What the Rosary Means to Me – 16

My earliest memory of the Rosary comes from family gatherings and holidays. My grandfather would sit all of us around the room and lead the Rosary, usually after the evening meal. It was not until much later that I realized the extraordinary way the Rosary influenced my own love for the Gospel at such a young age.

Whether I consider my aunt who was a nurse or myself, a small child not old enough for school, we all pondered some experience of the mysteries of Christ’s life. Each of us, in his or her own way, could contemplate the Nativity, Crucifixion and Resurrection. No one needed theological training or a commentary to appreciate the depth of Christ’s love as presented in the Sacred Scriptures.

“Hail Mary, full of grace…blessed are you among women.” We joined both Gabriel’s and Elizabeth’s prayers of invocation to Our Lady. And Our Lady invited us to sit with her, pondering all the things she heard and experienced while following her Son from the earth, to the cross, and to the Throne of Heaven.

This modest rural family full of very different people, all praying the Rosary as one, is a microcosm. Throughout the world, Christians of all walks of life unite under the patronage of The Queen of the Holy Rosary and contemplate the mysteries of our loving Savior. If we do so with faith in what these mysteries proclaim, we too will witness the love, humility and virtue of Our Blessed Mother to all the world.