Last month I
wrote about beer…among other things.
This month I gave up beer. I’d
like to say it was part of a spiritual fast, and my withholding was tied in
with prayer and meditation, but in all honesty, it was strictly dietary. As I look back over the past few weeks, I
realize that I wasted opportunities. My
diet involved days of fasting. Although
I remembered to bathe and comb my hair (see Matthew 6:16-18), I should have
joined my minor physical discomfort to prayer, and given it a higher
purpose. I wonder what other
opportunities are wasted.
I think the
rosary may be one of the most misunderstood prayers in our faith, and perhaps
one of the most incorrectly executed prayers by those who regularly recite
it. I think many opportunities to grow
closer to Jesus are wasted during the reciting of countless decades of the rosary. I am confident in saying this because for
many years I know I was guilty of religiously “saying” the rosary, but not “praying”
it.
What is the
rosary? Is it simply a way to log prayer
minutes? Is it nothing more than rote
verse? If it is, then we’re doing it
wrong. Rather, the rosary is a time to
meditate on our faith, on God, and on the life of Jesus Himself. Meditating on each mystery of the rosary
should be our focus throughout the prayer.
If we are not dwelling on the mysteries as we pray, then truly we are
simply reciting repetitive words.
My favorite
mystery is the 2nd Joyful Mystery: The Visitation. Seemingly, there isn’t much to this
mystery. It could be a simple story to
fill the space between Gabriel’s visit, and the Nativity. Sure Elizabeth was pregnant with John, and
he’ll come back into play in 30 years or so, but there could be an argument
made that Jesus and John don’t even seem to know each other personally when
they are reunited in the Jordan River.
If we just take the words ‘Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth’ at face
value, then we’re done. We really don’t
have much else to meditate on as we recited the next ten Hail Mary’s.
The
mysteries, however, are an invitation for us to remember, to read, to study, to
recall, and to ponder every aspect of Jesus’ life. On the one hand, how cool is Mary? In the first chapter of Luke, we hear that
upon finding out she was pregnant with Jesus; Mary decided to hike up to the
hill country in Judah to visit Elizabeth.
Three months later, and three months further along in her pregnancy, she
would hike back. I don’t know if that
gives much revelation into the life of Jesus, but as someone who loves the
outdoors, I think our mother Mary is pretty awesome for getting out and walking
around the mountains.
Admittedly
that first insight about Mary hiking is something I just like to consider
privately, and doesn’t have a greater theological basis. Everyone walked everywhere in those days, but
it still makes me smile when I ponder that mystery while taking a hike up the
hills at Castlewood State Park. If you
want material that is a little deeper, however, we only need to read on in Luke. We find that the unborn John the Baptist
leaped in the womb of Elizabeth, upon hearing Mary’s greeting, and upon being
overjoyed at the visit from the unborn Jesus she was carrying. (Paraphrase from Luke 1:40-41) If this passage isn’t a glaring proclamation
of the dignity of human life from the point of conception, and a 2,000 year old
declaration that the pre-born are aware of stimuli in their environment, then I
don’t know what is. In just a few short
words, I’ve always found it to be perhaps the most pro-life passage in the
bible.
Mary had
just finished learning of her pregnancy from Gabriel when she went to visit
Elizabeth. Even at that microscopic
stage of development, the gospel clearly tells us that Jesus is recognized as
much more than cells. He is our
Lord. And who recognizes Him first? The unborn John the Baptist at approximately
6 month’s gestation; somewhere between 2nd and 3rd
trimester. Maybe I’m reading a little
too much into this passage, but at a minimum, I think it is an irrefutable
claim to the value of pre-born life, written to us two millennia ago.
As we move
on, we see beautiful words spoken by both Elizabeth and Mary during this
visit. Those words would go on to form
the Hail Mary and Magnificat prayers.
This brings us around full circle.
The rosary is a recitation of scripture, and we see the basis of the
Hail Mary right here in Luke. Its main
focus is not the repetitive praise of Mary, but rather the reciting of the
Gospels, the learning of the life of Jesus, the pondering of His teachings, and
even insight as to where teachings of the catechism have their basis.
So that’s an
overly abbreviated account of why I like the 2nd Joyful
Mystery. Pray the rosary today and think
about your favorite mystery as you learn more about Jesus.
by: Matt Buehrig
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