Pope's October Rosary Invitation: The Boy Jesus In The Temple

The prayers of my youth were usually expressions of soft emotion, disconnected from the hard realities of peoples' lives: "May we collect your tears, Oh Jesus, which fall to the earth like precious pearls."  The Pope has called us to pray the October rosary as an antidote to the "devil's turbulence" we are experiencing in our own time. Such prayers need to express some grit, it seems to me, if they are to be real.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Our Father...

This is Rembrandt's etching of the young Christ among the doctors of the law in the Temple. Mary and Joseph have not yet arrived. But when they do, the scene gets testy. The parents are put out at Jesus' disappearance and Jesus says in effect, "Don't you get it?" Of course the parents don't get it. Perhaps in time. Meanwhile, there's an awful lot we don't get. A church worker told me that I should listen to her favorite radio political-commentator guy, "He's a saint," she said. I don't think so. The underpaid, overworked women who change adult diapers in nursing homes are saints. 

Hail Mary...

What a bunch! Have you ever seen a more disinterested, bored group of guys? There's even one fellow, (up top on the right), who is sound asleep. St. Thomas More said of his own country, "England would have slept through the Sermon on the Mount." Let's not flatter ourselves. Some are getting the feeling of late that the nation's real religion is the political theatre we find ourselves in.

Hail Mary...

I wonder if when the family got back to Nazareth, Mary said to the relatives, "Well, you won't believe the stunt Jesus pulled when we were on our way back home." And might Jesus (12 years old, right?) have said, "Alright, alright, enough already." God has gotten all mixed up in the proverbial nitty-gritty of human living. We shouldn't try to make it out otherwise. And we're ruined when we lose our sense of humour; maybe especially about religious things.

Hail Mary...

Jesus returned home and he grew. Am I growing? Growing is changing. Some people stopped growing a long time ago. We short- change ourselves when we say we're too old to change. I have a friend with advancing Parkinson's Disease. He tries to golf and box. He goes bowling once a week. He keeps a garden. Not easy. Am I still growing?

Hail Mary...

The young Jesus said to Mary, "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house." He wasn't speaking about Joseph. We might wonder if Joseph overheard this and had his feelings hurt? Creating a family is a long hard slog, and sometimes it just doesn't work out. But even when things go badly and seem to be irreconcilable, I can wish everyone happiness and that their lives would be free of suffering. In a nasty, vengeful world, that's a very kind and good wish.

Hail Mary...

Jesus was found back in Jerusalem - the Holy City with a great spiritual light. But bright light makes for deep shadow. Jerusalem's shadow is deep and bitter. The Greek, Armenian and Latin monks who maintain the tomb of Jesus (the Holy Sepulchre) have historically fought so bitterly, they have handed off the church keys to a Muslim for safe keeping. When this awful time of church and state are over, we are going to need a person of great and clean heart to help put us back together, to that more perfect union.

Hail Mary...

The words astonished and astonishment figure prominently in this gospel mystery. Maybe life's hard knocks have kicked awe and wonder out of us. It's sad when a religious person has lost astonishment. It's a sign that God is absent or the person's become numb to God's activity. The poet, Mary Oliver, writes: I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass. How to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed. How to stroll through the fields...

Hail Mary...

This Gospel scene is about many things, but surely one of them is just the simple idea of finding Jesus. "When I was hungry you fed me...naked and you clothed me...sick or in prison and you visited me...whatever you did to the least of my brothers and sisters you did to me." Sounds like finding Jesus to me.

Hail Mary...

Notice, finding Jesus doesn't require a holy building of any kind. "Going to church. Going to church." Some older people say "That's all I heard growing up." But maybe church isn't something we go to nearly so much as the place we go out from. We never seemed to stress that. And go out from - for what? 

Hail Mary...

This poor rosary mystery - we get is so confused and make it un-scriptural. Sometimes it's been called The Disputations - as if the young Jesus had been sitting there arguing with the religious leaders. One pre-Mass rosary leader keeps announcing it as, "The Fifth Joyful Mystery: Jesus is Teaching in the Temple." Not at all! The Gospel tells us he "Listened to them and asked them questions." The ordinary human moment is loaded with spiritual content. Do I have an inquiring mind? Who feeds it? "But we have the mind of Christ," St. Paul writes. Do we even really know what that would be like? The possibility might make me tremble. 

