So, what’s new about the Rosary? What’s news? For us, those accustomed to praying it, and
those who no longer are? Let’s look at the shape of a Rosary: usually round, startingly simple: five sets of 10 beads, 4 in-between, linked to a structure of 5 more beads plus a crucifix.
Time to reflect… and connect.
Does the Rosary symbolise the Journey of Life: a circumference of beginning and end, but not
always ending where we began?
Does the 1st decade resemble Infancy and Childhood – as in the Mystery of the beginning of
Christ’s life, his womb-like encounter with his nearest relatives, (as in our families), Elizabeth and
Zachariah, and favourite cousin John?
His mysterious birth, conception, and beginnings from Nazareth to Bethlehem follows a PATHWAY
of MIGRANT movement like so many refugees today, moving from one location to the next, often
including heavily pregnant women…
Let us remember them as we pray: Hail Mary….
Then the offering in the Temple, the rite of initiation practised by all Jewish males, symbolising too
our baptism as Christians …recalling too the many rites of Passage, bathing in the rivers of other
cultures.
Adolescence; the time of growth / independence symbolised by Jesus’s Outreach to the Temple
Doctors… establishing his independence from Family. We pray for young people, moving from
“Sheltered accommodation” of one kind or another, to Independent Lifestyles.
Our Sorrowful cycle of Mysteries.
These can be aligned to the plight of many people today as we move through” powerlessness”, the
impairment of our aches and pains, the “apparent negligence” and often open hostility of the
Powers that Be towards poorer people, refugees, asylum seekers, unborn infants and often
vulnerable adults.
We pray here for those deprived of adequate living standards, those affected by Climate Change,
even that those who are anti-life, those who promote drugs in the Cartels, and the multi-national
companies who dictate economic prosperity for their own gain may be touched and opened to the
Light…
Our Glorious Mysteries promise Life after Death, where Christ’s Kingdom will reign. Peace will
conquer strife, and there will be a world of peace and Joy. The promotion of his Kingdom will be
down to His descendants by faith, who will through the gifts of the Spirit renew and transform a
sick society into people ready for His Kingdom. By sharing the Good News, his followers will
proclaim the Gospel to many. The co-operation of Mary is invoked to promote His Kingdom.
Hail Mary….
Sandra Harrington, Rock Ferry Community