speaking of the rosary: "It is at this school that we become Christian...." Mary herself was the first to move slowly through the school which brought her ever more deeply into the mystery of the Incarnation and of the Church. Meditatively she passed through the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries of her Son's life and work. We must not suppose that it was only the Joyful Mysteries she "kept in her heart." (Lk 2:51). We can be certain that the Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries of her Son's life, and her participation in them, were pondered by her as profoundly as she meditated on her Son's birth and all the circumstances surrounding it. (Lk 2:19).

Now she joins us as we in turn reflect on these mysteries in that school of the rosary "where we become Christian." She joins us as we in our turn move towards the final glorious mystery of our existence through the joyful and sorrowful mysteries of our own human lives. Through our contemplation of the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries of the rosary, we are slowly learning to cope, not only with the joys and sorrows of our lives, but are being prepared to bear what St. Paul calls "the weight of glory." (2 Cor 4:17).

The rosary is a simple and humble prayer, for centuries beloved by simple and humble people, the anawim of God. If the Miraculous Medal can be considered the catechism of the anawim of today, then the rosary must be considered one of their most cherished prayers.

We, who are members of St. Vincent's family, must never allow ourselves to forget that on the same occasion when Our Lady told St. Catherine Labouré that she loved the two Communities of St. Vincent, she also referred to the fact that we were not praying the rosary very well. Some people say that the rosary is not suited for modern people. Do not let them persuade you to give up the practice of praying the rosary daily. Our Lady is pleased when we pray the rosary, and that is enough.

However distracted we may be when we frequent the school of the rosary, we are in the company of Mary who of all our race has seen furthest into the Mystery of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Of all humans, it is she who will best teach us how to show to the world and to the poor "the blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus." Of all humans, it is she to whom we will turn when we begin to feel the things of earth slip from our grasp. Of all humans, it is she who will deliver us safely from the womb of time into the light of eternity. "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us at the hour of our death. Amen."

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