The Healing Light of the Rosary

There's healing in touching the very beads themselves, a lowly healing maybe, yet something basic and instinctive. When all around is collapsing and the centre cannot hold, it is something to latch on to. “Worry beads” are universal. They let the sense of touch do its healing work. The fretful child lulls itself to sleep clutching a much loved teddy bear. A frightened adult reaches for a comforting hand in times of stress. Heaven has its own psychology, and the Rosary beads must have a high rating in its pain department!

Robert Llewelyn, formerly chaplain to the Julian of Norwich Society writes thus of the Rosary as an instrument of healing : “ Go round the whole body, making each part, an object of attention or awareness, saying the Rosary prayers at the same time. Thus, be aware of the heart centre. Let your mind descend into the heart. You are directing the healing energy of love to that part of your body. Then go round your body, mentally taking one or two beads for each part, shoulder, arms, hands, the brow, the face, the jaw... In this way, you bring healing to every part of your body, and thus to every part of yourself, that body-soul complex which makes up each one of us. Perhaps, one half of the hospital beds in the country would be emptied, if everyone were to spend fifteen minutes on this each day...!”

Something and someone to hold on to
Not just something, but someone! The sacred string of beads is something to hold on to, indeed. But more importantly, someone to hold on to! It is the Nurse of heaven who holds the other end of the golden string. Nurse of the shining white Lamb as an Irish poet called her, Mary invites us to grasp this life-line. The beads enshrine her precious and sacred secrets. They hold the healing blood-medicine of the Saviour. Down the centuries, the beads have been used in the ministry of healing. St. Louis Bertrand, the Spanish apostle of New Granada, was accustomed to carry a large Rosary round his neck, and one of his favourite practices was to place it about the neck of sick persons. The chronicler tells, how when he did this with the Countess of Albayda, her illness immediately vanished.

On another occasion, he spoke more decidedly to a spiritual confidante, saying directly. “God in His mercy granted that this Rosary should raise the dead to life.” Thus his devotion to the Rosary betrayed him into revealing a miracle he had sought to conceal, the raising of a girl to life during his South American mission. The report spread among the natives and reached Valencia, but the Saint would neither acknowledge or deny its truth. Once when asked so directly that he could not hedge, he replied: “What makes you ask such a question? God does what a blacksmith would do, when making an iron tool. He has made many suitable pieces of material and selects the one he pleases, although all are fit for his purpose.”

Healing figures highly with many rosary groups to-day, and it is usual to give a blessing for this purpose to the beads which the members freely use in the manner of the Spanish saint mentioned. As part of this blessing the following words occur:

Father of mercy , heal the sick who touch these beads
with faith, hope and love,
and may healing power go out from the Gospel mysteries,
which we contemplate and celebrate
to transform us into the likeness of Jesus,
and make us strong with all the strength
which comes from his Divine Humanity.

With the beads around the neck, or in the hands of the sick person, I like to read the text from Mark 5:

There was a woman who suffered terribly
even though she had been to many doctors...
She touched his cloak and her bleeding stopped at once...
Jesus knew that power had gone out from him,
so he turned round in the crowd and asked:
“Who touched my clothes?”

Jesus, whom we touch in every mystery of the Rosary, is still the source of power, and the author of healing. As we make contact with the simple string of beads, it is as if we were touching the hem of his garment, the very edge of eternity. All the while I like to place the focus of healing on touching the person of the Lord rather than the actual beads. I invite people to enter into the contemplative flow of the prayer and to make contact with the life-giving mysteries which are the soul of the Rosary. I composed the following prayer which brings our personal experience into line with the life-experience of the Lord himself:

The Lord is with you

Over in the West of Ireland, I was made welcome for a Rosary Novena by a wonderful woman who had organised the whole event. Each day we walked on the strand near Ballina, while we prayed and talked things over. At the end, she said: “I'll miss you when you're gone. Please write something in my autograph book so that I'll remember this Novena.” I thought of writing something lovely, like” God gave us memory, so that we might have roses in December”, but instead I jotted down: “Nan, the Lord is with you.”

Nan looked disappointed. The words were so few, and seemingly so uninspiring. So I added to the little message: “This is all our Lady knew, but it was enough. It is everything.”

The truth is, that these words: The Lord is with you, are covenant words. They are a summary of all God's promises throughout the sacred scriptures. These are the words God spoke to Joshua when he was frightened of leading the people of Israel into the promised land. It was feared that there were giants in the land and that the people would be devoured like grasshoppers before them. Not feeling up to the stature of the great Moses, Joshua needed to hear these words of the Lord:

“My servant Moses is dead. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread, I have given you, as I promised to Moses. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you, wherever you go.” (Joshua 1)

That is the very stuff of the covenant: I will be with you. You will never walk alone. Mary had to walk into an unknown land, an uncharted course. She had to walk in the darkness of faith. She had nothing but that word of the Angel: the Lord is with you.

