Is The Rosary A Prayer To Mary?
The rosary has been called a Catholic prayer, a prayer of simple repetition, and a prayer to Mary. But it's really none of these.
The rosary has never been just for Catholics. The rosary is a Christian prayer that was in widespread usage long before the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther beautifully expressed his devotion to Mary in his sermon of Christmas, 1529, when he said, “Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all of us even though it was Christ alone who reposed on her knees . . . If he is ours, we ought to be in his situation; there where he is, we ought also to be and all that he has ought to be ours, and his mother is also our mother.” In his sermon of September 1, 1522, Martin Luther also said, “The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart.”
The rosary is not just a prayer of repetition, but rather a series of meditations on 20 mysteries, or truths of faith. It’s divided into 4 sections, or groups of mysteries: Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful & Glorious. While all 4 groups of mysteries focus on Jesus, they each have a very specific focus. The Joyful Mysteries focus on introductions. Dear Jesus, please come into my heart. Please become a part of me. The Mysteries of Light, while focusing on teachings of Jesus, also themselves form a perfect prayer, containing reconciliation, petition, praise, empathy and thanksgiving. While the Sorrowful Mysteries focus on the Passion of Jesus Christ, they more clearly focus on the extent of His love for us, and what He was able to do to prove that love. The Glorious Mysteries focus on the glory of the life to come. They also focus on the glory of Jesus in our lives here on Earth.
The rosary is not a prayer to Mary, but rather a prayer that we make to Jesus through the eyes of Mary. Do Catholics Worship Mary? The answer is a very adamant “No!” Catholics do not worship Mary. Worship should always be reserved for God alone. We honor Mary; and we ask Mary to pray for us in the same way that St. Paul asked the recipients of his letters to pray for him.
In his “Reply To The Roman Catechism”, John Wesley, founder of the Methodist tradition, said that his main problem with Catholic devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is that as he sees it she is not merely held in reverence, but worshipped. We agree with him. Only God is to be worshipped.
In his “Explanation of the Magnificat” in 1521, Martin Luther said, “One should honor Mary as she herself wished, and as she expressed it in the Magnificat. She praised God for His deeds. The true honor of Mary is the honor of God, the praise of God’s grace . . . Mary is nothing for the sake of herself, but for the sake of Christ . . . Mary does not wish that we come to her, but through her to God.”
Martin Luther went on to say something both very beautiful and insightful: “Is the moon any less important or lovely because the sun is the center of our solar system? Just as the moon is beautiful (yes, and beneficial) by reflecting the sun’s light, so is Mary beautiful and beneficial to us by reflecting the light and glory of Christ.”
If I come to you and ask you to pray for me, am I worshipping you? Saint Paul in his letters repeatedly asked his readers to pray for him. We do not pray to Mary or any other saint or angel, but to God alone. We simply ask Mary to pray with and for us to her Son, as she did at Cana. The rosary is a prayer to God, where we meet Our Lord in prayer, asking His mother to come along with us in that prayer so that we may see Jesus through her eyes.
Is the rosary a Catholic prayer? Yes, because Catholics are Christians. And it’s a prayer for all Christians, although that point has often been misunderstood.
John Wesley had his rosary, for in the drawer of the headmaster’s desk at the Leys School, Cambridge there is a treasured relic which bears the tag ‘John Wesley’s Rosary’! (as noted by John C. Barrett, Cambridge headmaster)
Agree? Disagree? Questions? Send them to questions@rosarytapes.com.
