Download the one-page leaflet for mass distribution here.
One of the greatest Popes of all time, whose towering
sanctity and influence is based on his Marian devotion, gave specific
instructions on how we can profit the most from this powerful devotion.
At
the end of his life, St. Pope John Paul II strongly encouraged praying the Rosary, and the topmost
reason for doing so, he said, was that the Rosary is “the most effective means
of fostering…a Christian life distinguished above all in the art of prayer.”
Even when his life was waning, John Paul the Great felt that God wanted him to be the Pope who will lead
the Church at the beginning of the new millennium. And moved by God, he gave
the Church a master plan, in a document titled At the Beginning of the new Millennium, containing his vision on
how the Church can bring about a new springtime of Christianity in this new
age.
The
highest priority he specified for the Church is a training in holiness, and this in turn, he said, calls for “a Christian
life distinguished above all in the art
of prayer.” And the most effective way is the Rosary.
Years
before, St. Josemaria, a saint who John Paul II described as the apostle of the
laity for modern times, taught that the Rosary is the secret to becoming great. In his book, the Holy Rosary, St. Josemaria explained
the logical connection between praying the Rosary and great sanctity:
·
to
become great, become little
·
to
become little, love as children love, give yourself as children give
themselves, pray as children pray
·
to
love as children love, love our Lady
·
to
love our Lady, get to know her
·
to
get to know her, pray her Rosary well.
Drawing
from the wisest Church teachings on learning prayer and knowing the challenges
of today, John Paul the Great gave
specific instructions and recommendations on how we can pray the Rosary well, in the
most beneficial way:
1.
Do not just recite the Rosary. Contemplate the life of Jesus with the heart of Mary
while praying.
Without contemplation, the Pope
stressed, the Rosary would lose its meaning, like a body without a soul. The Rosary is above all a meditation on the
mystery of Jesus Christ, a contemplation of how he lived God’s life of love.
2. Aim
at becoming friends with Christ, learning his life, and becoming one with him.
John Paul II says that the “Rosary mystically transports us to Mary’s side.” It
is by interacting with Jesus and Mary, listening to them, serving them, admiring them,
that we learn their deepest attitudes and virtues, their way of responding to
challenges and joys.
3.
Meditate on each of the mysteries. All the mysteries help us to connect with the memories of Mary, who pondered these events, and to "contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and experience the depths of his love."
4.
Announce each mystery and use an icon to portray it. This, he said,
is “a great help in concentrating the mind on the particular mystery.” God became man precisely so we can go to the
invisible God through what is visible. That is why Benedict XVI said that
sacred images are “extremely effective in communicating the Gospel.” With the internet,
one can easily find these icons. My personal collection is found here. The best I found are here.
5.
After the announcement, read a related Biblical passage. This, he taught, allows God to speak, to speak to me, and
there is no word that matches the efficacy of God’s word. Benedict XVI, who
emphasized the power of meditating on Scripture
to bring about a new springtime in the Church, repeated this recommendation. He
said that this practice would “encourage the memorization of brief biblical passages
relevant to the mysteries of Christ’s life.” Download a list of passages in one page here. A collection of best images and biblical passages in one powerpoint is here.
6.
Pause for a few seconds after the announcement and reading to focus attention on the
mystery.
Silence has great power to help us to pray and meditate. St. Josemaria
recommended a three to four second pause.
7.
Lift your heart to God the Father during the Our Father. This is an important moment to remember what
Pope Francis repeatedly calls “our deepest identity”, our being children of
God, little ones who are totally in need of God.
8.
Remember that in the Hail Marys the center of the prayer is Jesus. The whole
Rosary, and especially its most repeated prayer, the Hail Mary, is a
Christ-centered prayer. In the Rosary, our
main purpose is to look at Jesus’ face, together with Mary whose whole heart was
centered on Jesus.
9.
Give importance to the Glory Be, because
giving glory to the Trinity is the goal and high point of contemplation. Jesus leads us to the Father in the Holy
Spirit. The Trinity is “the central mystery of Christian life”, and our whole
life and eternity is a sharing in the life of the Trinity. (CCC 261; 265)
10.
Ask that our prayer improves our daily
life. Thus we pray at the end that “by meditating on
mysteries of the Rosary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they
promise.”
When we pray the Rosary as the Pope wanted, we fulfill the authentic meaning of prayer seen by the Catechism: "Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ." (CCC 2708) At the end of John Paul II's document on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, he wrote: A prayer so easy and yet so rich truly deserves to be rediscovered. Confidently take up the Rosary once again in the light of Scripture … and in the context of your daily lives. May this appeal of mine not go unheard!
Download the one-page leaflet for mass distribution here.
These one-page leaflets have started going viral around the world. One leaflet was posted in the website of the Archdiocese of Westminster in London ("The Mother Church of England"), in the Corpus Christi Parish in Canada,
in Kenya and in Macau. To get the full collection, please see this: One Page Leaflets for New Evangelization Going Viral!
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