Praying the Rosary 2 – The Rosary and the Dominican Vocation
Recently, the Master of the Order, Fr Carlos Azpiroz Costa, wrote a letter on the Rosary, declaring that this year should be a ‘Year of the Rosary’ for the Order. In his letter Fr Carlos, suggested that the Order undergo a process of re-discovering the importance of the Rosary in Dominican life, both as a prayer by which we contemplate the mysteries of salvation, and also as a means by which the Gospel may be preached.
The letter begins by treating the memories that we may have of the Rosary: these may be our own, or ones that have been passed on to us. These will help us, Fr Carlos suggests, to rediscover its importance in our own lives, and what it has meant to others. He recounts the story of the persecution of Brazilian Dominicans in the 1970s, and of a brother being dragged away, shouting for his Rosary to be brought to him. Such a moment showed forth the Rosary’s importance to that brother. Why then might the Rosary in particular be so important to us?
The Master’s answer is that the mysteries we contemplate in the Rosary are very much associated with the events of our own life. Each mystery speaks to us of the mysteries of salvation brought to us through the incarnation, and in a special way of the effect those mysteries have in our own life. There are few prayers that better speak to us and make God present to us in all our needs than the Rosary. Fr Carlos recounts his journeys throughout the world, visiting the Order, and how these have shown him how often people turn to the Rosary as a prayer in their deepest needs: in poverty, war, and violence. He encourages the Dominicans to see the Rosary as gift: it is a prayer that can be said at any time, in any place, alone or together. Sometimes maybe all we are able to do is to grasp the beads in our hands, ‘grasping the hand of Mary herself’. It is a prayer for the whole of our lives, whether as a young child receiving our first Rosary as a gift, a young Dominican novice, receiving the Rosary with the habit, or as a symbol of lifelong devotion, at our side when we are laid to rest at the end of our lives.
In the letter, the Order is presented with a call to re-discover the value and place of the Rosary in our personal and community prayer, our contemplation and preaching. Perhaps reviving the praying of the Rosary is something that we should all be involved in as Catholics. We might wish to think about placing the prayer at the centre of our prayer lives this Lent, praying that it will help prepare us to worthily and reverently celebrate the mysteries of our salvation.
