Journey with Mary through Advent

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Lk. 1:30).

We will journey with Mary through Advent, opening each day with the Entrance Antiphon of the day’s liturgy, reading a passage from the Holy Father’s document “Rosarium Virginis Mariae” and occasionally a passage from Bishop Giaquinta’s writings on Mary. Finally, we will pray and reflect with the Rosary offering it for the special intentions of peace in our world and greater holiness and communion in our families and communities. (TJM)

The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to “set out into the deep” (duc in altum!) in order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, “the way, and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6), “the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilization turn”. (RVM#1)

Advent Week ONE

December 1-7, 2002

“Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved’ (Psalm 80).

December 1, 2002: I wait for you, O LORD; I lift up my soul to my God. In you I trust; do not let me be disgraced; do not let my enemies gloat over me. No one is disgraced who waits for you, but only those who lightly break faith. (Psalm 25:1-3)

The Rosary, accurately presents some aspects of the life Jesus, both in his Physical and Mystical Body. When I say, “the first joyful mystery: the Annunciation”, I should not stop there and just consider the Annunciation, or just think of Mary at the Annunciation, but I should stretch my imagination and think that “Annunciation” means something much deeper-it means that Jesus became Flesh: “et Verbum caro factum est”, and the “Word became Flesh” (Bishop Giaquinta).

December 2, 2002: Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, proclaim it on distant coasts, and say: He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together, he guards them as a shepherd his flock (Jer. 31:10) Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God; he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. (Is. 35:4)

But the most important reason for strongly encouraging the practice of the Rosary is that it represents a most effective means of fostering among the faithful that commitment to the contemplation of the Christian mystery which I have proposed in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte as a genuine “training in holiness”: “What is needed is a Christian life distinguished above all in the art of prayer”. Inasmuch as contemporary culture, even amid so many indications to the contrary, has witnessed the flowering of a new call for spirituality, due also to the influence of other religions, it is more urgent than ever that our Christian communities should become “genuine schools of prayer”. (RVM#5)

December 3, 2002: These are holy men who became God’s friends and glorious heralds of the truth. (Memorial of St. Francis Xavier)

In contemplating Christ's face we become open to receiving the mystery of Trinitarian life, experiencing ever anew the love of the Father and delighting in the joy of the Holy Spirit (9). The contemplation of Christ has an incomparable model in Mary. In a unique way the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It was in her womb that Christ was formed, receiving from her a human resemblance, which points to an even greater spiritual closeness. No one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary. (RVM#10)

December 4, 2002: The Lord is coming and will not delay; he will bring every hidden thing to light and reveal himself to every nation. (Hab 2:3; 1 Cor. 4:5)

Mary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ, treasuring his every word: “She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19; cf. 2:51). The memories of Jesus, impressed upon her heart, were always with her, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her Son's side. In a way those memories were to be the “rosary” which she recited uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life. (RVM #10).

December 5, 2002: Lord, you are near, and all your commandments are just; long have I known that you decreed them forever. (Ps 118:151-152)

In the spiritual journey of the Rosary, based on the constant contemplation – in Mary's company – of the face of Christ, this demanding ideal of being conformed to him is pursued through an association, which could be described in terms of friendship. We are thereby enabled to enter naturally into Christ's life and as it were to share his deepest feelings. (RVM #15)

December 6, 2002: The Lord is coming from heaven in splendor to visit his people, and bring them peace and eternal life.

In support of the prayer, which Christ and the Spirit cause to rise in our hearts, Mary intervenes with her maternal intercession. “The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary”. The Rosary is both meditation and supplication. Insistent prayer to the Mother of God is based on confidence that her maternal intercession can obtain all things from the heart of her Son. (RVM#16)

December 7, 2002: The Lord opened his mouth in the assembly, and filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and clothed him in a robe of glory. (Sir 15:5 Memorial of St. Ambrose)

The Rosary is also a path of proclamation and increasing knowledge, in which the mystery of Christ is presented again and again at different levels of the Christian experience. Today we are facing new challenges. Why should we not once more have recourse to the Rosary, with the same faith as those who have gone before us? The Rosary retains all its power and continues to be a valuable pastoral resource for every good evangelizer. (RVM #17)

Advent Week TWO

December 8-14, 2002

A voice of one crying out in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. (Luke 3:4)

December 8, 2002: People of Zion, the Lord will come to save all nations, and your hearts will exult to hear his majestic voice (Is. 30:19,30)

Now, do you think that Our Lady doesn't listen after we have repeated a hundred times, "Pray for us!? For the mind of Jesus on this point is that petition must be insistent. Let us remember the sentence in the Gospel, "Seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened; ask, and you will receive” (Bishop Giaquinta).

