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APOSTOLIC
LETTER
ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
JOHN PAUL II
TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY AND
FAITHFUL
ON THE MOST HOLY ROSARY
Following
are excerpts from the Apostolic letter in which His
Holiness, Pope John Paul ll proclaimed the Year of
the Rosary and added the five Luminous Mysteries to
the contemplation of the rosary. For the complete
letter, click on The
Vatican's Apostolic Letter "Rosarium Virginis
Mariae"
INTRODUCTION
1.
The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took
form in the second millennium under the guidance of
the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints
and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound,
it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium,
a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth
a harvest of holiness.
The
Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart
a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements,
it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety,
of which it can be said to be a compendium. It is an
echo of the prayerof Mary, her perennial Magnificat
for the work of the redemptive Incarnation which began
in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the Christian
people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate
the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the
depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful
receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands
of the Mother of the Redeemer.
The
Rosary has accompanied me in moments of joy and in moments
of difficulty. To it I have entrusted any number of
concerns; in it I have always found comfort. Twenty-four
years ago, on 29 October 1978, scarcely two weeks after
my election to the See of Peter, I frankly admitted:
"The Rosary is my favourite prayer. A marvellous prayer!
Marvellous in its simplicity and its depth. [...].
With
these words, dear brothers and sisters, I set the first
year of my Pontificate within the daily rhythm of the
Rosary. Today, as I begin the twenty-fifth year of my
service as the Successor of Peter, I wish to do the
same. How many graces have I received in these years
from the Blessed Virgin through the Rosary: Magnificat
anima mea Dominum! I wish to lift up my thanks to the
Lord in the words of his Most Holy Mother, under whose
protection I have placed my Petrine ministry: Totus
Tuus!
To
recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate
with Mary the face of Christ. As a way of highlighting
this invitation, prompted by the forthcoming 120th anniversary
of the Encyclical of Leo XIII, I desire that during
the course of this year the Rosary should be especially
emphasized and promoted in the various Christian communities.
I therefore proclaim the year from October 2002 to October
2003 the Year of the Rosary.
The
Rosary belongs among the finest and most praiseworthy
traditions of Christian contemplation. Developed in
the West, it is a typically meditative prayer, corresponding
in some way to the "prayer of the heart" or "Jesus prayer"
which took root in the soil of the Christian East.
Prayer
for peace and for the family
6.
A number of historical circumstances also make a revival
of the Rosary quite timely. First of all, the need to
implore from God the gift of peace. The Rosary has many
times been proposed by my predecessors and myself as
a prayer for peace. At the start of a millennium which
began with the terrifying attacks of 11 September 2001,
a millennium which witnesses every day innumerous parts
of the world fresh scenes of bloodshed and violence,
to rediscover the Rosary means to immerse oneself in
contemplation of the mystery of Christ who "is our peace",
since he made "the two of us one, and broke down the
dividing wall of hostility" (Eph 2:14). Consequently,
one cannot recite the Rosary without feeling caught
up in a clear commitment to advancing peace, especially
in the land of Jesus, still so sorely afflicted and
so close to the heart of every Christian.
A
similar need for commitment and prayer arises in relation
to another critical contemporary issue: the family,
the primary cell of society, increasingly menaced by
forces of disintegration on both the ideological and
practical planes, so as to make us fear for the future
of this fundamental and indispensable institution and,
with it, for the future of society as a whole. The revival
of the Rosary in Christian families, within the context
of a broader pastoral ministry to the family, will be
an effective aid to countering the devastating effects
of this crisis typical of our age.
7.
Many signs indicate that still today the Blessed Virgin
desires to exercise through this same prayer that maternal
concern to which the dying Redeemer entrusted, in the
person of the beloved disciple, all the sons and daughters
of the Church: "Woman, behold your son!" (Jn19:26).
Well-known are the occasions in the nineteenth and the
twentieth centuries on which the Mother of Christ made
her presence felt and her voice heard, in order to exhort
the People of God to this form of contemplative prayer.
I would mention in particular, on account of their great
influence on the lives of Christians and the authoritative
recognition they have received from the Church, the
apparitions of Lourdes and of Fatima; these shrines
continue to be visited by great numbers of pilgrims
seeking comfort and hope. (See
our section on Marian Apparitions)
12.
The Rosary, precisely because it starts with Mary's
own experience, is an exquisitely contemplative prayer.
Without this contemplative dimension, it would lose
its meaning, as Pope Paul VI clearly pointed out: "Without
contemplation, the Rosary is a body without a soul,
and its recitation runs the risk of becoming a mechanical
repetition of formulas, in violation of the admonition
of Christ: 'In praying do not heap up empty phrases
as the Gentiles do; for they think they will be heard
for their many words' (Mt 6:7). By its nature the recitation
of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering
pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries
of the Lord's life as seen through the eyes of her who
was closest to the Lord. In this way the unfathomable
riches of these mysteries are disclosed".
A
proposed addition to the traditional pattern.
19.Of
the many mysteries of Christ's life, only a few are
indicated by the Rosary in the form that has become
generally established with the seal of the Church's
approval. The selection was determined by the origin
of the prayer, which was based on the number 150, the
number of the Psalms in the Psalter. I believe, however,
that to bring out fully the Christological depth of
the Rosary it would be suitable to make an addition
to the traditional pattern which, while left to the
freedom of individuals and communities, could broaden
it to include the mysteries of Christ's public ministry
between his Baptism and his Passion. In the course of
those mysteries we contemplate important aspects of
the person of Christ as the definitive revelation of
God. Declared the beloved Son of the Father at the Baptism
in the Jordan, Christ is the one who announces the coming
of the Kingdom, bears witness to it in his works and
proclaims its demands. It is during the years of his
public ministry that the mystery of Christ is most evidently
a mystery of light: "While I am in the world, I am the
light of the world" (Jn 9:5).
Consequently,
for the Rosary to become more fully a "compendium of
the Gospel", it is fitting to add, following reflection
on the Incarnation and the hidden life of Christ (the
joyful mysteries) and before focusing on the sufferings
of his Passion (the sorrowful mysteries) and the triumph
of his Resurrection (the glorious mysteries), a meditation
on certain particularly significant moments in his public
ministry (the mysteries of light). This addition of
these new mysteries, without prejudice to any essential
aspect of the prayer's traditional format, is meant
to give it fresh life and to enkindle renewed interest
in the Rosary's place within Christian spirituality
as a true doorway to the depths of the Heart of Christ,
ocean of joy and of light, of suffering and of glory.
(See our page on Saying
the Rosary for the updated Mysteries of the Rosary)
For
the Original proclamation, see
The
Vatican's Apostolic Letter "Rosarium Virginis Mariae"
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