The month of October in the Catholic Church is dedicated to the Rosary. In light of that, I decided to share my book Fruits of the Mysteries of the Rosary here on the blog for the next twenty days.
Introduction
The Rosary is one of the most beloved prayers of the Church. Countless individuals over the centuries have turned to Jesus and Mary using this prayer, meditating on the mysteries, finding comfort in the rhythmic, soothing prayers.
My mother taught me to pray the Rosary when I was a young girl, and I have prayed it daily ever since. It is my go-to prayer for entrusting all my needs to Jesus and Mary.
The devotion of praying the Rosary has deep roots in the tradition of the Church. Prayer beads were used even in pre-Christian days. Early Christian monks often used prayer beads to pray the psalms. By the Middle Ages, these sets of prayer beads were referred to as Paternosters after the Latin name for the Our Father and were often used to count Our Fathers and Hail Marys.
Between the 12th and 15th centuries, our modern Rosary began to take shape. Fifty Hail Marys were recited. These were combined with phrases that recalled the lives of Jesus and Mary. It became known as a rosarium or rose garden, from which we derived our English word rosary.
Pious tradition holds that St. Dominic (d. 1221) received a vision from the Blessed Mother that inspired him to promote the Rosary, using it in his missionary efforts.
In 1571, Pope St. Pius V asked the faithful to pray the Rosary and ask the Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of Victory to grant victory to the Christians against the Moslems in the Battle of Lepanto. Despite being outnumbered, the Christians won on October 7, 1571. Pope St. Pius V established the Feast of the Holy Rosary on October 7th to remember the victory and to promote devotion to Jesus and Our Lady.[i] Our Lady of Fatima, in her visits to Portugal in 1917, encouraged everyone to pray the Rosary for peace in the world.
The original fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, divided into three sets of five decades (the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries) were developed by Dominic of Prussia in the early 1400s.[ii] Pope St. John Paul II, who had a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother, added the Luminous Mysteries in 2002. When he did so, he emphasized the importance of the Rosary as a contemplative prayer.[iii]
As we contemplate the twenty mysteries of the Rosary, we recall the lives of Jesus and Mary from the time when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to ask her to be the Mother of God until Mary’s coronation as queen of heaven and earth.
It is unclear when the tradition of praying for a particular fruit of each mystery began, but they can be traced back to at least St. Louis de Montfort (1673-1716), who wrote extensively on Marian devotion.
There is no one official list of the fruits of the mysteries. For the purposes of the reflections in this book, I relied on the fruits listed in Rosary Novenas to Our Lady Including the Mysteries of Light by Charles V. Lacey, revised by Gregory F. Augustine Pierce (ACTA Publications, 2003) and Child Consecration to Jesus through Mary by Blythe Marie Kaufman, choosing the ones that seemed most relevant to each mystery.
Praying for a particular virtue in order to better follow the example of Jesus and Mary adds an extra element to praying the Rosary, but it is not required. If you wish to pray for a different fruit as you meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary, please feel free to do so.
It is my fervent prayer that these short reflections on the fruits of the mysteries of the Rosary will help you develop a deeper appreciation for the Rosary and aid you on your spiritual journey to draw closer to Jesus and his mother, Mary.
The
Mysteries of the Rosary
and Their Fruits
Joyful Mysteries (Monday and Saturday)
The Annunciation – Humility
The Visitation – Love of Neighbor
The Birth of Our Lord – Poverty in Spirit
The Presentation of the Child Jesus – Obedience
The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple – Piety, Joy in Finding Jesus
Luminous Mysteries (Thursday)
The Baptism of Christ – Openness to the Holy Spirit
The Wedding at Cana – To Jesus through Mary
The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God – Repentance and Trust in God
The Transfiguration – Desire for Holiness
The Institution of the Eucharist – Adoration and Love of the Eucharist
Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday and Friday)
The Agony in the Garden – Sorrow for our Sins
The Scourging at the Pillar – Self-Denial
The Crowning with Thorns – Forgiveness
The Carrying of the Cross – Patience in Adversity
The Crucifixion – Love of Enemies
Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday and Sunday)
The Resurrection – Faith
The Ascension – Hope
The Descent of the Holy Spirit – Love of God
The Assumption of Mary into Heaven – Union with Christ
The Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth – Devotion to Mary
Prayers of the Rosary
Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in
God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting. Amen.
Our Father
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Hail Mary
Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Glory Be
Glory be to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning
is now, and ever shall be
world without end. Amen.
Fatima Prayer (said at the end of each decade)
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy.
Hail Holy Queen
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry,
poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us,
and after this our exile
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving,
O sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.
Final Prayer
Let us pray. O God, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
How to Pray the Rosary
The Fruits of the Mysteries of the Rosary is available on Amazon.
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[i] Fr. William Saunders, “The History of the Rosary”, EWTN.com https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/history-of-the-rosary-1142
[ii] “Ever Ancient, Ever New: A Brief History of the Rosary”, DynamicCatholic.com https://www.dynamiccatholic.com/rosary/history-of-the-rosary.html
[iii] John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 2002. https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/2002/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20021016_rosarium-virginis-mariae.html
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