December 9, 2002 – Feast of the Immaculate Conception: I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul; For he has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, Like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels. (Is. 61:10)

From the very first mystery, the Annunciation, where Gabriel's greeting to the Virgin of Nazareth is linked to an invitation to messianic joy: “Rejoice, Mary”. The whole of salvation history, in some sense the entire history of the world, has led up to this greeting. If it is the Father's plan to unite all things in Christ (cf. Eph 1:10), then the whole of the universe is in some way touched by the divine favor with which the Father looks upon Mary and makes her the Mother of his Son. The whole of humanity, in turn, is embraced by the fiat with which she readily agrees to the will of God. (20)

Prayer by Bishop Giaquinta:

O Mary, you are the immaculate and completely holy; what could the world have received from you if not Him who would be born holy?

The Spirit of God, overshadowing you with its mysterious presence, begot Him in your immaculate womb.

In humility you gave birth to Him who was God, but became man for our salvation and for the sanctification of the world. You are our mother.

December 10, 2002: See, the Lord is coming and with him all his saints. Then there will be endless day. (See Zec 14:5,7)

The only way to approach the contemplation of Christ's face is by listening in the Spirit to the Father's voice, since “no one knows the Son except the Father” (Mt 11:27). In the region of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus responded to Peter's confession of faith by indicating the source of that clear intuition of his identity: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 16:17). What is needed, then, is a revelation from above. In order to receive that revelation, attentive listening is indispensable: “Only the experience of silence and prayer offers the proper setting for the growth and development of a true, faithful and consistent knowledge of that mystery”.

The Rosary is one of the traditional paths of Christian prayer directed to the contemplation of Christ's face. (RVM #18)

December 11, 2002: The Lord is coming and will not delay; he will bring every hidden thing to light and reveal himself to every nation. (See Hb 2:3; 1 Cor 4:5).

To meditate upon the “joyful” mysteries, then, is to enter into the ultimate causes and the deepest meaning of Christian joy. It is to focus on the realism of the mystery of the Incarnation and on the obscure foreshadowing of the mystery of the saving Passion. Mary leads us to discover the secret of Christian joy, reminding us that Christianity is, first and foremost, euangelion, “good news”, which has as its heart and its whole content the person of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the one Savior of the world. (RVM #20)

December 12, 2002: A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. (Rv. 12:1)

In proposing to the Christian community five significant moments – “luminous” mysteries – during this phase of Christ's life, I think that the following can be fittingly singled out: (1) his Baptism in the Jordan, (2) his self-manifestation at the wedding of Cana, (3) his proclamation of the Kingdom of God, with his call to conversion, (4) his Transfiguration, and finally, (5) his institution of the Eucharist, as the sacramental expression of the Paschal Mystery. In these mysteries, apart from the miracle at Cana, the presence of Mary remains in the background. The revelation made directly by the Father at the Baptism in the Jordan and echoed by John the Baptist is placed upon Mary's lips at Cana, and it becomes the great maternal counsel which Mary addresses to the Church of every age: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). (RVM #21)

December 13, 2002: This holy woman fought to the death for the law of her God, never cowed by the threats of the wicked; her house was built on solid rock. (Memorial of St. Lucy)

The “duc in altum” of the Church of the third millennium will be determined by the ability of Christians to enter into the “perfect knowledge of God's mystery, of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:2-3). The Letter to the Ephesians makes this heartfelt prayer for all the baptized: “May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power... to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (3:17-19).

