“But he kept calling out all the more, ‘Son of David, have pity on me.’”

          We hear today the prayer of a man desperately in need of the Lord, who calls out over and over, “have pity on me!” Bartimaeus is not afraid to be repetitive in prayer, to ask over and over again for what he so greatly desires (his sight).

          Today is the last Sunday of October, the month traditionally dedicated to our Lady’s Rosary. Many have criticized the prayer of the Rosary for being repetitive: why would we just pray the same prayers over and over, almost mindlessly?

          But does Bartimaeus’s prayer lose any value because he makes it over and over again? Of course not. In fact, it only gains in urgency and importance. Bartimaeus’s urgency and trust that the Lord will respond to his petition show us the attitude with which we ought to approach all prayer, and especially the prayer of the Rosary.

          When people ask what the Rosary is, we could start by explaining how it is prayed: one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, etc. But it is better to foreground the why of the Rosary: The Rosary is a way of meditating on the mysteries of the life of Christ and other important events in the history of salvation, as seen through the eyes of the human person who knew Him best, His Mother. Who, after all, was closer to Him? Who was more profoundly affected by His conception, birth, Passion, death, and Resurrection than She was?

          How do we pray the Rosary? Again, even before we talk about which prayers to say on which beads, we ought to think of the spirit with which we approach the Rosary. That spirit is assumed in the concluding prayer: “O God, whose Only Begotten Son, by his life, Death, and Resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech thee, that while meditating on these mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.” The goal of the repetitiveness of the Hail Marys and other prayers is to help us form a spirit of meditation, pondering over each set of mysteries. Doing so should lead us to imitate the virtues of our Blessed Mother contained in each of those mysteries, which will lead to us obtaining the promises of the Rosary (more on that in a minute). Imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.

          The Rosary is the prayer of beginners. It is an introduction into the practice of meditation that can be deepened by lectio divina (meditation on the Scriptures) and silent, contemplative prayer. But even the masters of contemplative prayer still come back to the Rosary. When I make a retreat at a monastery, I find it consoling to see the monks in the chapel or walking the grounds during their few free moments, praying the Rosary. The serenity with which they chant the psalms, or the attentiveness with which they meditate on the Scriptures might not be a realistic possibility for me, but to pray the Rosary with devotion is possible for everyone.

          So the Rosary is the prayer for beginners, which is great, because most of us are beginners. And even the cloistered nun most practiced in meditation will always regard herself as a beginner too, in comparison with the infinite depths of God to be plumbed in prayer.

          Thus, Fulton Sheen said, “The rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the rosary is beyond description.”

          Souls who pray the Rosary, “enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known.” Perhaps this is why the Rosary has such a power to bring peace and comfort to troubled hearts. For those who have encountered the Lord through the Rosary, even just clutching your Rosary beads can bring a sense of the Blessed Mother’s maternal love and care. In a world full of depression and anxiety, that awareness of Christ and His Mother’s presence through the Rosary can help the troubles and anxieties of this life appear in a new light. In college, as I was beginning to love and appreciate the Rosary, there were many nights I fell asleep with a Rosary clutched in my hand.

          Thus, Pope Pius XI taught: “The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin…If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors.”

          Peace in our hearts: What most robs peace from our hearts is sin. The Rosary has an incredible power to quiet the unruly passions and disordered desires that lead to sin. Experiencing Jesus and Mary’s closeness to you in the Rosary, it becomes possible to conquer sin and temptation, and the troubles and anxieties of this life appear in a new light. The Rosary brings hope to troubled hearts.

          Peace in our homes: Who does not desire peace in one’s home? Committing to praying the Rosary as a family could seem like something that would only make your family’s life more hectic by adding one more thing to do. In a certain sense, yes, time is a zero-sum game. You cannot juice any more than 24 hours out of the clock each day. But in another sense, it isn’t. So much of how much time we have is determined by the approach we take to things, by the way we go about the things we do. Not to mention the fact that the average American adult spends three hours per day looking at his or her phone, and the average American pre-teen spends five and a half hours per day on entertainment screen time. Maybe there are 20 minutes that would be better off spent another way?

          Peace in our country and in our world: One of the great Apostles of devotion to the Rosary was Pope Leo XIII, who reigned from 1878-1903 and wrote twelve encyclicals on the Rosary. It is hard for us to imagine, but these were incredibly difficult times for the Church and for the whole world. This was the old world in its death throes, before being finished off by World War I. Anticlerical governments and forces opposed to religion threatened the Church’s existence. Diplomatic relations between Italy and the Holy See were nonexistent, and the pope was the “prisoner” within the Vatican walls. The Kulturkampf limited the Church in Germany and Switzerland; the governments of France and Belgium wished to obtain control of the religious schools and to expel the religious teaching congregations. Freemasonry was openly hostile to the Church, and new findings of science seemed to refute long-held religious teachings.

Leo’s solution amidst this Century of strife was a simple one: Cling to the Rosary. He found in each set of mysteries a remedy to the errors and miseries of the world around him: The joyful mysteries, centered on the hidden life of Christ and the holy family at Nazareth, stand in contrast to the contemporary disdain for poverty and simplicity of life. The sorrowful mysteries, depicting Christ’s acceptance of the Cross, are opposed to the attitude of fleeing from any hardship and suffering. The glorious mysteries, which include the Resurrection, Ascension, the descent of the Spirit, and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, are a reminder that this life is a prelude to a future life with God.

          Just as these mysteries are a remedy to the woes of the world, they are likewise a remedy to many trials that we see within the Church Herself. We see in the Church a certain worldliness, a desire for the approval and acceptance of the world, and we need the example of the humility of Christ and the Holy Family in the joyful mysteries. We see a fear of suffering when we are afraid to stand up to the world and its leaders. We see a Church that flees from martyrdom, and we need the sorrowful mysteries to remind us to cling to Christ Crucified. We see a lack of eternal perspective, a forgetfulness of the more important life that is to come, and we need the glorious mysteries to remind us of the higher realities known by Faith.

          At the conclusion of this month of the Rosary, commit yourself and your family to a greater devotion to the Most Holy Rosary. If you do not already pray the Rosary daily, commit to starting. If the whole Rosary seems like too much right away, start with a decade, and build up from there. If you have made this commitment in the past but have slipped, renew that commitment today and think about what obstacles are getting in the way. If you are praying the Rosary daily, ask the Lord to help you go deeper, seeing the Rosary as a tool for meditation that leads to seeing Christ’s life through the eyes of His Mother.

          If you already pray the Rosary, you could resolve to invite others to pray the Rosary, helping them to discover the peace and hope that the Rosary brings. You have probably seen those bumper stickers (or maybe you have one on your car) that read, “Help America Pray the Rosary.” A friend and I realized that we had each read that bumper sticker differently. I took it to mean, “Help America by praying the rosary,” he took it to mean, “Help America to pray the Rosary.” We need more of that second meaning. If you do pray the Rosary on a regular basis, find someone who doesn’t yet, and lovingly help them start.

The Rev. Royce V. Gregerson

Parish Church of Our Lady of Good Hope, Fort Wayne

XXX Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXIV