Rosary most relevant today

We have just celebrated the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (October 7). It's this celebration that has made the whole month of October the month of the rosary. Let's hope that we appreciate the true value of this prayer.

I still remember my childhood days in the province when we were "forced" or at least "pressured" to say the rosary with Lola and Mama and other siblings who were "caught" at the time of this prayer.

We did it kneeling down. Of course, I didn't quite like it, but neither did I feel mistreated. Filial obedience played a big role in this.

Since I could not escape, I just played along, but wondered why this prayer was so important it had to be that way. In a sense, I was both there and not there, my mind alternating between praying and getting distracted. Pretension reigned often.

It was only late in my youth, while I was already separated from the family to study in Manila, and therefore quite independent but aware I had to fend for myself, that I realized how important this prayer was. For a start, it gave me a tremendous calming effect.

To a person who was extremely excitable and sensitive as I was-though I would also know how to cover these traits-the rosary was most welcome. It gave me time and space to breathe and consider things more calmly.

But I soon discovered other more important aspects of this Marian prayer. I realized the value of vocal prayers. What I tended to take for granted actually contained precious ideas. I somehow discerned a certain beauty in them, far removed from merely physical beauty and transitory worldly pleasures.

And so to prevent me from falling into mere mechanical praying, I would focus on some phrases of the prayers, one at a time, and try to understand and fathom their meaning and figure out how they can affect my life.

That's when I relished the reality of God being a father to me, of what my attitude should be toward him, what I can expect from him, what I ought to ask from him, etc. Also, that Mary is such a wonderful mother who is a most worthy model to follow, the most competent teacher with respect to the virtues I ought to develop, etc.

More importantly, the rosary would start to give me a global picture of the redemptive life of Christ which I used to take for granted. Even a cursory meditation of the mysteries of the rosary would elicit all kinds of insights and considerations that I felt were very useful to me. I could use the youth-speak of 'cool' to describe them.

With the rosary, I get the sensation that I am seeing the different parts of the life Christ through the eyes of Mary, the one who understood perfectly the life of Christ and conformed herself to it is the most intimate way.

In other words, the rosary helped me to be a practical contemplative right in the middle of the world, teaching me how to see things through the eyes of faith and devotion. It inculcated in me a living piety that knows how to be lived right in the midst of the secular world.

This, to me, is the greatest effect of the rosary. It is indeed an effective means to instill a supernatural outlook in us, a handy tool to ask for special favors through our Mother's intercession, a good way to spend time and know more about Christ and about her.

If there are pressures to bear, problems to solve, challenges to face, and even special intentions to pray for, the rosary is a good companion. Even when we get visited by insomnia, the rosary helps us go to sleep.

Especially these days when we are buffeted with all kinds of tension-causing predicaments, the rosary is a good antidote. It puts our mind and heart in their proper place, firmly rooted on Christ and oriented toward him. It makes us conscious of our human and Christian duties.

The rosary can be done anytime, anywhere. It need not be finished in one seating. And with the new technologies which enable us to follow it while listening to its recording, it can be done quite easily, even while we are driving.

It's good to spread this devotion as widely as possible, first in the family, then in the neighborhood, in schools, parishes, offices, etc. We can also organize pilgrimages to shrines of our Lady. All these can only have good effects on us all.

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