October
is traditionally the month of the Holy Rosary. In praying the Rosary we
join Mary in contemplating the face of Christ our Lord. As a compendium
to the Gospel, the Rosary is a mediation on the mystery of Christ’s
life, leading us to know him ever deeper in faith and love.
Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, offered the following mediation on the Holy Rosary at the Pontifical Shrine of Pompeii on Sunday, October 19, 2008. It is offered here as a help and guide to a more fruitful praying of the Rosary.
RECITATION OF THE HOLY ROSARY
MEDITATION OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Pontifical Shrine of Pompeii
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear men and women religious,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Before
entering the Shrine to recite the Holy Rosary with you, I paused
briefly before the tomb of Bl. Bartolo Longo and, praying, I asked
myself: "Where did this great apostle of Mary find the energy and
perseverance he needed to bring such an impressive work, now known
across the world, to completion? Was it not in the Rosary, which he
accepted as a true gift from Our Lady's Heart?" Yes, that truly was how
it happened! The experience of the Saints bears witness to it: this
popular Marian prayer is a precious spiritual means to grow in intimacy
with Jesus, and to learn at the school of the Blessed Virgin always to
fulfil the divine will. It is contemplation of the mysteries of Christ
in spiritual union with Mary as the Servant of God Paul VI stressed in
his Apostolic Exhortation Marialis cultus (n. 46) and as my venerable Predecessor John Paul II abundantly illustrated in his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae that today I once again present in spirit to the Community of Pompeii and to each one of you. You who live and work here in Pompeii,
especially you, dear priests, men and women religious and lay people
involved in this unique portion of the Church, are all called to make
Bl. Bartolo Longo's charism your own and to become, to the extent and in
the way that God grants to each one, authentic apostles of the Rosary.
To
be apostles of the Rosary, however, it is necessary to experience
personally the beauty and depth of this prayer which is simple and
accessible to everyone. It is first of all necessary to let the Blessed
Virgin take one by the hand to contemplate the Face of Christ: a joyful,
luminous, sorrowful and glorious Face. Those who, like Mary and with
her, cherish and ponder the mysteries of Jesus assiduously, increasingly
assimilate his sentiments and are conformed to him. In this regard, I
would like to quote a beautiful thought of Bl. Bartolo Longo: “Just as
two friends, frequently in each other's company, tend to develop similar
habits”, he wrote, “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 is a school of contemplation and silence. At first glance, it
could seem a prayer that accumulates words, therefore difficult to
reconcile with the silence that is rightly recommended for meditation
and contemplation. In fact, this cadent repetition of the Hail Mary
does not disturb inner silence but indeed both demands and nourishes
it. Similarly to what happens for the Psalms when one prays the Liturgy
of the Hours, the silence surfaces through the words and sentences, not
as emptiness, but rather as the presence of an ultimate meaning that
transcends the words themselves and through them speaks to the heart.
Thus, in reciting the Hail Mary, we must be careful that our
voices do not ‘cover’ the voice of God who always speaks through the
silence like the ‘still small voice’ of a gentle breeze (1 Kgs
19: 12). Then how important it is to foster this silence full of God,
both in one’s personal recitation and in its recitation with the
community! Even when the Rosary is prayed, as today, by great
assemblies, and as you do in this Shrine every day, it must be perceived
as a contemplative prayer. And this cannot happen without an atmosphere
of inner silence.
I
would like to add a further reflection concerning the Word of God in
the Rosary, particularly appropriate in this period in which the Synod
of Bishops is taking place on the theme: “The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church”.
If Christian contemplation cannot leave the Word of God out of
consideration, if it is to be a contemplative prayer, the Rosary must
always emerge from the silence of the heart as a response to the Word,
after the model of Mary’s prayer. Seen clearly, the Rosary is completely
interwoven with scriptural elements. First of all there is the
enunciation of the mystery, preferably made, as it has been today, with
words taken from the Bible. The Our Father follows; by giving the
prayer a ‘vertical’ orientation, the soul of who recites the rosary is
opened to the correct filial attitude in accordance with the Lord’s
invitation: “When you pray say: Father...” (Lk 11: 2). The first part of the Hail Mary,
also taken from the Gospel, lets us listen again each time to the words
that God addressed to the Virgin through the Angel and to the words of
her cousin Elizabeth’s blessing. The second part of the Hail Mary
resounds like the answer of children who, in addressing supplications
to their Mother, do nothing other than express their own adherence to
the saving plan revealed by God. Thus the thought of those who pray
remains ever anchored to Scripture and to the mysteries presented in it.
Lastly, remembering that today we are celebrating World Mission Sunday,
I wish to recall the apostolic dimension of the Rosary, a dimension
that Blessed Bartolo Longo lived intensely, drawing inspiration from it
to carry out on this earth so many charitable initiatives and works of
human and social promotion. Furthermore, he wanted this Shrine to be
open to the whole world as a centre of outreach of the prayer of the
Rosary and as a place of intercession for peace among peoples. Dear
friends, I would like to reinforce both of these aims: the apostolate of
charity and prayer for peace, and I wish to confirm and entrust them
once again to your spiritual and pastoral commitment. Following the
example and with the support of the venerable Founder, never tire of
working with enthusiasm in this part of the Lord's vineyard for which
Our Lady has shown a special fondness.
Dear
brothers and sisters, the time has come to take my leave of you and of
this beautiful Shrine. I thank you for your warm welcome and especially
for your prayers. I thank the Archbishop Prelate and Pontifical
Delegate, his collaborators and those who worked to prepare my Visit in
the best possible way. I must leave you, but my heart remains close to
this region and to this community. I entrust you all to the Blessed
Virgin of the Holy Rosary and I cordially impart the Apostolic Blessing
to each one.
