The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

 

 

The contemplation of Christ has an incomparable model in Mary. In a unique way the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It was in her womb that Christ was formed, receiving from her a human resemblance which points to an even greater spiritual closeness. No one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary.

 

The memories of Jesus, impressed upon her heart, were always with her, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her Son's side. In a way those memories were to be the “rosary” which she recited uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life….In the recitation of the Rosary, the Christian community enters into contact with the memories and the contemplative gaze of Mary….The Rosary, precisely because it starts with Mary's own experience, is an exquisitely contemplative prayer.

 

n the spiritual journey of the Rosary, based on the constant contemplation – in Mary's company – of the face of Christ, this demanding ideal of being conformed to him is pursued through an association which could be described in terms of friendship. We are thereby enabled to enter naturally into Christ's life and as it were to share his deepest feelings. In this regard Blessed Bartolo Longo has written: “Just as two friends, frequently in each other's company, tend to develop similar habits, so too, by holding familiar converse with Jesus and the Blessed Virgin, by meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary and by living the same life in Holy Communion, we can become, to the extent of our lowliness, similar to them and can learn from these supreme models a life of humility, poverty, hiddenness, patience and perfection”.

 

The Rosary mystically transports us to Mary's side as she is busy watching over the human growth of Christ in the home of Nazareth. This enables her to train us and to mold us with the same care, until Christ is “fully formed” in us (cf. Gal 4:19). This role of Mary, totally grounded in that of Christ and radically subordinated to it, “in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power”. ^… Never as in the Rosary do the life of Jesus and that of Mary appear so deeply joined. Mary lives only in Christ and for Christ!

 

 

 

O Queen of the Holy Rosary!

Oh! Bless us as we pray,

And offer thee our roses

In garlands day by day,

While from our Father’s garden,

With loving hearts and bold,

We gather to thine honour,

Buds white and red and gold.

 

O Queen of the Holy Rosary!

Each myst’ry blends with thine

THe sacred life of Jesus

In every step divine,

Thy soul was His fair garden,

Thy virgin breast His throne,

Thy thoughts His faithful mirror,

Reflecting Him alone.

 

Sweet Lady of the Rosary,

White roses let us bring,

And lay them round thy footstool

Before our Infant King.

For nestling in thy bosom

God’s Son was fain to be,

The Child of Thy Obedience

And spotless purity.

 

Dear Lady of the Rosary,

Red roses cast we down,

But let thy fingers weave them

Into a worthy crown.

For how can we poor sinners

Do aught but weep with thee,

When in thy train we follow

Our God to Calvary

 

 

Pour forth, O Lord, your grace into our hearts:

once through the message of an angel

you revealed to us the incarnation of Christ your Son;

now, with the prayers of the blessed Virgin Mary,

lead us through his passion and cross

to the glory of the resurrection.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever. Amen. (Our Lady of the Rosary; October 7)