CARMEL'S OWN: October 2008

The Holy Rosary

It has been suggested that the rosary began as a practice by the laity to imitate the
monks who prayed the 150 psalms in the Liturgy of the Hours. Many people could not read,
so Ave Maria's were substituted for the psalms and knotted cords were used to keep
an accurate count. Tradition tells us that the rosary was given to St. Dominic
by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the 12th century.
She appeared to him and asked him to spread devotion to the rosary.
The rosary is a meditative and contemplative prayer that brings us closer to Jesus
through His mother, Mary. It is a powerful form of prayer to invoke peace, healing,
and a deeper understanding of the Gospel. In October of the year 2002, Pope John Paul II
proclaimed the year of the Rosary and added the Luminous Mysteries to the meditation.
We reflect on the life of Jesus and Mary in the mysteries of the Rosary.

From the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1,
we recall the angel, Gabriel's greeting to Mary, the Mother of God,
Hail, full of Grace the Lord is with Thee.
And Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit cried out in a loud voice and said,
Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
We then ask our heavenly mother's intercession in aiding us as we pray,
Holy Mary Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Click each mystery to view Holy Land photos for each of the mysteries

The Joyful Mysteries
The Luminous Mysteries
The Sorrowful Mysteries
The Glorious Mysteries

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…
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.”

-Pope John Paul II

"Carmel is a source of wealth for the whole Christian community." John Paul II