Timely and Timeless

The Rosary
by Garry Wills

From the New York Times bestselling author of Why I Am a Catholic comes a fascinating exploration of the meaning and history of the practice of the rosary.

A simple strand of beads and a crucifix, the rosary has been an aid to prayer, contemplation, and religious worship for centuries. In this superb book, Garry Wills looks at the meaning of the beads and at the mysteries, or events, in the lives of Jesus and Mary that the beads are meant to signify. In an age when self-help methods abound and meditation is increasingly popular, Wills reminds us that the rosary is a "timely and timeless" method for reconnecting with ourselves and with our faith. As he discusses each mystery, Wills guides us through the lives of Jesus and Mary, reflecting on Scripture passages and their teachings with his signature elegant, lucid prose.

With gorgeous full-color reproductions of paintings by Renaissance master Tintoretto illustrating the mysteries, The Rosary will be the perfect book for those who practice the rosary themselves or for those who are seeking a new and timeless form of contemplation.

For Catholics who grew up before the Second Vatican Council, saying the rosary, privately or with others, was a regular part of our lives. But in recent years the rosary has come to be stigmatized, precisely, as "preconciliar" - as theologically retrograde, a bit of folk Catholicism, a thing to be dismissed. I think that is not only regrettable but surprising. In one way the rosary is both very timely and also timeless. Timely, because meditation is something many people feel a need for today, and the rosary has long filled that need. In bookstores we find volume after volume that tells us how to seek inner peace by contemplation, by regular time-outs from the press of worldly concerns, by exercises that collect oneself within oneself, that lift one's spirit toward a higher plane of consciousness. According to Pope John Paul II, the rosary has long answered this need for contemplation:

The West is now experiencing a renewed demand for meditation, which at times leads to a keen interest in aspects of other religions.... Much in vogue among these approaches are methods aimed at attaining a high level of spiritual concentration by using techniques of a psychological, repetitive, and symbolic character. The rosary is situated within this broad gamut of religious phenomena.

[1. John Paul II, The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, Apostolic Letter, October 16, 2002. All quotations from John Paul come from this apostolic letter, with the cited paragraph number.]

The rosary is timely because people increasingly long for quiet and regeneration.

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.

But the rosary is also timeless - it uses an ancient and widespread aid to contemplation, the rhythmic repetition of prayers said on a string of beads (the very word "bead" comes from the old Anglo-Saxon term for prayer, bede). This practice is found in Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic prayer life, as well as in Christian history. The objection sometimes made to the rosary, that it is a mechanical exercise, misses the point of such bead disciplines. Changing the rhythm of one's life, freeing the mind to move in a different way, involves slowing down the tempo of thought, entering a stalled state. That is why religious ceremony of almost every kind involves incantatory, repetitious, stylized actions. It is true that the rosary as it was said in the past could work against contemplative patterns - when it was rattled off as a formula to be got over, was recited "to get the indulgence," or performed with others as a communal duty. But that was a distortion of the practice, which left its essence untouched. It is a form of prayer in which repetitions should be breathed in a relaxed state, as Saint Ignatius recommended. Pope Paul VI said, "By its nature the recitation of the rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace."

[2. Paul VI, Marian Devotion, Apostolic Exhortation, February 2, 1974. All quotations from Paul VI are from this exhortation, with the cited paragraph number.]

The rosary is more complexly articulated than some forms of bead praying. It involves the saying of four prayers in a certain combination - creed, Our Father, Hail Mary, doxology ("Glory be ...") - and this combination can be orchestrated, as it were, in four different ways, reflecting four sets of subjects for contemplation (four sequences of gospel mysteries), each mystery dwelt on while one repeats the Hail Mary on each of ten beads (a decade). If this sounds complex in a printed description, it is very easy in practice - after all, Catholics of my generation learned to do it early in grade school.

The mysteries - the subjects of contemplation that one moves through as one says each subdivision of beads - are related aspects of Christ's life: five glad events, five sad events, five teaching events, and five glorious events. Catholics have sometimes (and sometimes rightly) been said to neglect the Bible. But contemplating the New Testament episodes while saying the rosary is a way of remedying that situation. Our meditations are meant to be not merely an escape from self, but an entry into the life of Christ. We Christians believe that we are incorporated into the risen life of Jesus, as members of his mystical body. The Spirit prays in us, through Christ, to the Father. Saint Paul says, "My life is no longer mine, but Christ's in me" (Galatians 2.20). And Colossians 3.3 says, "Secretly you live with Christ in God." The rosary invites us to retire into that secret of our deeper life in Christ, to reflect on his actions and their private meaning for us, and to do this at our own pace, seeking our own peace.

© 2006 Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam, used by permission.

About the Author

Garry Wills is one of the most respected writers on religion today. He is the author of Saint Augustine's Childhood, Saint Augustine's Memory, and Saint Augustine's Sin, the first three volumes in this series, as well as the Penguin Lives biography Saint Augustine. His other books include "Negro President": Jefferson and the Slave Power, Why I Am a Catholic, Papal Sin, and Lincoln at Gettysburg, which won the Pulitzer Prize.