• Fr. Jeffrey R. Keyes
    • Psalms
    • Catechism Quizes
    • The Roman Catholic Priesthood
  • Blog
  • CV
  • St. Gaspar Del Bufalo
Omnia Christus est Nobis

Priestly Fraternity of St. Dominic

10/31/2018

0 Comments

 
On Wednesday October 24, 2018, I made profession and was received into the Dominican Fraternity of Priests in the Western Province, The Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus
0 Comments

Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The King

10/28/2018

0 Comments

 
Jesus in Nazareth and Jesus in Heaven is the Same Jesus. Recorded at the Solemn High Mass, Sunday October 28, 2018 at the 1:30pm Mass, in the Cathedral of St. Eugene, Santa Rosa CA. 
0 Comments

Rosary as a prayer of Communion

10/7/2018

1 Comment

 

The Rosary is a familiar form of prayer for many Catholics, but it is also a greatly misunderstood prayer as well.  Many Non-Catholics believe it is an exercise in mindless repetition or idolatry of Mary.  Many Catholics believe that rosary will gain us extra favors or that it can be used as jewelry.  Last issue we focused on the Precious Blood Rosary.  This time we will explore what is understood as the more traditional Marian rosary.
 
The Rosary consists of 15 mysteries[1] that focus on the life of Jesus and Mary.  Each mystery consists of praying one “Our Father,” ten “Hail Mary’s,” and one “Glory Be.” There are also several traditions that add various verses and responses after each decade. The Rosary is traditionally begun with the Apostle’s Creed, followed by an “Our Father,” three “Hail Mary’s” and a “Glory Be.”  After the mysteries are prayed, the prayer is usually concluded with the “Salve Regina” or the “Hail Holy Queen.”
 
The heart of the Rosary is a living relationship with the Lord Jesus and a desire to spend time in his company immersing oneself in the mysteries of his life, death and resurrection.  Meditating on these mysteries enables us to remember and to live the heart of the gospel. Knowing these 15 stories, not only with our minds, but with our hearts enables us to walk with Jesus, to pray with him, and to do his will.
 
The Rosary is essentially a prayer, contemplative prayer.  All the emotions of wonder, awe and reverence go with this prayer. All the aims of the ancient practice of Lectio Divina[2] are relevant here. Meditating on the mysteries enables one to “read” the life of Jesus each day.  More than reading, meditating on the mysteries in this manner enables one to “chew” the words, to taste them in much the same way as Ezekiel took the scroll on which the Word of God was written and ate it.[3] The use of imagination helps us to enter the story, to hear the voices and to feel the emotions.  As the Angel greets Mary in the Annunciation we feel her wonder and doubt. Imagine, the creator of the world being given to you to hold and to care for.  Imagine yourself saying “be it done to me according to your word.”  Immersing ourselves in the mystery of the Visitation allows us to join in the chorus of “blessed is the fruit of your womb” and to celebrate that “nothing will be impossible for God.”[4]
The praying of the rosary is not about the repetition of many prayers, but a time piece to mark the moment of prayer.  Spending time with one another is exactly how a relationship grows and we are drawn into a communion with one another.  The prayers we use to mark this prayer experience are fundamentally conversations with the Word of God drawn from the Scripture.   The first part of the “Hail Mary” is two passages from the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel. The second part of the “Hail Mary” is the prayer of the church in response. So too, in the rosary we add our own voice, listening to the Word of God and responding from our heart.
The Rosary is an incarnational prayer.  The Word was made flesh. In this prayer we use not just mind and heart, but voice and hands as well. In the rosary we are impelled to offer our “bodies as a living sacrifice.”[5]  Many of us carry the rosary in our pockets or purses as a reminder, as a tool to carry the prayer with us throughout the day.  In this way we follow the command to “pray without ceasing.”[6] 
It is through Mary that the Word was made flesh and so in this prayer we also honor the mother of God. She is the one who believed.[7]  She is the one who pondered all these things in her heart.[8]  She is the one who stood faithfully at the foot of the cross.[9]  She is the one given to us to take into our home.[10] For Precious Blood people who remember Gaspars’ devotion to Mary, the Rosary is an important prayer.  It is a tool by which we imitate Gaspar who accomplished everything by prayer, we pray with Mary to whom he was so devoted, and we accompany one another in the bond of communion which he so wonderfully preached.  Without the correct understanding of Jesus and Mary, without the knowledge of the scripture and the mysteries of the Life of Jesus, the Rosary would be incomprehensible.  But with all these things, the Rosary enables us to enter more completely into that intimate communion Jesus established in his own blood.
 
[1] The Fifteen Mysteries are, Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation of the Lord, The Finding in the Temple,  The Agony in the garden, The Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carry of the Cross, Jesus Dies on the Cross, The Resurrection, the Ascension,  The Descent of the Holy Spirit, The Assumption and the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin.
[2] Lectio Divina will be the subject of this article in the next issue.
[3] Ezek 3:3
[4] Luke 1:37
[5] Rom 12:1
[6] 1 Thess 5:17, see also Luke 18:1
[7] Luke 1:45
[8] Luke 2:51
[9] John 19:25
[10] John 19:27

1 Comment

    Omnia Christus Est Nobis

    Christ is everything for us!

    Picture

    Archives

    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012

    Categories

    All
    Daily Homily
    Holy Matrimony
    Priesthood
    St. Gaspar
    The Liturgy
    Travel

    RSS Feed

    Incoming Missal
    Explanation Coat of Arms
    Dinner with Fr. Keyes 2015
    The Women Speak
    An American Priest in Ireland
    Bringing the "Catholic" back.
    Burying the Alleluia
    Sacristy Art I
    ​
    Sacristy Art II
    ​
    Sacristy Art III
    Sacristy Art IV
    Sacristy Art V
    Sacristy Art VI

    Years in Review
    2015
    2016
    2017
    2018
    2019
    ​
    Decade in review
    ​2020

    Author

    I am a Roman Catholic Priest from California. I spent 13 wonderful years years as a member of the Province of the Pacific in the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. The outline of my life can be traced here. 

    Friend's Blogs

    Melissa and Andrew Steele
    ​
    Fr. John Hogan OCD
    Joan from Rome​
    Fr. Joseph Illo