The Rosary is at the service of this ideal; it offers the “secret” which leads easily to a profound and inward knowledge of Christ. We might call it Mary's way. It is the way of the example of the Virgin of Nazareth, a woman of faith, of silence, of attentive listening. It is also the way of a Marian devotion inspired by knowledge of the inseparable bond between Christ and his Blessed Mother. (RVM #24)

December 14, 2002: But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Gal 6:14 - Memorial of St. John of the Cross)

Contemplating Christ's birth, they learn of the sanctity of life. It could be said that each mystery of the Rosary, carefully meditated, sheds light on the mystery of man. At the same time, it becomes natural to bring to this encounter with the sacred humanity of the Redeemer all the problems, anxieties, labors and endeavors which go to make up our lives. “Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you” (Ps 55:23). To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and his Mother. Twenty-five years later, thinking back over the difficulties which have also been part of my exercise of the Petrine ministry, I feel the need to say once more, as a warm invitation to everyone to experience it personally: the Rosary does indeed “mark the rhythm of human life”, bringing it into harmony with the “rhythm” of God's own life, in the joyful communion of the Holy Trinity, our life's destiny and deepest longing. (RVM #25)

Advent Week THREE

December 15-22, 2002

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners. (Isaiah 61:1)

December 15, 2002: Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!

Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. (Phil 4:4-5)

A second method, opposite of the above, consists in emphasizing the contemplation of the mystery, almost in a form of mediation, without forgetting the Hail Marys, but meditating over the mystery, deepening it. All the mysteries close to the principle one come to our mind during the recitation of the 10 Hail Marys.

Another method could be of talking to Mary of our problems. When, for example, a soul is in pain, experiences suffering, sadness, misunderstanding, disappointment, do you think she can think of anything else? “Do you see, Mary, what is happening here?” The Hail Marys follow, and the dialogue with Mary continues in full confidence. This is an excellent method to say the Rosary. So, let us say the Rosary, according the various personal needs. According to me, the best method is the contemplation of the mysteries with the gaze fixed on Mary, that is, with the attitude of a child that comes close to her mother and with the mother considers the mystery, talking to her of the mystery. (Bishop Giaquinta)

(The Christmas Novena begins)

December 16, 2002: Nations, hear the message of the Lord, and make it known to the ends of the earth: Our Savior is coming. Have no more fear. (See Jer. 31:10; Is. 35:4)

Meditation on the mysteries of Christ is proposed in the Rosary by means of a method designed to assist in their assimilation. It is a method based on repetition. This applies above all to the Hail Mary, repeated ten times in each mystery. If this repetition is considered superficially, there could be a temptation to see the Rosary as a dry and boring exercise. It is quite another thing, however, when the Rosary is thought of as an outpouring of that love which tirelessly returns to the person loved with expressions similar in their content but ever fresh in terms of the feeling pervading them. (RVM #26)

December 17, 2002: Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, break forth into song, you mountains. For the LORD comforts his people and shows mercy to his afflicted. (Is. 49:13).

One thing is clear: although the repeated Hail Mary is addressed directly to Mary, it is to Jesus that the act of love is ultimately directed, with her and through her. The repetition is nourished by the desire to be conformed ever more completely to Christ, the true program of the Christian life. Saint Paul expressed this project with words of fire: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). And again: “It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). The Rosary helps us to be conformed ever more closely to Christ until we attain true holiness. (RVM #26)

December 18, 2002: Christ, our King is coming, the Lamb whom John proclaimed.

In effect, the Rosary is simply a method of contemplation. As a method, it serves as a means to an end and cannot become an end in itself. All the same, as the fruit of centuries of experience, this method should not be undervalued. In its favor one could cite the experience of countless Saints. This is not to say, however, that the method cannot be improved. Such is the intent of the addition of the new series of mysteria lucis to the overall cycle of mysteries and of the few suggestions which I am proposing in this Letter regarding its manner of recitation. These suggestions, while respecting the well-established structure of this prayer, are intended to help the faithful to understand it in the richness of its symbolism and in harmony with the demands of daily life. Otherwise there is a risk that the Rosary would not only fail to produce the intended spiritual effects, but even that the beads, with which it is usually said, could come to be regarded as some kind of amulet or magic object, thereby radically distorting their meaning and function. (RVM #28)

December 19, 2002: For, after just a brief moment, he who is to come shall come; he shall not delay. (Heb. 10:37)

Listening and meditation are nourished by silence. After the announcement of the mystery and the proclamation of the word, it is fitting to pause and focus one's attention for a suitable period of time on the mystery concerned, before moving into vocal prayer. A discovery of the importance of silence is one of the secrets of practicing contemplation and meditation. One drawback of a society dominated by technology and the mass media is the fact that silence becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. Just as moments of silence are recommended in the Liturgy, so too in the recitation of the Rosary it is fitting to pause briefly after listening to the word of God, while the mind focuses on the content of a particular mystery. ( RVM #31)