This “being with his people” is not a mere physical presence, like the way the chair is present in the room. What we are talking about, is a living dynamic presence, that brings about a whole new relationship. The Lord is with us, backing us up, sending us forth into our own personal land of promise, and pledging protection every step of the way.

In the Secret place

In the course of a talk on the John Main method of meditation, I was asked, “What way does this differ from Rosary meditation?” Is the latter something inferior to this rather special type of meditation with the mantra?

The answer I gave was “It is and it isn’t!” It all depends on where you’re at. If the Rosary is made a kind of uniform,-- same for everyone and every situation, it can become a rigid formula that gives little scope for growth. If on the other hand, the Rosary is seen as a school of prayer, with many grades or stepping stones to wisdom, then there is room for the many splendoured range that moves from vocal prayer, to discursive meditation and on to stillness and silence.

The various mysteries of the Rosary can be pondered in detail,scenes from the Passion and Glory of Jesus can be held in the mind and applied to one’s own life in a very practical manner. The Rosary can be a way of coming to grips with the events of Christ’s life and as a method of proclaiming the Gospel. It is often called “the Gospel on its knees!” But the Rosary does not have to settle down there. As life goes on things can become simpler and one can learn in the best sense of the word to dream along with God. Far from being a mere day-dream this can be an attentive resting in the arms of the beloved.

There is a time for the simple gaze into the heart of the mystery. The vocal prayers slow down to a lingering pace. The rhythm of meditation merges into a stillness where one moves over the stepping stones to enter the secret place of the Beloved.

Change my heart O Lord

The Holy Spirit is at work in you. He wants to change you, to give you a better life. Love changes everything. Change my heart, O Lord. We live and act with the Heart of Christ. Sir Philip Sydney, thinking of a couple who say: We have given our hearts to each other. Your heart and mine are one. has written:

My true love hath my heart and I have his,
By just exchange one for another given;
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
There never was a better bargain driven,
My true love hath my heart and I have his.

We can apply the poem to our new relationship with Jesus, for this is the exchange, the Holy Spirit wishes for each of us in the course of meditation. At the heart of each mystery and each Hail Mary is the heart and the name of Jesus. Christ is not simply an object of external veneration. We take him to ourselves and receive the wondrous exchange of his own heart in return.

Meditation such as we find in the Rosary, does not end in darkness and emptiness. It is a journey towards the hearts of Jesus and Mary. It is not simply a matter of mental prayer, but an exchange of hearts, where we live in the Sacred Heart of the Beloved.

I am think that this is the difference between Eastern meditation which seems to end in the void, and the Christian type of contemplative prayer which enters the void indeed, but somehow goes beyond it. Christian prayer like the Rosary, never forgets that the source and the summit of all yearning is the union of hearts, the mystical marriage of two persons. We are the Bride and all our longing is for union with the Bridegroom. While we may wait with eager and lonely expectation, we never forget that the the Lover is coming to meet us.

“Arise make haste, my love my dove...
Let me see you face and hear your voice.”

This is why I can ask with complete confidence for my personal needs or can intercede with boldness for others. The Bridegroom cannot refuse to listen to my voice or turn away from my face?

For your heritage

A lady came to our meditation meeting who was totally insecure. Even during the meditation sesssion, she was so ill-at-ease that she could not remain still for the brief time allotted. It seemed that the source of her anxiety was a fear of God. She feared she could not serve him as she ought.

I assured her that she was not just a servant, but a bride. She was to see herself, not as a slave at the feet of her master, but as a spouse in the arms of her beloved. With this in mind, how could she ever feel insecure?

This is the heart of God’s covenant and the ground of our confidence.
The people of Israel continually reminded themselves that the Lord never fails to keep covenant with them.
Psalm 130 runs:

He remembers his covenant forever,
his promise for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he sword to Isaac.

To highlight this Bridgroom/Bridal relationship, the same Psalm speaks of the dowry that is given with the marriage. It is the very Promised Land itself--a land flowing with wine and milk and honey. -- “I am giving you a land, Canaan, your appointed heritage.”

My friend at the meditation group got the idea. She told me that it influenced her whole approach to the Eucharist. Whenever she heard the words of consecration: “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.” she knew that she was truly loved, even to the shedding of blood.” I reminded her how those who made covenant with each other would sometimes make a cut on the wrist and allow their bloods to intermingle and that we Christians are sealed in the Blood of the Lord.

And when she heard what the Psalm has to say about the Promised Land being the marriage dowry given by the Lord, she felt secure. She saw her Holy Communion as the inheritance, that would lead her to complete security and peace. She knew now that she was indeed the Bride of the Lord and that she could live out of his unfailing promise and provision.