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

Pope's October Rosary Request ~ The Presentation

Here are some meditations for the Mystery of Jesus' Presentation in the Temple. Pope Francis has asked the Catholic world to pray a rosary of resistance to the devil's turbulence the Church (and Nation) are suffering these days.

Our Father...

In this Gospel scene we're told repeatedly that Mary and Joseph were fulfilling the requirements of the law. Catholics often poke fun at Jews for being burdened with 630 rules. But the Roman Catholic Code of Canon Law has 1752 laws. And for all of that I can go through life and not have the clean heart Jesus looks for - the heart that really loves God and neighbor.

Hail Mary...

"This Child will be a light to the nations." In an instant we're told that Jesus and his gifts are for everyone; not just Jews. Religious people often have a hard time with that word: everyone. Often people have to jump through hoops before being welcomed into the experience of everyone.

Hail Mary...

The word, "peace" appears in Luke's Gospel 14 times. Peace is our goal and the result of our living in Christ. And while peace is not just the absence of wars, who could imagine these endless wars, preparations for war and weekly threats of another war wouldn't be right up front in Jesus' mind. Knowing Jesus is supposed to evolve us - get us out of the cave.

Hail Mary...

In this scene, Joseph and Mary are assuming the full responsibility for the Child Jesus. They are a model for us to follow - no child on the planet is to be un-accounted for, un-named, un-welcomed, un-loved. No excuses!

Hail Mary...

On Presentation Day, Mary and Joseph can't afford to make the suggested gift of a lamb to the temple, so they carry the second- rate gift of two pigeons. In other words, "They're broke." Native Americans said of the European folks who invaded this place and stole everything from them: "The love of possessions is a disease with them." We don't have to be broke like Joseph and Mary, but Jesus says, own nothing. The storage bins in this country could stretch from sea to shining sea.

Hail Mary...

Look at how Rembrandt features the great tension of light and dark in his painting. Simeon calls Jesus, light! And the Church is supposed to promote and extend this Christ-light. Apologies for clergy criminal failures won't do. Something has to change. When asked about religion, the young people are answering: NONE and DONE.

Hail Mary...

Rembrandt wants to be sure we recognize not just Simeon, but Anna too. She's been a widow for a long time. We're getting ready: the word 'widow' will appear 9 times in Luke's Gospel. Luke's Jesus steps up to the most vulnerable people. If Jesus were to zoom around our nation today, he'd encounter and deem unacceptable an awful lot of un-addressed vulnerability.

Hail Mary...

This is the scene where Simeon declares mysteriously the sword of sorrow will pierce Mary's soul. Swords divide. And people will be (and still are) divided over Jesus. Mary will feel that pain of rejection. Christianity accepts that - not everyone will agree. We might lose a friend, or two, or three. So be it.

Hail Mary...

This Gospel scene is all about finding God in the rituals. We've lost a lot of that. Some folks can't even manage Grace Before Meals, let alone Sunday worship anymore. Does my lived "everyday" reveal a deep sense of the holy? Or am I on auto-pilot?

Hail Mary...

"Shut up in there, grandma is trying to say her prayers," one rosary-telling senior shouted to her playful grandchildren in an adjacent room. But these are called Joyful Mysteries. They're supposed to help the world be kinder and happier. No?

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

The Nativity Mystery ~ A Rosary Meditation in October

Madonna and Child with Two Angels
  Titian ~ 15th-16th c

Our Father...

Mary's Divine Child comes into the world in humility and simplicity, yet with an angel escort. We need some escorting these days - to Christ - and away from the entertainment news people who want us listening to them and their advertisers. We're so devoted to them.

Hail Mary...

One author states the shepherds of Bethlehem were not likely men, who were needed for laborious jobs elsewhere, but women and children. While their time is of little value, they are welcomed as the Holy Child's first guests.  Their dignity is recognized. We have a lot to learn.

Hail Mary...

