Understanding Repetitions in the Rosary
Many of us hold a great devotion to our Blessed Virgin Mary. Many of us have set certain days within the week such as Wednesday for our Mother of Perpetual Help, or certain dates within the year such as the Feast of the Assumption on the 15th of August, the Immaculate Conception on the 8th of December or the Birthday of our Mother on the 8th of September to particularly express deep love towards our Mother. And many of us have used the rosary to show such devotion. In many Catholic schools, October is marked by what we call the “living rosary” in which students recite the rosary together. Today, it is with deep sadness, that such devotions are slowly fading and many of us do not even know how the devotion to our Lady of the Rosary was promoted.
Apart from the signal defeat of the Albigensian heretics at the battle of Muret in 1213 which legend has attributed to the recitation of the rosary by St. Dominic, it is believed that heaven has on many occasions rewarded the faith of those who had recourse to this devotion in times of special danger. More particularly, the naval victory of Lepanto gained by Don Juan of Austria over the Turkish fleet on the first Sunday of October in 1571 responded wonderfully to the processions made at
Rome on that same day by the members of the Rosary confraternity. St. Pius V thereupon ordered that a commemoration of the rosary should be made upon that day, and at the request of the Dominican Order. In 1671 the observance of this festival was extended by Clement X to the whole of Spain, and somewhat later Clement the XI after the important victory over the Turks gained by Prince Eugene on 6 August, 1716 (the feast of our Lady of the Snows), at Peterwardein in Hungary, had commanded the feast of the Rosary to be celebrated by the universal Church. And thus this devotion is specially done in times of danger. It is not surprising that at crucial moments— moments that spell danger — we see ourselves clutching the rosary: whether at sea, or in total darkness when we are afraid.
One of the greatest questions about the rosary is its repetitive prayer. The Hail Mary’s are repeated several times. And many— including those who are not Catholics — have questioned the practicing of mindlessly repeating the vocal prayers. In fact we heard from tradition that they explained the repetitive Hail Mary’s like a bouquet of roses to our Mother. We seek a better answer than that.
First, it is good to know that Catholics are not the only ones who use repetitive prayer. Zen Buddhism, for example, meditates using several mantras in order for them to achieve inner peace. Second, it is good to know that in Catholic tradition and prayer, repetition is not a strange thing. St. Ignatius’ Repetition, for example, is a help to prayer which he uses constantly. Repetition is an important way to notice the interior spiritual movements in one’s heart and thus listen for the prompting of God’s Spirit. It sometimes takes a repetition or two before we can deeply see what is going on in a prayer that is challenging us and, thereby, achieve the fruit of the contemplation. St. Ignatius would recommend its use both during the directed retreat and for one’s daily prayer exercises.
However, we only have to look into our daily lives in order to know how important repetition is. There are many things that we repeat in order for us to learn from it. Studies are repetitions. What the teacher has taught us, we repeatedly review until we begin to understand it. Then it becomes part of us.
The same thing with values and change. For example, when one repeatedly becomes grateful for the many blessings he has been given, eventually, he becomes the virtue itself— he becomes a grateful person. They said that you need to repeatedly do a thing for 30 days, and it will become a habit. Moreover, certain events, such as going to church also have meaning. Let me tell you this story.
A churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I’ve gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."
This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
"I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"
The same thing with the rosary. When we remember the events in Jesus’ life—- from the Joyful, Light, Sorrowful, and Glorious —- we repeatedly become familiar with his life. So that as we repeat, and repeat his life, Jesus’ life becomes our life. When we repeat and repeat the Hail Mary, we hope that Mary’s life becomes our life as well. And when we come and pray repeatedly, we say to the Lord how much we actually love Him.
In our home, my mother has taught my family to pray the rosary every night. To me, it is much, much similar, when I repeat and repeat the words, “I love you, Mom” to assure her that her son loves her. The repetition of “I love you, Mom” is much, much more significant in my life today especially that my mother is sick. You see when we get sick, our wounds are healed with repeated words of love.
