"YEAR
OF THE ROSARY"
The
"Year of the Rosary" portends to be especially prodigious in grace.
Special years can be traced to the Old Testament where, as we read
in the Book of Leviticus, the Lord ordered Moses to sanctify every fiftieth
year: "And thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim
remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of
jubilee" (XXV,10). The jubilee year was a special time of rest,
peace and reconciliation: slaves would regain their freedom, terrain and fields
would be returned to their original heirs - the whole land receiving a period
of rest.
In the Christian epoch the custom, at least from the Holy Year of
Pope Boniface VIII in 1300, was to take on the meaning of forgiveness and
special graces and indulgences. Extraordinary jubilees, not tied to any
fixed interval of time, also have been declared; most often to implore the aid
of heaven in times of war, persecution, famine, pestilence, or grave danger for
the Church, as well as to give thanksgiving to God or to celebrate a great occasion
such as the definition of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Beyond these jubilee years, Popes have, for various reasons,
declared other years special, such as "the Marian Year" celebrated in
1954 by order of Pope Pius XII. In 1886, a jubilee year proclaimed by
Pope Leo XIII to honor Our Lady of the Rosary, the Holy Father called on all
faithful Catholics to unite themselves to him in begging God for special graces
in the grievous difficulties of those times.
When Pope Leo XIII promulgated the Holy Year of 1900, he could still recall the impression made upon him during the jubilee of his youth, a short time after the death of his mother:
"We ourselves were witness in Our youth
how helpful to salvation was the last Jubilee decreed in solemn form during the
pontificate of Leo XII . . . . We remember and We ever seem to see in Our
mind's eye the crowds of pilgrims, the multitudes who in processional order went from church to
church - the holiest in Christendom; the apostolic men who preached in
the public streets, the most sacred places in the city resounding with the
praises of God, and the Pontiff with his College of Cardinals setting an example
of piety and charity before the eyes of all."
Then
in a sad note, the Pope added:
"From
the memory of those times the mind is recalled with some bitterness to the sad
reality of the present day."
Bitterness, indeed, is very much an evident emotion
in the life of faithful Catholics today as they contemplate the great damage
done to souls by the many scandals that have engulfed with such unrelenting
ferocity the Church in America. With this bitterness, even when not
accompanied by a loss of Faith, can come confusion, discouragement and
even anger. We have clearly touched the "mystery of iniquity" (2Thes.
II,7) spoken of by Saint Paul.
Pope John Paul II has proclaimed this year the "Year of the
Rosary". The call for a "Year of the Rosary" should be seen in
direct relation to this crisis because "The Rosary", as Pope Gregory
XIII wrote, "was given to us from heaven as a way of appeasing God's anger
and imploring the intercession of the Virgin Mary. "The
Rosary", in the words of Pope Leo XIII, "is the remedy for all our
evils, the root of all our blessings".
This year dedicated to the Rosary presents itself to us as an awesome
challenge: the challenge of learning to pray better, the challenge of
entering into the silence of our soul, the challenge of praying with less
distractions, the challenge of making our prayer more meditative - we could
even say more contemplative, the challenge of listening to God and of talking
to God, the challenge, in a word, of finding in our heart that peace that Our
Blessed Lord came to give to us.
The "Year of the Rosary" portends to be especially prodigious in
grace,
not only because the history of the Holy Rosary has been so marked by the most
marvelous of wonders, but because the Church, being in such great need, will
verify in herself the words of Saint Paul: "Where sin abounds, grace super
abounds" (Rm.V,20). "All Graces", as Pope Pius XI
taught, "are conceded to us by God through the hands of Mary. The
Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself
from sin". "The Rosary among all prayers", according
to Pope Saint Pius X, "is the most beautiful and the richest in Graces; it
is the one which is most pleasing to God". "Spread the
Rosary", urged Pope Paul VI, "the prayer so dear to the Virgin and so
esteemed by Popes; by it the faithful can best fulfill the command of
Christ: 'Ask and it shall be given; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall
be opened to you' (Mt. VII,7) ".
Not all Holy Years declared by the Popes require a pilgrimage to Rome but we
would be foolish, nonetheless, not to take the occasion of this year of grace
to embark upon a spiritual pilgrimage - as the Franciscan mystic, Saint Bonaventure,
calls it: "a Journey of the Mind to God". The Holy Spirit,
speaking through Saint Paul, urges us to grow "in the knowledge of
God" (Col. I, 10). It is in prayer that God reveals to us something
of the hidden ways of His Providence. It is in prayer that God fills our
souls with light, peace, grace, and consolation. "The Rosary",
as Pius XI writes, "elevates minds to the truths revealed by God . . . If
you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each
evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying
it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors".
"If you recite the Family Rosary, all united, you shall taste peace, you
shall have in your homes concord of souls. Hearing the Christian home
resound with the praises of the Queen of Heaven, a simple fact in appearance,
but extraordinarily received by God, such as to enrapture the Angels, which
from heaven piously joins them with those absent, with the deceased, draws all
there, close to the Virgin, which as Mother will be in the midst of her
children. We esteem the Rosary to be the most suitable and efficacious
means to obtain the help of God. The flowers of the Rosary never
perish". "The Rosary, which in its entirety, we never miss,
even for a single day", confided Pope John XIII, "is the most fitting
formula for praying and meditating".
During this year that can be filled with special graces - graces which God
wishes to give to each of us - we hope to share this journey with you, offering
some reflections concerning the Rosary and the interior life of prayer and
meditation.
(see:
Year-of-the-Rosary.com )
(Cruzada.net
editorial - Nov. 28, 2002)