I reached a milestone

I reached a milestone in my Rosary-journey at the Irish Dominican College in Rome, when I came upon an the old precious book entitled, Le Triple Rosaire, by Pere Bernard, OP of Toulouse. It is a veritable mine of information. It proved to be an exciting stepping stone in my path to stillness and the discovery of the real secret of meditation, or to call it by the more traditional Western title, contemplation. The author does not deny the need for preaching and meditation and study but he insists that, at the actual time of praying the Rosary, a person moving into a prayer of simple union with God, leaves aside all anxiety about carefully worked out mental images or desires.

“These things,” he says, “dispose us for the Divine presence, but at prayer-time they no longer occupy the fore-front of our minds. This work has already been done. Now you are invited to rest in the Lord himself.”

Fr. Bernard then gives the following delightful comment: “Imagine a King who summons his two sons to reveal to them the secrets of his heart. One passes quickly through the ante-rooms to hasten to the throne-room. The other dallies on the way looking at the works of art, and never reaches the King. How much better to see the King than to be dazzled by his treasures.”

Many of those called to be contemplatives in the Rosary act like this.They try to be attentive and make sure that thoughts match up with words. But in the evening of life, as relationship has grown deep and strong, what matters is attention to the person who is present. That is true of ordinary conversation and it is true of the divine conversation of prayer. Strangers tend to talk and be careful of their speech. Intimate friends long to sit in silence and attend to each other. Reminds one of the disciples who asked: “Where do you dwell? and received the reply: “Come and see.”

Calm soul of all things!
Make it mine
To feel, amid the city’s jar
That there abides a peace of thine,
Man did not make
and cannot mar.

Lines written by Mathew Arnold in Kensington Gardens

The Circle and the Zero

The traditional Catholic Rosary forms a circle as we hold it. The circular form of the beads speaks of that unending splendour of grace, while the Zero shape into which it gently falls is a constant reminder of the mystery of my own life which must decrease and discover its own littleness and vulnerability.
I think of St.Catherine of Siena who heard the Lord speak: “I am the One who is, you the one who is not.” What gives such value to the Rosary, is that built into it, are the mysteries of God made man, and the almost infinite intercession of Mary..Thomas Aquinas has the daring words, that “Mary comes right up to the borders of the infinite.” Heavenly riches and earthly poverty come together in the Rosary.

Strong, secure and sacred

Strong, secure, and sacred! --the Rosary beads. When you hold them in your hand, you are in touch,-- in touch, as the Credo at Mass has it, -- with all that is, -- seen and unseen. Who wants to be out of touch? Out of touch with reality; out of touch with other people and of things that matter. Touching the physical chain of beads we somehow make contact with the invisible and eternal. Beads are part of the religious fabric of the wide world. From East to West, religions of every shade seem to make use of them. And not just religious folk. It is simply a human thing.

Seated next to me on a plane as we were taking off, was a smart Japanese business man who was fingering a small string of beads. “Makes me feel safe,” he remarked. Personlly I never venture out of the house until my rosary rests snugly in my pocket.

I’m reminded of a story Rosemary Ward tells, of when she was a nursing attendant during the London air-raids: A young man was carried in to the hospital with terrible wounds and laid on the ground before her . She felt helpless and took out her beads as they waited for the doctor. The wounded man stretched out his hand, and whispered, “Let me touch them. They’re something to hold on to.”

We all need something to hold on to, to still the quivering body and to slow down the racing mind and to calm the inner storm. The blessed beads of the Rosary with all its hallowed memories can serve that purpose in a most admirable manner. In my ministry I’ve often found it was enough to put the Rosary beads into the hand of the sick or troubled one. Then I speak the words of William Blake:

I hold infinity in the palm of my hand and touch eternity in an hour.

Be still my soul

As I was about to begin Mass a lady in distress came to see me. There was little I could do in the few moments before walking out on the altar, so I invited her to come round when Mass was over. During the Offertory, the organist played the Sibelius piece to which the verses below have been attached.

The splendour of the music moved me deeply and touched something above and beyond. At the end of the service, the lady herself came round to say, that she was fine and needed no further help. The message that sounded from the organ playing supplied all she wanted. "Waves of stillness and splendour swept over me, as the Finlandia music, as it is known, sounded through the church.”

Most of that piece by Sibelius is taken up with rousing and turbulent music, evoking the national struggle of the Finnish people. But towards the end, a calm comes over the orchestra, and the serenely melodic hymn is heard. How well suited it is to the Christian words applied to it:

Be still, my soul:
Your God will undertake
To guide the future
As he has the past.
Your hope, your confidence,
Let nothing shake,
All now mysterious
Shall be clear at last.
Be still my soul:
The tempests still obey
His voice, who ruled them
Once in Galilee.

For the Christian, the secret of stillness and security is faith in Jesus Christ. We do not rest in the void and the darkness, we respond to the call of one who loves us: Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give your rest. Mt.11.28

Blessed Oil for Healing

Besides the official blessing of oil as performed by the Bishop on Holy Thursday for the Sacrament of healing administred by a priest, there is also a long-standing tradition of the use of simple blessed oil for the healing of the Sick by the laity themselves. In former times it was common to encourage the members of the Rosary Confraternity to take home the oil that had been burning before the Altar of the Rosary Society for application to the absent sick members. For full details of this, see my book, The Riches of the Rosary, published by Veritas, Dublin One finds the same practice among those who come together for Charismatic praise and worship.

If you would like to receive a small bottle of blessed oil for your own use, please contact me, Father Gabriel, at the Dominican Priory, Tallaght Village, Dublin 24. As this is done on a confidential basis, I supply only to those who apply individually. Among the prayers specially recommended on the literature supplied is the following:

God, our Father, we press our open wounds
to the precious wounds of Jesus, your Son
that your will and our be one.
Through these shared wounds may we be healed
and bring your healing love to others,
that all may be enriched in the fulness of love
through Jesus, the Divine Humanity.

Linger in love with the Lord

Popes Paul VI and John Paul II when writing of the Rosary, advised that it be said with a lingering pace and with a rhythm of tranquillity. Speed kills, not only on the roads, but on the pathway of life. For those who know and love the Virgin-Mother of Jesus, the Rosary becomes a blisssfully simple exercise. Resting in the arms of Mary, they attune themselves to the beat of her Immaculate Heart. And the lullaby that she sings to them, is the love-song of her Son--the lyric of his life, death and glory.

The repeated rhythm of the Aves serves to still the racing brain and the inner turmoil, to quie tthe troubled heart and to

“set the soul in silence and peace.
As a child has rest in its mother’s arms,
even so my soul.”--Psalm 130

We learn to rest in the holy name of Mary, to make the name of Jesus at the centre of each Ave a point of holy communion. Each time we say, Jesus, we make an offering of Him to the Father and make communion with the power that goes out from him to bring healing and strength. Thus do we find the rest that brings us to the inner land of being.

There is a Far Eastern version of psalm 23 version which has the words:

The Lord is my pace-setter... I will not rush
He makes me stop for quiet intervals,
He provides me with images of stillness
which restore my serenity.
He leads me in the ways of efficiancy
through calmness of mind
and his guidance is peace.

The Healing Light

The small book edited by myself--The Healing Light of the Rosary, has this statement:
“The Jews did not listen to the voice of God, that would have led them into the full and peaceful possession of their kingdom. But when the fulness of time had come, there arose among them, one, who put that word before every other consideration. Mary’s Yes to God opened humanity to the voice whose claims are stronger than any other, announcing that there exists an inner land where alone we can find rest.”

The author of those lines, who lived with the troubles of Northern Ireland and knew of the routine of occupational forces in the streets of her native Belfast would invite us, in the Rosary Prayer Group, to linger in love with the Lord! She would say that if we do so, springs of living water will rise in the barren land of life