Of the Rosary

The third Sunday of Advent, which was yesterday, is often dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In fact, at the Cathedral, we joined with the Hispanic mission to celebrate the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe. So, it seems a good time to discuss how I came to the rosary.

But first, I must apologize to anyone who took offense at the phrase which I used last Sunday, "Mary-worshipping Papist", as Sam did. I was simply seeking the worst stereotype that fundamentalist Christians might have associated with the rosary. It was meant like "Commie-loving tree-hugging Democrat". You know, an Archie Bunkerism.

Growing up in Oklahoma, I did not know many Roman Catholics. In fact, my introduction to the denomination may have been the movie "Sound of Music". I found something about the ritual, and the surety of faith (as reflected in pre-1970 cinema) attractive. The Roman Catholics had something mysterious I was not finding in the Methodist Church.

Of course, the nuns had rosaries looped around their rope girdles. It's likely that I actually saw a character pray a bit of the rosary in a movie. So, I understood that the rosary had something to do with being Catholic.

In high school, I met Julian, who was the first self-identified Roman Catholic I knew. He had a slightly off-kilter sense of humor, was absolutely accepting of me, and was willing to talk about his tradition without trying to convert. When I started asking about the rosary, in our first year of college, he gave me some pamplets on the fundamentals of the Roman Catholic faith, which included instructions on how to pray the rosary.

I may have already seen a similar form in the St. Augustine Prayer Book, which had been published by Anglo-Catholics (a.k.a. "High Church" Episcopalians) in the 1920s. But the books Julian gave me presented an in-depth view

By the way, those books were Handbook for Today's Catholic, a Redemptorist Pastoral Publication(1978); and Ten Series of Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary by Rev. John Ferraro (1981).

By way of giving the process a fair shake, I started praying the rosary. And thinking about what the prayers meant, what the mysteries meant, to me.

The primary prayer of the Rosary is the Hail Mary:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

I've long thought of this in two parts (as presented here): the first half is Biblical, repeating words spoken, respectively, by Gabriel and Mary's cousin Elizabeth. The second half is more problematic, as it calls Mary both Holy and Mother of God. This may be the statement that gives people the mistaken belief that Roman Catholics are praying to Mary.

Both statements are sorts of titles. Saying Mary is holy is another way of saying "blessed"; since she's called blessed in the Bible, we shouldn't have a problem calling her Holy. And, in as much as Jesus was fully God and fully human (as I keep repeating), Mary was mother to God. The rest of the statement asks Mary to pray for us, just as you might ask a friend to pray for you.

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I have more to say about Mary as an archetype. Students of religion and anthropology are aware that the early church assigned qualities of Roman and Greek goddesses (et al) to Mary. Mary was also identified with the Hagia Sophia spoken of in the Song of Songs (and elsewhere). Clearly, in a male-dominated tradition, common people ached for a feminine balance, and the ideal of Mary came to serve that purpose.

It is in this tradition that I have come to use Mary as a vehicle to realize the feminine aspect of God.

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This week I will be meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries: The Agony in the Garden, The Scourging, The Crowning with Thorns, The Carrying of the Cross, and The Crucifixion. These will be hard scenes for me to talk about. Many have preconceived notions about what they mean, and it's challenging to write about the incidents divorced from those preconceived notions.

I'll repeat that it's not my intention to preach or convert. I'm wrestling with these questions. For me, the challenge is to address these questions on an emotional level as well as an intellectual level. For me, the heady stuff is safe. Writing things about scenes in my life that these events remind me of, is harder. And scarier.

Pray for us, blessed Lady.