"Because there was no room for them in the inn." It is a famous line. A Central American mother showed up at the southern border with the other asylum seekers. She had witnessed her husband's murder and her young son had already been threatened with stabbing if he didn't join the gang. She was told she "didn't need to be here; go home." How is it that so often people don't make these religion-reality connections?

Hail Mary...

"All is calm; all is bright..." It makes for a most lovely carol, but it's not true for much of the world - unless we're financially secure and white, with some power. In my prayer, I might wish happiness and freedom from suffering for those for whom life is not calm and bright. I might do some practical thing for one or two of them as well.

Hail Mary...

The bright, traveling star stopped over the house where the Holy Child lived. I bring to the front of my mind that every child is a holy child. And that their suffering is not acceptable: their not being in school, their unlawful detention, that so many of them live in poverty - even in my own country!

Hail Mary...

Herod was a crazed monster. And so Joseph and Mary get the threatened baby out of the country. There are some Christians who trip over themselves to convince us that Jesus, Mary and Joseph were not asylum seekers in Egypt. They say that has nothing to do with religion. Of course, if we recognize their asylum status, that might mean we'd have to change our attitude about those who suffer that plight today. Some people hate having their excuses taken away.

Hail Mary...

So many people are displaced in the world because of civil wars or the disruption of armed gangs and murderous militias. Raising children and caring for elders is no longer possible. Who is supplying these killers with all these weapons? Who is manufacturing and selling them? A lot of people make a lot of money off the deaths of other people.

Hail Mary...

Titian's painting is splendid, of course, but not realistic. It is white and tidy. Pope Francis references priests who are like that. He calls them aseptic: clergy who want everything in a kind of  neat box, rule bound and in perfect order - maybe especially in how they relate to people in the confessional. God picked Bethlehem for the holy birth. Bethlehem means House of Bread: God understands the messy struggle, the untidy, crushing grind of human life.

Hail Mary...

At Nativity-meditation and Hail Mary number nine, I might be thinking: "These meditations aren't very Christmas-y, and I don't like it." But is this what we want the priest for, just keep the swinging incense pot smoking? Or am I open to something more? O Holy Incarnation - challenge every thing I think!

Hail Mary...

Pope Francis is asking for our rosary prayer this October because the devil is causing lots of turbulence in the Church (and I'd add, Nation). Incarnation means: God became one of us; God has a human face in Christ. Might I look for a human face today - someone really up against the odds, and make a deep human connection. Love, that scares the hell out of the devil!

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

October Rosary Prayer: The Visitation

In the face of the devils' turbulence, Pope Francis has asked us to pray the rosary in October - the Month of Mary's Rosary. Here's a rosary decade pondering the Visitation. Luke 1:39-56. The Visitation isn't two moms talking about colors for the nursery. Tough stuff, this Mary!

Our Father...

Here are pregnant Mary and pregnant Elizabeth in the Protection of Minors.

Hail Mary...

When the sign on the lawn of the church says: "All Are Welcome," do we mean it? Really?

Hail Mary...

Mary has rushed through the ups and downs, twists and turns of the hill country to see Elizabeth, who is elderly and also pregnant. Every human person is struggling mightily. Can we count on each other in the struggle?

Hail Mary...

There is the "devil's turbulence" in Church, Nation and World. And Mary's message is: receive life, hold life, support life. All of it!

Hail Mary...

Mary's Magnificat tells of only one power - God's power. Then why so much abuse of power here?

Hail Mary...

Maybe the mothers of the world need to make a noisy nuisance of themselves. Get at some of these problems in Church and State.

Hail Mary...

All priests are trained to claim Mary as Mother. That could mean listening to her more; not just admiring her. Listen to her Magnificat: Luke 1:46-56. It's an earth-shaker!

Hail Mary...

In her Magnificat, Mary sings of God being mindful of his faithful love. May that faithful love see us through this time of troubling crisis in our Church.

Hail Mary...

When Mary greeted Elizabeth, the child-John leapt in his mother's womb. May the Church, greeting the world in welcoming-love, cause that world to leap for joy.

Hail Mary...

