The Rosary

The Rosary is a beautiful gift. Rejoice in it.

The Rosary is based on the Word of God which comes to us in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. The only way to fully receive the benefits of the Rosary is to be fully rooted in the teachings of the Catholic Magisterium on both. This requires the attitude of Mary displayed in the first Joyful Mystery: based upon your faith in God, you humbly listen and study.

The Rosary is a meditation on the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ with Mary, First among the Faithful and the Mother of God, in the prayers and mysteries recited privately or publicly.

The Rosary as such reflects the Sacrifice of the Divine Liturgy. It prepares us before to be lifted up with Christ in the Divine Liturgy and strengthens us after to follow him.

Can you outgrow the Rosary as part of your spiritual life? Can you outgrow meditating on the Lord’s Prayer? The Gospels? Sacred Tradition? The Divine Liturgy?

Remember this – the events of Jesus’ life are not becoming more remote in time. On the Contrary: each day his life is becoming more and more the center of the human race. All of mankind must answer his question: Who do you say I am?

Throughout our history and world Christ is drawing us up as his Grace triumphs over sin. Every day members of broken or dysfunctional families are being made whole as real members of the Holy Family in Nazareth. The mentally and physically ill are being healed by the touch of Jesus in Israel. We selfish and evil sinners are being redeemed by the love flowing from the Cross outside Jerusalem. We are victorious with Christ over the oblivion of death in our faith in the certainty of the empty tomb and the Final Judgment.

The Joyful Mysteries
We listen to the good news. We receive the Word of God.
We respond with overflowing love to Jesus within us and others.
We give birth to the presence of Jesus.
We dedicate, consecrate our lives to God in the Temple of the Body of Christ.
When we are separated for any reason from Jesus, we remember him and search for him.

The Annunciation

Mary, a beautiful Jewish maiden, opens her heart and mind through the prayers of her people to God.

In her prayer, her conversation with God, she listens intently in silence. She meditates on what the angel of the Lord says. She asks a question to fully understand the word from God. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to thy word.”

Mary, daughter of Abraham and full of grace, pray for us.
Gabriel, angel of God
Doubted and questioned by Zechariah,
Questioned and understood by Mary, pray for us.

Comment: You did not invent the Our Father and the Hail Mary. These prayers are God speaking first to you. Listen carefully in your heart.


The Visitation

Mary receives good news both about herself and her cousin Elizabeth. She immediately goes to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth and her unborn child immediately rejoice at the sound of her voice.

Blessed art thou among women!

Mary, pray that the love of God may move us.
St. Elizabeth and St John the Baptist, pray for us that we may bring Christ to others and receive Christ in others.

Comment: Mary heard good news. Did she sit around thinking about her self?

The Nativity

Christ is born.

Sacred Scripture and Tradition tells us that this event is not an ordinary childbirth but a miracle. Mary, virgin before childbirth, virgin in childbirth and virgin after childbirth.

Jesus begins his life of conquering love.

Jesus, true God and true man, our Lord and Savior!

Mary, our mother, pray for us.

St. Joseph, our foster father, pray for us.

Comment: When you listen and love, you give birth to the presence of Jesus.

The Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple

We are consecrated and consecrate those among whom we live to God in the temple of the Body of Christ, the Church.

Mary, take us in your arms to Mother Church.

St. Joseph, protect our family.
St. Simeon and St. Anna, pray that we may recognize Jesus.

“Behold, this child is destined for the fall and the rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Luke 2:34-35

Comment: We are brought to the Church by others and bring others to the Church.

The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple

The routines that support us blind us.
Where is Jesus in our lives? Search for him again; find him. Follow him on the way to the Cross. But now rejoice that you have found the Way.

Mary, pray for us that we may see how Jesus is missing in our lives and search for him.

St. Joseph, go with us and help to find and care for our Lord.

Comment: You forget that Jesus is the Center, not you? Remember him; search for him.

The Sorrowful Mysteries
We pray that we may be united to Jesus so he can sustain us in agony, scourging, humiliation and crucifixion.

The Agony in the Garden

“Sit down here while I go over yonder to pray.”

Mary, pray for me that I may persevere in prayer with Jesus your son.
Mary, pray for me that I may be one with Jesus in his resolution to do the Father’s will.

“Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; yet not as I will, but as thou willest.”

Comment: Pray to stay with our Lord Jesus in prayer and sacrifice. “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

The Scourging

Jesus suffered terrible pain in his body so that our pain and suffering would not destroy our souls. “By his stripes we are healed.”