December 20, 2002: A shoot will spring from Jesse’s stock, and al mankind will see the saving power of God. (Is. 111:1; 40:5; Lk. 3:6)

After listening to the word and focusing on the mystery, it is natural for the mind to be lifted up towards the Father. In each of his mysteries, Jesus always leads us to the Father, for as he rests in the Father's bosom (cf. Jn 1:18) he is continually turned towards him. He wants us to share in his intimacy with the Father, so that we can say with him: “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). By virtue of his relationship to the Father he makes us brothers and sisters of himself and of one another, communicating to us the Spirit which is both his and the Father's. Acting as a kind of foundation for the Christological and Marian meditation which unfolds in the repetition of the Hail Mary, the Our Father makes meditation upon the mystery, even when carried out in solitude, an ecclesial experience. (RVM #32)

December 21, 2002: Soon the Lord God will come, and you will call him Emmanuel, for God is with us. (See Is 7:14; 8:10)

The repetition of the Hail Mary in the Rosary gives us a share in God's own wonder and pleasure: in jubilant amazement we acknowledge the greatest miracle of history. Mary's prophecy here finds its fulfilment: “Henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48). The center of gravity in the Hail Mary, the hinge as it were which joins its two parts, is the name of Jesus. Yet it is precisely the emphasis given to the name of Jesus and to his mystery that is the sign of a meaningful and fruitful recitation of the Rosary. When we repeat the name of Jesus – the only name given to us by which we may hope for salvation (cf. Acts 4:12) – in close association with the name of his Blessed Mother, almost as if it were done at her suggestion, we set out on a path of assimilation meant to help us enter more deeply into the life of Christ. (RVM #33)

Advent Week FOUR

December 22-24, 2002

Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38)

December 22, 2002: Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also

spring up! I, the LORD, have created this. (Is. 45:8)

Our Blessed Mother was touched by God and conceived the Lord Jesus. We must strive to give birth to Jesus also. On our part, changing depends on our will. Otherwise, Jesus can touch us many times and His touch will have no effect. Let us pray to our Blessed mother therefore to strengthen our wills and deepen our love so that we may change at God’s touch. (Bishop Giquinta)

December 23, 2002: A little child is born for us, and he shall be called the mighty God; every race on earth shall be blessed in him. (Is. 9:6; Ps 71:17)

The traditional aid used for the recitation of the Rosary is the set of beads. At the most superficial level, the beads often become a simple counting mechanism to mark the succession of Hail Marys. Yet they can also take on a symbolism which can give added depth to contemplation.

Here the first thing to note is the way the beads converge upon the Crucifix, which both opens and closes the unfolding sequence of prayer. The life and prayer of believers is centered upon Christ. Everything begins from him, everything leads towards him, everything, through him, in the Holy Spirit, attains to the Father.

As a counting mechanism, marking the progress of the prayer, the beads evoke the unending path of contemplation and of Christian perfection. A fine way to expand the symbolism of the beads is to let them remind us of our many relationships, of the bond of communion and fraternity which unites us all in Christ. (RVM #36)

December 24, 2002: The appointed time has come; God has sent his son into the world. (Gal 4:4)

Today I willingly entrust to the power of this prayer – as I mentioned at the beginning – the cause of peace in the world and the cause of the family.

The Rosary is by its nature a prayer for peace, since it consists in the contemplation of Christ, the Prince of Peace, the one who is “our peace” (Eph 2:14). Anyone who assimilates the mystery of Christ – and this is clearly the goal of the Rosary – learns the secret of peace and makes it his life's project. . As a prayer for peace, the Rosary is also, and always has been, a prayer of and for the family. At one time this prayer was particularly dear to Christian families, and it certainly brought them closer together. The family that recites the Rosary together reproduces something of the atmosphere of the household of Nazareth: its members place Jesus at the center, they share his joys and sorrows, they place their needs and their plans in his hands, they draw from him the hope and the strength to go on.

Dear brothers and sisters! A prayer so easy and yet so rich truly deserves to be rediscovered by the Christian community. Rediscover the Rosary in the light of Scripture, in harmony with the Liturgy, and in the context of your daily lives.

May this appeal of mine not go unheard! ( RVM #39,40,41,43)

Mary,

Give us your eyes and your heart that we may learn to love and serve all our brothers and sisters as you did. We want to be saints like you and radiate divine love to all around us. Amen. (Bishop Giaquinta)

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