Mary proclaimed: "God routs the arrogant of heart." Power and position invite arrogance. May we be on the lookout!

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

An October Rosary Decade ~ The Annunciation

Sano di Pietro ~ Angel of the Annunciation ~ 15th c

Pope Francis has asked us to pray the rosary during Mary's October Month of the Holy Rosary - in response to the turbulence the devil is stirring up in the Church (and across our Nation). Putting the devil in his place is no easy thing, and so these meditations may sting or tweak.

Our Father...

Gabriel holds the olive branch of reconciliation. We are always beginning again.

Hail Mary...

Dostoevsky's character says, "Beauty will save the world."  But the only lasting beauty is the beauty of God's love. The angel comes to announce that love to Mary and our world.

Hail Mary...

There is a great battle being fought over the hearts of people. There are lots of powers on the loose: military power, spending power, lobbying power, sex abuse power, voting bloc power, corporate power. But then, there is the power of God's justice and love for each human person.

Hail Mary...

What colors array the splendid angel! Heaven and Earth are not to be viewed in black and white or even gray (the way some minds see things) but in colors, and even colors that change. It's about much more than skin tones. What an inspiring angel!

Hail Mary...

This Gabriel is an angel of light. Even the mantle over his right arm is translucent. We need heaven's light to reveal to dulled minds how the Church needs to change, if in truth we really want to know Christ, and to have Christ-formed lives.

Hail Mary...

The Angel Gabriel is called the Protector of Israel. More simply: the Protector of God's People. More simply still: the Protector of Us. We need to be protected from that which is within us: pride, self-righteousness, spiritual superficiality and other-ism.

Hail Mary...

Catholics say, the priest acts in persona Christi: in the person of Christ. But isn't that essentially an image of service? Mary gets it right, saying to the angel, "You see before you the Lord's servant..." Here is the Marian way for all of us - priests too. 

Hail Mary...

Gabriel names the Child, telling Mary, "He will be called Jesus," which means, God Saves. We need to be saved from and for many things. But Pope Francis references the "Epidemic of Hate" that is killing us in religion and nation. 

Hail Mary...

The angel speaks to Mary of her Child's conception: "The power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow." That sounds like a line from the Genesis creation account! Pray for the Church and Nation to be covered with God's Power as with shadow: for the birthing of something brand new.

Hail Mary...

Mary hears Gabriel celebrate the dignity of the Holy Child: "Son of the Most High, Give him the throne..., he will rule..., his reign will have no end." Taking nothing away from Jesus, of course, but you know what - every child shares an irreplaceable dignity. 

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

The Fifth Joyful Mystery ~ Finding the Young Jesus in the Temple

This scene of Mary and Joseph finding the twelve year old Jesus in the Jerusalem temple is very beautiful on a number of levels. These men arranged on Jesus left and right are Israel's teachers and scholars. They seem to be listening to Jesus. But the gospel is clear, Jesus is asking them questions. Jesus always asks questions throughout the gospel. Questions draw us out and cause us to reflect. Jesus is quite animated; maybe he's asking them something about God they have never considered before.

To the left of the image we see Joseph and Mary. Joseph looks kind of tight. Perhaps he's just tired after searching for three days and is annoyed that Jesus doesn't seem to be giving a thought to what they've been through. But Mary is reaching out, slightly inclined and softer. Perhaps she is aware that this loss of three days portends something else; something even more dreadful.

It's good to pause a little while before the image - allowing Jesus, if he so desires, to ask me a question or two. Not questions about what I've done wrong, but questions that come from a place of deep concern for my welfare and the things that are on my mind.

I can read the account of Mary and Joseph finding the young Jesus in Luke 2:41-52.