Mary, our mother, pray that we may be strengthened by the sufferings of your son Jesus so that his grace may overcome the scourging of our souls by our sins.

Comment: Offering up our sufferings with Christ really makes us able to go the way of the Cross, the way of love, the way to eternal Life.

The Crowning with Thorns

Do you see yourself one with Jesus, mocked and humiliated?
No, you are the one crowning your neighbor with sarcasm, jokes with your companions, feigned politeness and quick judgments. You are imposing mental suffering on our Lord, spitting in his Face and mocking him.

Mary, pray for us that we may share in Jesus’ humility of mind, purity of heart and obedience of will.

Comment: Before we are worthy to be humble with Jesus Christ, we must stop degrading our neighbors.

The Carrying of the Cross

Jesus said to pick up our cross each day and follow him. Because of how weak sin has made us, putting God first and loving our neighbor is often a heavy burden.

Mary, pray for me that I may not run away from the Cross.

Comment: Only clinging to Jesus do we have the strength to carry our cross.

The Crucifixion

Jesus is tortured to death that we may rise with him to Eternal Life.
Lord Jesus, lift us up with you in your Cross, Resurrection and Ascension.
All our sins, mistakes, our worlds
Are shattered,
The dead rise,
The Kingdom of God
Breaks in.

Mary, pray for us.

Comment: Accept death with Christ on his Cross.

The Glorious Mysteries
We die and rise with Jesus in Baptism.
We listen to his instructions and wait for the Holy Spirit.
We respond to God with all our being and we hope for a crown of glory with Mary, our mother.

The Resurrection

The appearance of the angel was like lightning. The shattering of death and sin began on the Cross and is completed at the tomb Sunday morning.

Mary, please pray that through faith we may share in the Resurrection victories of your Son Jesus.

Comment: We believe in the Good News that Jesus Christ has risen in glory from the dead and is victorious over sin and death.

The Ascension

Christ lifts us up with him in his life, death, resurrection and ascension to the Father. This is all one Sacrifice. Reunited to the Father in His Son Jesus, we will be given the Holy Spirit.

Pray for us, Mary, that we may follow the instructions of your Son and be ready to co-operate with the Holy Spirit.

Comment: We must remain in Jesus through Faith as he ascends to offer the one Sacrifice to the Father. We have trust in Jesus because we both believe and hope in him.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

Wait and pray for the Holy Spirit with Mary, the apostles, all the disciples, the Church.

Mary, pray for us that we may be filled with courageous love.

“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the Fire of your love.”

Comments: Trusting in the teachings of Christ and his Body, the Church, prepares us for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Assumption of Mary

Mary with all her being, body and soul, responded always to the Holy Spirit.

[Jesus] told them in reply, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and act upon it.” Luke 8:21

Let us pray that our spiritual life – our judgment and the decisions of our free will – and our physical life are inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Mary, mother of our spiritual life, pray for us.

Comment: Jesus came to us completely through the cooperation of Mary with the Holy Spirit. To Jesus through Mary.

Again, the Rosary

Rooted in Sacred tradition and Scripture, we hold a rosary. It is a … vessel for our prayers… a staff to lean on… a rope to cling to. We pray with others to Jesus and Mary. We go off to a quiet place to talk to Jesus or Mary alone.


God speaks to us in the Rosary. Did you make the mysteries of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection? When we try to meditate or think about these and try to remain in a prayerful attitude, God speaks to us. Did you make the Our Father or the Hail Mary? When you listen to these words as you pray them, you are listening to God.

It is hard for us in our weak state to listen. Just always try. When you talk to God or Jesus or Mary or the angels and saints, they listen. It is not hard for them to listen. It is we who grow sleepy or weak or anxious or fickle.

Imagine Mary our mother when one of her children talks to her. She does not find you boring or unpleasant. She listens to you with all the loving attention of her fiery, wounded Heart. She has all eternity. She is with you now and will not just give you all the time you need, she will happily spend with you all the time you want.

Our Lord Jesus and Mary and the citizens of Heaven are not distracted by the demands of time or desire. They are totally in your presence and do not want to leave you to go somewhere else or do something else. All the time you speak to Jesus will not subtract one moment that he has for all the others he loves.

May the Rosary give you a share in the peace of Heaven. Jesus our Lord and Savior together with his mother and all the angels and saints are with us.

True Liturgical Reform

I. Reform Before Worship

Since the 19th century people have thought that liturgical revivals or reforms would change the condition of the Christian people. Revive Gregorian chant. Put missals in the hands of the laity. Encourage them to participate, to pay attention. Dialogue Latin Mass. Worship in the vernacular language. Liturgical archeology. Lately, a return to Mass in Latin.

