Tuesday, 1 November 2016
OFFER A ROSE OF THE ROSARY
While
reading this awesome reflection written by Nwafor Collins .I. I was really basked with joy and so i encourage you
all to read.
The
month of October beckons on us (even more) to bring roses of the Rosary to God
through the Blessed Virgin Mary. What do we mean by roses here? Just as the
beauty and fragrance of the rose flower to its thorny stem, we are encouraged
by the “October demands” (as contained in Pope Leo XIII’s
encyclical titled Supremi Apostolatus Officio on devotion of the Rosary)
that the people of God should frequent these pious exercises of reciting the
Rosary and alongside, we add, concretize it by deeds of love.
In other words, to offer a rose of the Rosary
is to unify our deeds of love with the recitation of the Rosary, which is to bring
acts of beauty that exudes saintly fragrance. These acts of love which we show
to our neighbours both in extraordinary conditions and, or most essentially in
insignificant and ordinary aspects.
I
wish to draw our attention to the consciousness that in contemplating the
mysteries of the Rosary, we should be drawn towards making concrete expressions
of them. In other words, as we contemplate the joys of the Holy Family (of
Mary, Joseph and Jesus) and the re-ennobling of the fallen human nature by
Christ our Saviour in the Joyful Mysteries, we also entrench ourselves into
Christ’s suffering and death for our redemption in the Sorrowful Mysteries.
Then, as we contemplate Christ’s glorious manifestation and the gift of His
Church in the Mysteries of Light, we should also acknowledge the assurance and
hope of His promises hereafter in the Glorious Mysteries. If we struggle by
adhering and properly meditating on these mysteries of the Rosary, we will then
be offering to our heavenly Father (God) through Mary our roses. Hence, the
impacts of these mysteries are the roses which the month of October demands of
us. We engage and accelerate the praying of the greatest adversary to the devil
that is, the Rosary, not just in a formalistic way or as a Church routine, but
that our whole being is consumed and thus reflects its effectiveness and
graces.
These
roses are the gifts of our hearts and good deeds. These roses are what we offer
to Mary our Mother Thrice Admirable in the Shrine as Contributions to the
Capital of Grace. It is fitting and gracious that as we recite the beads of the
Rosary, we recollect the deeds of love we have done to our neighbour – that
image and likeness of God. By so doing, we unite our deeds of love, and the
yearnings (or troubles) of our hearts with the particular mystery. This is what
is meant by offering the roses of the Rosary.
Just
as the rose flower triumphs over its thorny stem, so does the Rosary triumph
over all challenges of our times; the challenges of “Anthropological Heresies”.
This simply means the adversaries or
militating agents of the human dignity. It is the distortion of the divine
will. We will agree with the testimonies of historical antecedence, that the
Rosary has been used to conquer diabolical attacks and destroy devilish
ideologies, for example during the attempted invasion of Europe by the Turks in
the barbaric era of the world history. Even as we recall and perhaps agree to
these past testimonies (our individual experiences included too), the Blessed
Mother is still powerful. And when we call unto her by saying the Rosary, she
will tell her Son Jesus of the “wines” we lack.
If
a simple instrument of grace such as the Rosary is a great tool for victory in
the “Anthropological
wars” of our times, why can’t we offer to it a miniature of our “phone
time”; why can’t we also allot to it some time as we do to the social media?
Does a man chase rats in his house that is on fire, goes an Igbo adage. Our
humanity is on fire! The fire of Anthropological heresies such as effects of
technologies, abortions, and contraception, human trafficking, conflicts in
sexual orientation and balancing, and other like modern “mal-trocities” (as I
term them).
It is however surprising and disheartening
that we refuse to put off these fires, rather we chase not just the rats of
consumerism, but also lit our pipes of blind and destructive collectivism (or Mass
mindedness in Schoenstatt understanding) thereby joining the bandwagon
of a meaningless life.
As Christians and more specifically as
Catholics, the Church through the “October demands” encourages us to offer our
roses of the Rosary. It is only in union with our victorious Queen Mary that we
can be victorious in the warfare. Thus, let us ask ourselves and sincerely
answer to ourselves whether we chase rats in our burning house or we struggle
to quench the fire? Whether we lit our pipes with the burning fire of our house
or use the waters of the Rosary to put it off? A way to be on the latter sides
is by offering a rose of the Rosary each day.
There
is never a ‘too-late’ time as much as there is life and possibility of a
readiness for conversion. This month of October is another chance to make
effective the use of the Rosary; to ask for God’s intervention in our burning
world, and through Mary’s intercession conquer the troubles of our lives and
world. Really, the Rosary will be most effective when in the spirit of the
Blessed Virgin Mary we recite it and unite it with deeds of love. When we pray
this way, we are offering a rose of the Rosary.
So,
dear friends, may we (with the words of
St Paul to the Ephesians 3:20-21) offer our roses of the Rosary in this
month “to Him who is able to do so much more than we can ask, or even think of,
by means of the power working in us: to God be the glory in the Church and in
Christ Jesus, for all time, for ever and ever! Amen”.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
No comments :
Post a Comment