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

To live on this planet is sometimes to lose. I can lose sleep, lose a friend, lose an opportunity, lose sobriety, lose virginity, lose a loved one to death, lose the house, lose my health. I can feel as if I'm losing my mind. Pity the person, pity the world...no, pity me, when I lose Jesus.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

How human this scene is. Mary and Joseph have been looking frantically for Jesus over three days. But in joy they find him again. And I can find him again too. Actually he has been looking for me all the while. I must simply pick up my head and see!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Sometimes Jesus may withdraw from my soul a bit, but never in anger. He wants that I will search for him diligently, so that my love for him will grow.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

When Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple, Jesus said, Didn't you know I had to be about my Father's business? I want to be obedient as God's child too. I will do what God proposes; to be faithful to God, to love him, to grow well.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus isn't teaching in the temple, he's listening to the teachers and asking them questions. Humility means I know I have a lot to learn. I open my ears; I open my heart. I will follow the young Jesus in this humble proposal.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Here in this scene, Jesus is twelve years old. I was twelve once. And in his love, God has brought me to today. And furthermore, God wants to bring me to fullness, restored dignity, maturity and holiness.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus returned to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph. What would it have been like to live with this Holy Family? I will be still now for a moment and consider what message they would have for me today.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

In all the stories of Mary's pregnancy and Jesus' infancy, there's a lot of traveling, by foot or by donkey. And Jesus will travel to Jerusalem at the end and ride a donkey into the ancient city as the conflict with death, sin and fear culminates on the cross.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

People often ask, Did the young Jesus know that he was God? Maybe more importantly we should all ask of ourselves, Do I know that I am God's child? And am I living as God's child?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Looking for a lost twelve year old in a big city: it is a scene for tears. Mary and Joseph are frantic and sorrowful. Have I ever shed a tear for the times I lost Jesus through my own fault? Or shed tears for our world and its terrible losses?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...

Our Lady's Slippers





The Fourth Joyful Mystery ~ The Presentation in the Temple

An icon never attempts to do what a camera would have done, if cameras had existed centuries ago. The forms and colors used by the painter point to the underneath of the scene. The Temple and the Jerusalem buildings in the background seem to have a wrong perspective. That's because this is a trans-historical event - beyond or outside of  picturable earth-time.

Joseph holds the little doves; his gift of the poor. Mary is already experiencing this first moment of separation. The holy people of great age, Simeon and Anna, represent ancient Israel awaiting the Messiah. Mary doesn't wear a maphorion of heavenly blue, but a dark red-brown - like the earth. She is one of us, and one with us in all the struggles that come with living on this earth. There is a great veil spread from left to right over the top of the scene: God is covering us with his love in the self-offering of Christ.

The Gospel account of the Presentaton of Jesus in the Temple is found in Luke 2:22-40.

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

Mary submits to a ritual of religious purification in Jerusalem forty days after the birth of her child. Does this seem odd? Mary of all people! Maybe she is teaching me, that I must be willing to fulfill the things God asks of me? Do I? Or do I exempt and excuse myself?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Purification? Tears, even weeping for the sins of my past. Or, and this is a problem for many people, holding onto the past and not allowing God to do with our mistakes, wrong turns and ignorance, what God wants to do with it all - which is to let it be lost in the forever abyss of God's mercy.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

This ritual of presentation, performed for first-born males, indicated that the child was God's particular property. A gift of young birds is made to buy the child back: the gift of the poor. God divests himself of his richness and becomes one with us in our human poverty.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Old Simeon has spent his life as a kind of holy watchman, awaiting the Messiah's birth: Jesus, the Light of the Nations and Israel's consolation. But how does he know these things? Then and now God shares what I should know, what I must know. God always does his part.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Simeon's song is an act of thanksgiving to God. He is filled with an over-the-top joy for having seen the Messiah and for all the heavenly blessings the child will bring to God's people. Imagine that Simeon then passes the baby to me as I stand in this scene, and I announce what this baby means to me. What do I sing about that people will remember until the end of time?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

And Mary and Joseph marveled at what was said about Jesus. They marveled means they expressed joy and wonder at what's being revealed in Christ - already! And God is always revealing, sharing or making himself known in Christ. Some people yawn, others doze, still others distract themselves. But I want to marvel!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The temple to which the infant Jesus was brought was wondrously beautiful. Indeed, the golden roof reflecting the sun made it nearly impossible to look at. But this temple was torn down by the Romans in 70 A.D. Ah, my heart will take its place!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The thoughts of many hearts will be laid bare. Exposing the thoughts of my heart? And the thoughts of my heart are these: a welcome for Jesus, friendship with Jesus, love for other people.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The temple was a chaotic slaughterhouse with bloody animal sacrifices taking place round the clock. But all of this will end. Jesus came to the temple, even in his infancy, to give himself to God in love. It is a sacrificial gift that is for all and forever.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Simeon said to Mary and Joseph that the Child will be contradicted. I stay close to Mary in this scene and trust God's forgiveness for any way in which I have ever contradicted her Son by my ignorance, foolishness, hatred or fear.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...