At the King’s table--with crippled feet

Returning to our Eucharistic covenant story: When the final battle had been fought, Saul and Jonathan were dead and David was on the throne. But the new king remembered his covenant with Jonathan and wept over his death. Remembrance and fidelity are integral to the biblical notion of covenant. The covenant extended to the whole family of Saul and Jonathan, as well as to themselves. So David made inquiry: “Is there anyone belonging to Saul's family left, to whom I might show faithful mercy for Jonathan's sake? He is told “There is still one of Jonathan's sons. He is lives in hiding in an old shack in the desert of Lodebar. He has crippled feet as he fell from his nurses arms during the battle”

David sent for him. On entering David's presence, the boy--Meribbal fell at the king's feet, saying, “Here I am at your service.” But David replied “Do not be afraid. I will indeed treat you with faithful love for your father Jonathan's sake. I shall restore all your grandfather Saul's estates to you and you will always eat at my table.” Merribal prostrated himself and said: “Who is your servant, for you to show favour to a dead dog like me?”

The Covenant remembered
King David then said to Ziba an old servant of the late king Saul: “Everything belonging to Saul and his family, I give to the boy. You must work the land for him. You must harvest and produce food for him and his family. But Merribal himself, will always take his own meals at my table.”

The story ends on this touching note: “Merribal lived in Jerusalem, since he always ate at the king's table. He was crippled in both feet.” We too, come like Merribal to have our dignity restored and to find healing. The years that “the locusts have eaten” are restored. The past is forgotten, our sins are blotted out. As we live by the covenant we enjoy the good things of the kingdom. We are invited to eat at the King's table and enjoy the fruits of his merciful love all the days of our life. This are the thoughts should occupy our hearts as we sit at the royal table of Eucharist.

The Covenant heart of the Eucharist

I want to explore with you the loving mercy of God in the Eucharist. This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. How often those solemn Eucharistic words of Consecration are pronounced and we scarcely notice them.

Let me tell you one of the world's most beautiful stories of merciful and steadfast fidelity which illustrates the meaning of Covenant-love -- the love that lights up the Bible, and that lies at the heart of the Eucharist. The story in all its rich detail will enable you to plumb the depth of the words of consecration:

The story is of two young men who were contenders for power and glory. One was Jonathan, the son of King Saul. The other was David, the young man who had slain the giant Goliath with a sling and a stone. Although David had done valiant deeds in defence of the kingdom, Saul treated him badly. Things came to such a pass that David had to fly for his life. Jonathan, the King's son realised that David was not only a good man but that he might very well inherit the throne in due course. Now in anticipation of what disaster might befall either party, they looked to the future by making a pact between themselves.

Covenant and Contract
They made what the Bible calls a covenant. A covenant is a solemn agreement, whereby not only goods are exchanged but there is a commitment of persons to each other. By way of illustration, note the two elements in marriage. It is at once a contract-“This gold and silver, I thee give and with all my worldly goods, I thee endow.” But more than this, is the giving of Bride and the Bridegroom to each other. “With this body, I thee worship…” That is the covenant of marriage which binds husband and wife to each other until death do them part.

The Covenant in Bible terms had two particular qualities: kindly mercy and loyal steadfastness. As in a marriage, the Biblical qualties of mercy ensured a protection between the partners - a protection that would endure.

Cloak and belt and sword
By way of expressing this committment or covenant, Jonathan took off his princely cloak and gave it to David. This symbolised the merciful protection of the king's son. When people would see David so dressed they would respect him. Moreover, Jonathan conferred on his friend his own splendid sword and the belt which would have held his purse and his money. With these David could overcome his enemies and be able to survive the hardship of the ensuing campaign.

Sensing that Saul and himself would be overcome in the ensuing battles and that David would come to power, Jonathan made this plea of mercy to one he now saw as the future king: “If I am still alive, show your servant faithful love and mercy. If I die never withdraw your faithful love from my family. Jonathan then renewed his oath to David's since he loved him like his very soul.
Core values of Covenant
God has entered into a covenant with us, his people. That covenant, has those same core-values: expressed all over the Scriptures as a love that is steadfast, and faithful mercy. Other terms may be used , but they amount to the same thing.

Mercy brings together the two parties to the covenant: The great and good Father, pouring out his merciful love and his poor and lowly people crying out for it. The Father sends his Son among us so that the covenant may be sealed in his precious blood. On the Cross the prince of peace is stripped of his royal robe that we sinners may be clothed in his mercy. In return he takes away the rags and the remnants of our sinful lives. As we abandon our own poor defence, The Spirit gives that shining and splendid sword enabling us to overcome evil and emerge victorious. In the next section, we will see some further consequences of this Eucharistic covenant.