DOOR INTO THE SACRED

This new work by Fr. Paul Murray is a Meditation on the Hail Mary. In his introduction, the author writes: "My hope in writing this tiny book is that, by giving space to some of the most moving and most profound reflections ever written on the Hail Mary, a door will open for the reader into a world in which the strenuous task of thinking and the easeful grace of feeling can both be considered sacred, and where wisdom and enchantment, theology and devotion, are found, at core, to be one and the same thing. For almost an entire millennium the most commonly repeated prayer in the Church, apart from the Our Father, has been the Hail Mary. It’s a prayer that, with great simplicity and ease, brings us at once into the mystery of God incarnate, the mystery of Jesus, son of Mary. For countless numbers of people over the centuries it has proved to be a threshold of grace, a real opening into the mystery and meaning of God’s love, a ‘holy door’."

For myself, I find this latter to be so true. How often on entering an old Church in Italy or France, I have observed the Angel Gabriel carved on one side of the main door and the Virgin Mary on the other side. It made me feel that I was being ushered in to the wonderland of the sacred and secret mystery of God. I hope to have this precious work of Fr. Paul available for our Rosary Retreat in the Retreat Centre, in Tallaght
August 14th--20. If you cannot make the full five days it i possible to drop in for a single day or more.

Rosary Video

The picture shows Dominican Friars singing the Night Office with Our Lady watching over them as they sign the Salve Regina-- Hail Holy Queen!
www.worldpriest asked me to put a Nine minute talk on their Website. Hope you like it.Look up the site below.

Rosary Videohttp://worldpriest.com/home/rosary

Fr. Gabriel at the Dominican Priory, Tallaght Village, Dublin 24

Beads for Meditation

For those who may be shy of producing the Catholic beads in public, it may be of help to know that they are not alone when they pray the Rosary. Hindus, Buddhists and many other folk, use the beads as an aid to meditation. They sit still and pass the beads through their fingers while they repeat a sacred word or mantra. Touching the beads enables them to be serene and secure. The sacred word is more sounded in the depth of the being than spoken by the lips.

So never be tempted to think that the Catholic Rosary is elitist or out of date. Praying with the beads is universal and belongs to every age and civilization. See picture of Buddhist monk meditating with his beads in his hands. You can read more about all this in my book: The Riches of the Rosary, published by Veritas, Dublin.

The Catena of the Legion of Mary

Catena is the Latin word for link or chain. It is the sign of the Holy Slavery of Jesus and Mary as taught by St. Louis Marie de Montfort. It reminds Legionaries that they are bound by the sweet chain of Love and Loyalty to Mary and to each other. Members of the Legion of Mary are not lone rangers working on their own. They are in the service of the Queen of Heaven and they stand shoulder to shoulder in army that has set itself to conquer the world.

Even those who have left are encouraged to pray the Catena and thereby keep a connection with the Legion. The opening Antiphon of the Catena is a panorama of the whole role of Mary: Fair as the Moon, Bright as the Sun, and like an Army in battle array! At once attractive and awesome!

In the Magnificat Mary does what we all need to do: She points to the Lord. For our part we often focus on ourselves -- our projects and our problems and make them still larger. Mary sweetly and surely makes the problems into possibilities as she teaches us instead to magnify the Lord. She is the Magnifier of God and his kingdom. Like her Son, she prays thy name, thy Kingdom, thy will. As we grow in this spirit of Mary, the apostolate becomes no longer my kingdom my project, my problem. As our little kingdom decreases, so does the Kingdom of God take root and grow great.

Pride is the most destructive force in the world and blocks the stream of grace. The Lord scatters the proud hearted. We know this to be true from our own experience and have seen that how it can destroyed or gravely diminish even Mary’s own Legion. Humility on the other hand is the foundation on which the Kingdom is established.

Mary acknowledges that anything that is good in her is the work of the Lord. Her soul proclaims the greatness of God. She knows that God has saved her and she rejoices in God my Saviour. Legionaries should remember the words of St. Ephraem so well: ‘May the spirit of Mary be in every soul to glorify the Lord.’

Fr. Bede the Head spiritual director of the Legion of Mary suggests that while we pray the Magnificat together at all our meetings sometimes we should pray and meditate over it personally and in solitude.

worldpriest.com

Recently I was given the opportunity of appearing live on the
Website entitled: worldpriest.com

The occasion, was the close of the Year for Priests and they asked me to say a few words on the Rosary in the life of a Priest. You can look the site up for yourself and I trust it may bring us a little closer. What I was trying to get across in the short time available, was that in the hands of the Priest, the Rosary was not only a prayer, but that a valuable instrument of preaching the Good News of Jesus and Mary.

For the Rosary is a summary of the Scriptures and Sacred Tradition. Pere Lacordaire spoke of it as L'evangile a genoux-- The Gospel on its knees. You can see and listen live by clicking on the following:
http://www.worldpriest.c/home/rosary_relay_video.php