Oxeye Daisy ~ Bethlehem Star ~

 a reminder of the Magi's star.

The Third Joyful Mystery ~ The Nativity

This bright icon was painted for use in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, one of the oldest forms of Christianity in the world. The infant Christ holds the book of His teachings in His left hand. But the book is closed! Jesus' first intention is not to give us anything to do but simply to bless us with His right hand.

The two angels in the upper corners look at each other gladly, holding up the colorfully patterned backdrop to the Holy Mother and Her Son. Mary's maphorion (mantle) is voluminous - perhaps suggesting that all of creation fits under its great protecting folds. Jesus seems to sit comfortably in Mother's crossed arms. He is not a cuddly baby so much as a little man - always the LORD. And while he clearly looks to His Mother, she seems to be looking halfway between Him and us. After all, we are her dear children as well.

Why isn't there a manger scene to illustrate this Third Joyful Mystery? This icon is a perfect image for the Mystery of Christmas: The real light, which sheds light upon everyone, was just coming into the world. He came into the world, and though the world came into existence through him, the world did not recognize him. (John 1:9,10)

In her left hand the Holy Mother holds a decorated cloth. Is it her handkerchief? In her loving us she shares our sorrows, and where there are sorrows, often there are tears.

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

Mary hopes for a room in the inn to give birth to her baby. But this isn't where God should be born on earth. We might think a palace, a great shrine or church, a hospital for very important people, but not a motel. Travelers stay in motels. Perhaps the meaning is this: God is traveling with us through all the disasters of human history, the darkness of minds, the never-ending wars, the injustice that  we can't comprehend.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

A Virgin-Mother. Ha! Angels in the sky. Ha! A traveling star. Ha! Many people scoff at these things, mocking them and boasting of not believing. But this is all wrong! The only thing to be questioned is myself. And sadly, too many people never get around to doing that in any substantive way.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Bethlehem means House of Bread. This isn't just a detail with no purpose. But already I am being gotten ready for the Eucharist. I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no self-existent life. Whoever lives on my flesh and drinks my blood possesses eternal life and I will raise him to life on the Last Day, (John 53,54).

Hail Mary, full of grace...

We didn't invite Jesus into our world. We have always been content with the way things are. Before he was able to speak, his presence disturbed us. We wanted to be rid of him and so hunted him down and cast him out, to Egypt of all places. But again uninvited, he returned.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

As a boy, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga described the 16th century court life in which he was growing as full of fraud, dagger, poison and lust. How might we describe our own time? Full of empty laughter, false alliances, violence and an insatiable hunger for drugs. Did the tears of the Holy Child wash the world's sins.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

God came into our world as an infant so that we could get very close to him. God came into our world as an infant so that our first impression of him would be as one who comes without judgment and who wishes us no harm. God smiling!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

God understands a long time. Mary, like all mothers, held her baby in her womb a long nine months. It was a long donkey ride to Bethlehem. It was a long forty days fasting and praying in the desert. It was a long night Jesus spent in prison. It was a long walk to Calvary. It was a long suffering on the cross. I mustn't complain so much about how long my suffering is. God understands.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Even before he could speak, Jesus was teaching us from the crib of Bethlehem. And the lesson he taught was humility: the one who made the heavens and the earth was shut out from the inn where there was no room, finding a shelter in the cave with the animals. The Shepherds were his guests.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

God has made himself to be a child. And little children all want to grow up. Children like to dress up as adults. Children like to listen in on adult conversations. Children want to stay up late. And I want to grow up too: grow up in responsibility so that Christ may count on me, grow up in courage, grow up in love.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Salvation is for all. Saint Augustine wrote that the shepherds of Christmas were Israelites; the Magi were Gentiles. The shepherds lived nearby and the Magi lived faraway. Yet both came to Christ. Me too!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...



