THE ATTITUDE OF THE MAZENODIAN FAMILY: CONTEMPLATING THE MYSTERY WITH MARY

“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.” (Fulton Sheen).

“As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:19

It was the pattern of Mary’s warm relationship with Jesus and her contemplation of his “virtues and example” that would be the model for the Missionary:

… the Blessed Virgin, to whom they will all have a special devotion and great affection. 
To this effect they will recite the rosary every day.

1818 Rule, Part Two, Chapter One. §5 On prayer and exercises of piety 

 Today:

 With Mary Immaculate, the faithful handmaid of the Lord, and under the guidance of the Spirit, we enter into closer union with Jesus Christ. We will contemplate with her the mysteries of the Incarnate Word, especially in praying the rosary.

CC&RR, Constitution 36

“When we have spiritual reading at meals, when we have the rosary at night, when we have study groups, forums, when we go out to distribute literature at meetings, or sell it on the street corners, Christ is there with us.”    Dorothy Day

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1 Response to THE ATTITUDE OF THE MAZENODIAN FAMILY: CONTEMPLATING THE MYSTERY WITH MARY

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate says:

    It strikes me that there is always offered to us the gift of being nourished and renewed. It is not enough to say that I know about Mary and am able to recite over and over again the Hail Mary.

    O my soul will you never be satisfied? Why is just a brief introduction never enough? I both hunger and thirst for more. I think for a moment of the Rosary, more than just repetition for without pondering and reflecting her [Mary’s] mysteries in order it is not truly alive and meaningful.

    It is not enough to simply “be,” but how I was created by God created to be passionately alive. I am reminded of the movie Fahrenheit 451 at the end how the protagonist meets up with a group, a community. Not only do the people there memorize their favorite book they somehow become it. He is introduced to them by the name of the book that they have become. It is much greater than just memorizing and repeating by rote, they take on that personality. It becomes their life’s work.

    Again this morning we are invited and led into going deeper – with Mary, with the Rosary. Chapter One, Section 2 is all about “Living in Faith”. Constitution 36 is titled “In union with Mary” – not for the sake of being able to say we know Mary very well, but rather with her and under the guidance of the Spirit “we enter into closer union with Jesus Christ”.

    Or as Dorothy Day said “Christ is there with us”.

    Sheen said: “The power of the Rosary is beyond description.”

    The ends are always the same, but it is about the journey and how we arrive at those ends. Hopefully our journey is filled with intentionality and purpose, as well as being able to exhaust all means of arriving at that one end – union with Jesus Christ, union with the Beloved.

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