As Catholics, we know the Rosary well enough. And certainly, we know the Mass. But do we know how many connections there are between them?
This series of meditations is taken from my book Holy Rosary, Holy Mass. I am hoping you will find it useful when you pray the Rosary. How often do we find ourselves distracted when we pray our beads! The devil is desperate to fill our minds with idle thoughts—anything to prevent us from realizing the depths of God's love contained in the fifteen mysteries. Our meditations include a new approach to each of those mysteries which I hope will help us refocus our thoughts and rekindle in us the fire of God's love.
The prism through which we are going to examine each mystery of the Rosary is that of the traditional Roman Catholic Mass. Many of us still attend this Mass in spite of the devil's attempts to rob us of its graces. Others no longer have access to the traditional Mass but remember that it was unlike anything they see today. Others are too young to know anything at all about the traditional Mass. No matter who you are, if you say the Rosary, you are being drawn, whether you realize it or not, to the wealth of graces contained only in the traditional Holy Apostolic Mass, the last and most essential gift our divine Savior left us before he died for our sins: "Who on the night he was betrayed, took bread into his sacred hands..."
This Mass is our inheritance and our birthright. Our Lord's parting gift was passed down intact by the apostles and their successors, until in 1969 it was suddenly abolished by Paul VI. And yet it continues through the perseverance of those Catholics who are dubbed "traditionalists." Who are these traditionalists? Just a group of reactionaries on the right-wing fringe of the Church, clinging to the old ways out of nostalgia? Or is there more to it than that? In truth, the Church is not divided into right- and left-wing factions. The Church has no divisions, she is One, united in her beliefs and worship of God. She is also holy, catholic and (let's not forget) apostolic. We inherit our beliefs and our form of worship from the apostles. To be a traditionalist means simply to accept the FAITH God revealed to those apostles and the form of WORSHIP he commanded them to use, and to continue passing them on from one generation to the next. This is the essence of what Catholic tradition is. Without tradition, we are no longer Catholic.
In these meditations we will learn just how intimately connected the Rosary and the traditional Mass are. This shouldn't be surprising—the Rosary contains the essential elements of the traditional FAITH in the story of our Redemption, while the Mass is the form of WORSHIP Christ gave us at the Last Supper and fulfilled on the Cross of Calvary. Together, Faith and Worship form the essence of our religion. What we believe, and how we worship God must always be the dual focus of our lives as Catholics. When we meditate on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary and immerse ourselves in the story of Redemption they portray, we are bringing together the very basic truths of our Faith. When we get over the fact that this Redemption story isn't just a story, but reality, we very quickly realize that we have to participate actively in that reality ourselves. We do so by returning to God some of the love he showed for us in the Redemption story. We are drawn to obey his commandments and adore God in the way he instructed us, through the traditional Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and in particular by uniting with him in the reception of his most sacred Body and Blood in Holy Communion.
This series of meditations is taken from my book Holy Rosary, Holy Mass. I am hoping you will find it useful when you pray the Rosary. How often do we find ourselves distracted when we pray our beads! The devil is desperate to fill our minds with idle thoughts—anything to prevent us from realizing the depths of God's love contained in the fifteen mysteries. Our meditations include a new approach to each of those mysteries which I hope will help us refocus our thoughts and rekindle in us the fire of God's love.
The prism through which we are going to examine each mystery of the Rosary is that of the traditional Roman Catholic Mass. Many of us still attend this Mass in spite of the devil's attempts to rob us of its graces. Others no longer have access to the traditional Mass but remember that it was unlike anything they see today. Others are too young to know anything at all about the traditional Mass. No matter who you are, if you say the Rosary, you are being drawn, whether you realize it or not, to the wealth of graces contained only in the traditional Holy Apostolic Mass, the last and most essential gift our divine Savior left us before he died for our sins: "Who on the night he was betrayed, took bread into his sacred hands..."
This Mass is our inheritance and our birthright. Our Lord's parting gift was passed down intact by the apostles and their successors, until in 1969 it was suddenly abolished by Paul VI. And yet it continues through the perseverance of those Catholics who are dubbed "traditionalists." Who are these traditionalists? Just a group of reactionaries on the right-wing fringe of the Church, clinging to the old ways out of nostalgia? Or is there more to it than that? In truth, the Church is not divided into right- and left-wing factions. The Church has no divisions, she is One, united in her beliefs and worship of God. She is also holy, catholic and (let's not forget) apostolic. We inherit our beliefs and our form of worship from the apostles. To be a traditionalist means simply to accept the FAITH God revealed to those apostles and the form of WORSHIP he commanded them to use, and to continue passing them on from one generation to the next. This is the essence of what Catholic tradition is. Without tradition, we are no longer Catholic.
In these meditations we will learn just how intimately connected the Rosary and the traditional Mass are. This shouldn't be surprising—the Rosary contains the essential elements of the traditional FAITH in the story of our Redemption, while the Mass is the form of WORSHIP Christ gave us at the Last Supper and fulfilled on the Cross of Calvary. Together, Faith and Worship form the essence of our religion. What we believe, and how we worship God must always be the dual focus of our lives as Catholics. When we meditate on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary and immerse ourselves in the story of Redemption they portray, we are bringing together the very basic truths of our Faith. When we get over the fact that this Redemption story isn't just a story, but reality, we very quickly realize that we have to participate actively in that reality ourselves. We do so by returning to God some of the love he showed for us in the Redemption story. We are drawn to obey his commandments and adore God in the way he instructed us, through the traditional Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and in particular by uniting with him in the reception of his most sacred Body and Blood in Holy Communion.
All our prayers are intended to unite us with God. Not because we feel ourselves worthy to do so, but because God has commanded it. God's greatest joy is to dwell among the children of men. He was made flesh and dwelt amongst us for this reason. He wants us to save our souls for this same reason so that we might dwell with him forever. This is the reason we were created. Every Mystery of the Rosary points to our ultimate union with God in some way, and of course that union is truly achieved in this life only through the reception of the Divine Eucharist in Holy Communion.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is our Mother. She wants us to save our souls so that her Son may be glorified in our salvation and so that we, her children, may be happy. For this reason she gave us her Rosary, with each of its beads a signpost on the road of salvation, a salvation we can achieve only through the Holy Apostolic Mass and the union with God that is its fruit.
We hope to begin our series of excerpts shortly. The complete book will be available from CONFRATERNITY BOOKS during the summer of 2016.
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