Marigold ~ Mary's Gold

The Second Joyful Mystery ~ The Visitation

  

This vibrant picture of two pregnant Caribbean women meeting - Mary and her elder relative Elizabeth, is called the Visitation - the visit. The energy, the smiles, the colors, the embraces! The quote from Saint Jane Frances de Chantal is quite apt: "This is the place of our delight and rest." We might read the account of the Visitation in Luke 1:39-56, before going to pray this decade of the rosary with the ten reflections.

Our Father, Who art in  heaven...

The baby within Mary's womb is at first, like all of us, a cluster of cells. Yet God is here - a God who wants more than anything to be shared, expressed and loved. And I don't want to just know this, like data, but I want to be excited by this, excited to do or be something new.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Mary wastes no time. Unannounced, with the embryonic child within her womb, she goes off to see her elder relative Elizabeth. Time is short. Let me not delay in the things of God: family, humility, justice, reconciliation, compassion.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Hastily, Mary went to Elizabeth to share the happy news. Perhaps at times she ran along the way, like the women of Easter morning - running - running from the empty tomb in the joy of Jesus Risen! Oh, God keep me from running to the people and places of false and temporary happiness. I will run instead with the happy news of Jesus in my heart!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Elizabeth would not have known of Mary's visit ahead of time. When Mary arrived at the home in Judea, Jesus was the size of a pinhead in his mother's womb. And Elizabeth said: Who am I, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? Elizabeth understands who this is in Mary's womb. Do I?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I am the Lord's servant, Mary said. She opened up space for God, and forgetting herself she went quickly to see her elder pregnant relative, Elizabeth. Love puts itself at the service of others.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Mary's pregnancy. Christianity is about a cross and an empty tomb, but it is also about a womb. A fertilized ovum that became an embryo, that became a fetus. No matter how tiny, the God-man, Jesus, was with us from the start. He took on our human form and became one of us.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

At the time of the Visitation, Mary was pregnant likely no more than ten days. There would not have been signs of her pregnancy yet. But when Mary arrived, the baby inside Elizabeth's womb jumped for joy. Jumped for joy! (Luke 1:44)

Hail Mary, full of grace...

As unmarried, Joseph and Mary's family might have rejected her. She might have been reduced to ostracized poverty. She and her child might have become outcasts. Today she would be counseled to take all of these negatives into consideration and end the pregnancy. But she chose to have her child!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The angel is quite clear: not only is the child's conception announced but so is His name. His name will be Jesus. Already the little life in Mary's womb is known to God the Creator by name! And so was I? And so is the life of each conceived person. I have called you by name, you are mine. (Isaiah 43:1)

Hail Mary, full of grace...

This is strange. Some people still like to think of ourselves as a Christian county. But it was the ancient Chinese who calculated someone's age not from the day of the person's birth but from the best guess of when the person was conceived!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...

Lilium Candidum ~ Madonna Lily

Da rosas, nam Regina! ~ Give roses, for the Queen! And The First Joyful Mystery ~ The Annunciation

DATING BACK TO THE MIDDLE AGES, a rosarium is a garden where only roses are collected and cultivated. Roses are considered to be the most beautiful, elegant and prized of all the flowers. A rosarium is most often enclosed by a fence, stone wall or hedge, inviting privacy, quiet, contemplation and the enjoyment of beauty. The word rosary has come to mean the string of beads one uses to pray while considering the lives of  Jesus and Mary.

So here is a link of unusual delicacy - that while we're praying the rosary, we're offering Our Lady roses! Indeed, each Hail Mary (the prayer which echoes the words of the Archangel Gabriel and Mary's relative, Elizabeth) can become a rose selected from your own inner enclosed rosarium.

Here then are three collections of meditations which I have composed, each set containing five scenes from the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries. The Luminous Mysteries can be found in the posts just prior to this one. Each of the scenes contains a collection of ten very short meditations for us to consider, so that our prayer will remain focused and thoughtful.