What does God say about a people who pay him lip service? In Mt.5:23-24, Jesus says if we remember on the way to the altar that our brother holds anything against us, leave our gift at the altar and first go and reconcile with our brother. Reform comes before our worship not after.

The worship that Jesus offers to the Father and which he gives to us his brothers and sisters is a multi-faceted mystery which we will never fully fathom. We start, however, by realizing that we are offering Sacrifice. The sacrifice is the life, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord which he brings and offers to the Father.
As such when we gather together for the Divine Liturgy we are offering through the Christ-like office of the bishop and his priest a real sacrifice.

In the last part of the 20th century the understanding that we were offering a Holy Sacrifice seemed to be overshadowed by the idea of "celebration". Lets have a community rally!

Indeed the Divine Liturgy is a real celebration where our Risen Lord Jesus both offers the sacrifice and comes to us in Holy Communion. Yet we are tempted to reduce the Divine Liturgy to a mere temporal human celebration to promote temporary human community. Perhaps having become aware of this shortcoming, we think a return to artificially imagined past liturgical practices will straighten everything out.

II. Our Reform

No changing of liturgical prayers and practices in the name of "reform", tradition or ecclesial archeology will, mechanically, produce better Christians. No Industrial Revolution massive or streamlined production improvements are called for. As we approach the table of the Last Supper, the altar of the Cross, the empty stone tomb of the Risen Lord we must return to the beginning of the Gospel: "Reform your lives! The kingdom of heaven is at hand."(Mt.4:17) Reform first, the rite of penance first!

The Divine Liturgy is offered in Christ as worship, not used by us as a tool. It is not a means for social engineering the Church and certainly not a media for entertaining display.

Pray for our reform as a priestly people. Our spiritual repentance
joined with physical reverence and the mental acknowledgment that this is a Sacrifice will, with the necessary Christian faith, hope and charity, lead to true liturgical reform.

Let us go to the Temple of the Body of Christ and beat our breasts, saying: Be merciful to me, Lord, a sinner! Then our Sacrifice will be pleasing and acceptable to God.

Voting

Is voting a right or a duty? Both? How does a full Catholic Christian vote? I challenge you to find information on the Catholic teaching about voting.

Josef Pieper in his work The Four Cardinal Virtues (my edition is Notre Dame Press) has some valuable things to say. Read this book and see what he writes in the section on "Distributive Justice"

Scranton Coal Mine Revisited

This year my son, Joseph, and I went to the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour. It was my second visit. I had gushed to my college-aged son and everybody else who would listen what a eye-opening experience this had been last year. (See article below)

I left very upset. No, not at the way people, especially children, had been treated by the "Christian" coal mine owners but the way the whole labor struggle had been eliminated from the Tour. A new little-orphan-Annie hard-knock-life film in the new yuppieized visitor center mentioned NOTHING about the mine workers fight for labor justice. The film sounded like labor unions never existed. In a retro faith-based initiative it mentioned that only "churches" and other local organizations were sources of help to the miners and their families. But I reassured my son that the tour guide would set things straight. Well, he turned out to be what I can only describe as a retired carnival barker. He gave a hurried mumbled tour that again avoided any reference to the labor union or the historical strike of 1902. What a disgrace!

Were the recent coal mine victims in Utah union members?

Archeologism

Taking past practices as inherently better than present practices is archeologism. When "liturgical reform" was prompted by the occasion of the Second Vatican Council, many rituals were picked artificially from different sources and times. They were imposed immediately in an authoritarian manner. Think of the rediscovery of Pompei as an example: works of art and sculpture were looted out of context and placed in various palaces. Pretty stuff but not living art.
Another example from a story my friend Dan told me. Dan is active on his parish council. In one recent meeting someone was talking about the "responsorial psalm" after the first Scripture reading. They wanted to get more "response" from the worshippers and reminded everyone that this responsorial was an ancient liturgical practice revived in the new liturgy. Dan simply responded (!), "Why do you think they dropped it?".

I Didn’t Know Washington D.C. Was This Isolated

January 6^th I mailed a formal first-class letter to the new Senator from Pennsylvania congratulating him on his election and urging him to show leadership in opposing killing newly conceived unborn babies to get their body parts (embryonic stem cells). I tried to remind him that “embryo” is simply a clinical term for a stage in our human lives just as “adolescent” or “adult”.

