Devotion to the Holy Rosary: how we really pray, we speak with Mary
The most important thing about the Holy Rosary is not the recitation of the Ave Maria, but is the contemplation of the mysteries of Christ and Mary during the recitation of the Ave Maria. Vocal prayer is only at the service of contemplative prayer, otherwise it risks mechanicality and therefore sterility. This fundamental point must be kept in mind to evaluate the goodness and effectiveness of the Rosary that is recited, both alone and in a group.
The recitation of the Rosary engages the voice and the lips, the contemplation of the Rosary, on the other hand, engages the mind and heart. The more the contemplation of the mysteries of Christ and Mary is present, therefore, the higher the value of a Rosary is. In this we discover the truest wealth of the Rosary "which has the simplicity of a popular prayer - says Pope John Paul II - but also the theological depth suitable for those who feel the need for a more mature contemplation".
To encourage contemplation during the recitation of the Rosary, in fact, two things are suggested above all: 1. to follow the proclamation of each mystery with the "proclamation of a corresponding biblical passage", which facilitates attention and reflection on the mystery enunciated; 2. to stop for a few moments in silence to better settle on the mystery: "The rediscovery of the value of silence - the Pope says in fact - is one of the secrets for the practice of contemplation and meditation". This serves to make us understand the primary importance of contemplation, without which, as Pope Paul VI already said "the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation risks becoming mechanical repetition of formulas".
Here too, our teachers are the Saints. Once St. Pius of Pietrelcina was asked: "How to recite the Holy Rosary well?". St. Pius replied: "Attention must be brought to the Hail, to the greeting you address to the Virgin in the mystery you contemplate. In all the mysteries it was present, to all it participated with love and pain ». The effort of contemplation must lead us precisely to participation in the divine mysteries "with love and pain" of the Madonna. We must ask her for loving attention to the gospel scenes that each mystery of the Rosary presents to us, and from which to draw inspirations and teachings of a holy Christian life.
We talk to the Madonna
The most immediate encounter that takes place in the Rosary is with the Madonna, who is addressed directly with the Ave Maria. In fact, St. Paul of the Cross, reciting the Rosary with all his fervor, seemed to be speaking precisely with Our Lady, and therefore strongly recommended: "The Rosary must be recited with great devotion because we speak with the Blessed Virgin". And it was said of Pope Pius X that he recited the Rosary "meditating on the mysteries, absorbed and absent from the things of the earth, pronouncing the Ave with such an accent that someone had to think if he saw in spirit the Purissima who invoked with such fiery love ».
Reflecting, furthermore, that at the heart, at the heart of each Ave Maria there is Jesus, one immediately understands that it, as Pope John Paul II says, "constitutes the center of gravity of the Ave Maria, almost a hinge between the first and second part », highlighted even more by the brief Christological addition referring to each mystery. And it is precisely to him, to Jesus, enunciated in every mystery, that we go right through Mary and with Mary, "almost letting - the Pope still teaches - that she herself suggests it to us", thus facilitating that "journey of assimilation, which aims to make us enter more and more deeply into the life of Christ ».
In the well-recited Rosary, in essence, we turn directly to Our Lady, with the Hail Marys, letting ourselves be taken by Her to introduce us into her contemplation of the joyful, luminous, painful and glorious divine mysteries. And, in fact, it is these mysteries, says the Pope, that "bring us into living communion with Jesus through - we could say - the Heart of his Mother". In fact, the contemplation of the mind and heart of the divine Mother is the contemplation of the Saints in the recitation of the Holy Rosary.
Saint Catherine Labouré, with the gaze of intense love with which she looked at the image of the Immaculate Conception, also let her contemplation shine outwardly while reciting the Rosary, gently pronouncing the Hail Marys. And of Saint Bernardetta Soubirous, she remembers that when she recited the Rosary, her "deep, bright black eyes became celestial. He contemplated the Virgin in spirit; he still seemed in ecstasy. " The same happened to St. Francis de Sales, who also advises us, in particular, to recite the Rosary "in the company of the Guardian Angel". If we imitate the Saints, our Rosary will also become "contemplative", as the Church recommends.