The rose at the head of the reflections serves to remind us that the Hail Mary is our gift. A decade then (the groups of ten) is a bundle of roses: white for Joyful Mysteries, red for Sorrowful Mysteries, yellow for Glorious Mysteries.

Mary calls herself, servant (Luke 1:38), while we call her queen. And we've all seen pictures of queens coming to pay visits to towns and villages. Long lines of people, with children up front, stand waiting to give small bouquets of flowers to the queen. Even a little child with the tiniest bouquet waits with excitement and anticipation, hoping the queen will pass and the gift can be made person, in humility and joy. The prayer-bouquet then mustn't be put together sloppily or hurriedly. I must consider what I'm doing in my prayer, like placing flowers together nicely, giving each consideration. This will help us to put away that praying of the rosary which is often made ugly by racing - "rattling" Jesus says (Matthew 6:7-8).

The whole rosary doesn't need to be prayed in one sitting; it can be spread out over the course of the day or longer. Prayer should refresh, not exhaust us, and so a few moments of silence can be introduced between the reflection and the Hail Mary.

The First Joyful Mystery

The Annunciation

John Collier painted this Annunciation in 2000 for the Church of Saint Gabriel in McKinney, Texas. Isn't it wonderful that someone is interested in painting the Annunciation in a contemporary setting? This indicates that Mr. Collier understands that the Mysteries of God - the bright closeness of God - is for every age in every place - that these things are  forever and not moments lost in time. What makes the painting so reflective is that Mr. Collier has included some traditional elements, like the lily placed on the porch, that the angel has wings and is wearing a robe, that Mary is dressed in blue. But there are other elements that are surprising and delightful: that Mary is wearing saddle shoes which suggests she is quite young, that there is a breeze against her dress reminding us of the breath of God in the story of our creation, that the light indicates it is morning (the start of something new), that the neighborhood is one we might know from our own American experience. We might read the gospel account of the Annunciation before praying this decade ( Luke 1:26-38).

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

Coming from heaven, an angel must be terrifying. And so in kindness, Gabriel said to Mary, Don't be afraid. Why would I be frightened at the appearance of an angel? Perhaps fearful of what God might ask of me?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

As the angel appeared to Mary and invited her not to fear, I'm to think of the other angel, at the end of the gospel-story, at the tomb of Easter morning. Already the gospel is getting me ready for the Resurrection of Jesus: Love that refuses to lose me!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I should acknowledge that Mary likely had her own life-plans. But she put these aside as God revealed His urgent request. As I ponder my own life-plans, am I open, Mary-like, to what God surely has in mind for me?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I must remember too that Mary is going to have to tell Joseph of her pregnancy and that the expected baby is not his! Talk about trusting that things will work out; that God is in charge!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The baby will be great, the angel told Mary. He'll be great in having followers down through the ages. He'll be great in his miracles and in his teaching that can turn a life around. He'll be great in His promises and in how far He'll go to get us back for Himself. And I want to be great too: great in love.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The baby will be called Emmanuel, the angel told Mary. Is this like a nick-name? The name means: God is with us. The best any friend can do in the sorrows, struggles, disasters and joys of life, is to be with me.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The name Jesus means: Yahweh saves. Yahweh is the Hebrew people's name for God. But saves us from what? Saved from the downward spiral of wrong choosing that seems to have been going on since soon after humans were created. Saved from our worst selves. Saved from our ultimate undoing. Saved from death's hold on me.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Often in pictures of the Annunciation scene the painter places a lily near Mary: a symbol of her purity. Blessed are the pure of heart, Jesus says, they will see God. Do I know that I can see God, that I can reach out and even touch God? That's not nonsense. But it will never happen if I don't first have a pure heart.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Saint Augustine wrote: Before Mary conceived Jesus in her womb, she conceived Him in  her heart. Oh, I want a heart like Mary's: all YES to Jesus!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

A disciple isn't just a follower. The word follower can connote a weak tag-a-long, someone with nothing better to do. But a Christian disciple is the one who pursues Jesus in the adventure of obedience and friendship. This Christ-Adventure promises joy, like nothing to be found elsewhere.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...