Rosary: September 2009 Archives

There is a certain comfort in praying on beads that are beautiful and sturdy, beads that somehow feel like they were destined to be held, caressed, and cherished. The beads are, after all, a visible, tangible sign of the prayer by which we place our hand in the hand of Mary, and bind our heart to hers.

Sacramentals should be things of beauty. The soul thrives in an environment of chaste loveliness, harmony, and order. Finely crafted beads invite to prayer. It is right that we should go to God by means of the senses He has given us. The Word became flesh so that we, in our flesh and not in spite of it, might be able to go to God.

Although one can obtain Seven Dolours Beads from the Servite Fathers and from any number of other sources, my own were made by the wonderful ladies at the Rosary Workshop.

The Rosary of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a way of holding in one's heart the mystery/events of the Childhood and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Compassion of His Virgin Mother.

The fruits of this particular prayer are well known to those who pray it habitually: compunction of heart, detachment from the occasions of sin, chastity, humility, reparation, compassion, intimacy with the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, and desire to contemplate the Face of Christ.

The power of this prayer -- something that many have experienced -- comes from allowing one's own heart to be irrigated and purified by the tears of the Mother of God. The tears of the Sorrowful Mother bring purity and healing wherever they fall. Appearing in Kibeho, Rwanda in 1982 and 1983, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Word, asked that the prayer of the Rosary of the Seven Dolours be renewed and promoted in the Church.

Here is a method I prepared for saying the Rosary of the Seven Dolours:

+ Incline, unto my aid, O God.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen. Alleluia.
(In place of Alleluia, from Ash Wednesday until Easter is said:
Praise be to thee, O Lord, King of eternal glory.)

1. The prophecy of Simeon.

“And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
'Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against, and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk 2:34-35).

Holy Mother of God, I remember the sorrow of your heart upon hearing Simeon’s prophecy, and I desire to contemplate with you the Face of Jesus, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to God’s people Israel” (cf. Lk 2:32).

One Our Father and seven Hail Marys.

Holy Mother, this impart,
Deeply print within my heart,
All the wounds my Saviour bore.