As of February 12^th I had received no reply so I emailed his Washington office. I had written early before Senator Casey even took the oath of office to allow time for the postal anti-anthrax scanning and the set-up of his new office. But I thought five weeks was enough. February 14^th I called directly to Washington. The office staff acted as if the first-class letter I had sent was a non-issue. The fact that they neither had the letter nor cared about answering it was something they expected me to think was understandable.

The administrative officer working for Senator Casey said that the Senator had released a statement on January 22^nd and it should be on his website. As we were both looking at the site she realized that it had not been posted. She assured me that she would email it.

As of the 22^rd of February the statement was not on the website so I called again. This time I got the press assistant. She seemed to understand my concern. She emailed the statement below. (The administrative officer had apparently emailed the document but my AOL spam filter must have dumped it.)

This statement was printed to be handed to the Right-to-Life marchers when they went to the Senator’s office. No press release was given to the press for the rest of the public.

Scranton Coal Mine

You know the song …

Sixteen tons and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St. Peter don’t you call me
Cause I can’t go –
I owe my soul to the company store.

A few months ago I went to the coal mine tour here in Scranton, PA, with my wife and my brother-in-law. Historically and morally it was an eye-opening experience. If you had said to me before this tour that coal miners and even children had been exploited by mine owners I would simply have nodded in agreement. This is an accepted assessment of a general historical situation. While after the tour I certainly appreciated the almost impossible situation of the coal miner’s family, I was truly astonished at the amount of unrelenting child abuse. Children were not only employed in the dangerous coal sorting work outside the mine but were constantly injured and killed down in the mine as part of the standard workforce. One job: lead the coal hauling mule through the tunnel. If the boy and mule died… the family would owe the company the price of the mule. These boys were often employed because their father had died working for the mine. That gets us back to the opening lyric.

A miner was required to excavate eighteen tons of coal in order to get any pay for that day. Yet nearly everything he need to work and live had to be purchased from the company store. Hence you always fell into debt. When a man died working for the mine a company lackey would bring his body to his home. The widow would then have three days to pay off his debt or give a son to the mine to prevent her family from being evicted from her company house.

Economic Zen - Neti, neti - Not capitalism not communism.

How are things different for us today compared to these mine workers? What does it really mean to be “employed” in our society? First, it means you do not have the means to support yourself – you do not have the independent business, trade or wealth to buy food, clothing, shelter, etc. for yourself or your family. You need to ask someone else for the work necessary to make a living. If someone cares to employ you for their business they know they have you at a disadvantage. Whether your pride admits to it or not, you have the status of a beggar. Do what your employer demands or lose the means to care for yourself and your dependents. But is it not fair? Did your employer force your parents to be poor or have no family farm or business or force you to have no trade? The employer is simply offering a fair exchange: work for food. Are there no homeless shelters? No welfare? Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?

When researching this article I read about indentured servants in colonial America. I had thought there might be a useful comparison. There was a comparison but not the one you might suspect. Many indentured servants were far better off than most modern American employees. When their period of indenture was completed, these individuals were often able to buy their own farm or business. What is the percentage of American workers who can work for an employer for seven to ten years and then be given the means to buy their own business? A much, much lower percentage than among indentured servants it seems.
We are longer-lived coal miners.

The story of how we became coal miners is the history of the industrial revolution. But it is not the history of mass production but of the ownership of the means of mass production. Researchers in the past decade discovered an interesting historical anomaly – Henry VIII of England in his zeal to attack the Catholic Church destroyed a monastery where the monks had developed mass produced modern steel for their tools. Imagine (better than yoko-onoized John Lennon) a world where the means of mass production was owned not by wealthy individuals or phony corporations but by villages, monasteries, neighborhoods, families? We would not need to be exploited as assets by private capital but struggle to work together as neighbors and family.

Private capital should remain private. When a private individual or “corporation” can virtually buy the whole life of another human being (laborers, clerical workers, coal miners, slaves), private capital by definition has exceeded its rightful place and encroached on the res publica. This usurpation damages our shared community. This is political – in the Aristotelian sense of the right ordering of society. No one should be able put a mortgage on themselves or another.

While private capitalism engorged on the power of modern mass production is abusive, the anti-matter solution of State ownership proposed by Marxism is simply changing the bosses and not the real status of the worker. The difficult road to journey is to promote anything that returns ownership to natural human communities where that community cannot shirk its responsibilities to its members. Profit and enterprise are still very necessary - not the profit intended to expand individual riches but the profit necessary to maintain a natural growth in family, village, etc.

We look at the enormous needs of our family or friends or the world and it is easy to become discouraged. At the risk of being “preachy”, remember the multiplication of the loaves. Start doing some determined good and let God worry about the rest.