24ème Rose — Les quinze mystères du Rosaire
The Saints' Path of Contemplation
Meditation on the life and sufferings of Christ is the proven path to perfection used by the saints and martyrs.
Meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary is a great means of perfection. 71. The saints made the life of Jesus Christ their primary study; they meditated on his virtues and his sufferings, and through this, they attained Christian perfection. Saint Bernard began with this practice and kept it up throughout his life. "From the beginning of my conversion," he says, "I made a bouquet of myrrh from my Savior's pains; I laid that bouquet on my heart, thinking of the scourges, the thorns, and the nails of the Passion.1 I focused my entire mind every day on meditating on these mysteries." This was the martyrs' practice as well; we marvel at how they triumphed over the cruelest torments. Where could that wonderful constancy of the martyrs have come from, Saint Bernard asks, if not from the wounds of Jesus Christ, on which they made their most frequent meditation? Where was the soul of these valiant athletes when their blood was flowing and their bodies were being crushed by torture?2 Their soul was in the wounds of Jesus Christ, and those wounds made them invincible.
Mary’s Interior Life
The Blessed Virgin Mary serves as the supreme model of contemplation, constantly pondering the mysteries of her Son's life.
72. The most holy Mother of the Savior spent her entire life doing nothing but meditating on the virtues and sufferings of her Son. When she heard the angels sing their song of joy at his birth, when she saw the shepherds adore him in the stable, her mind was filled with wonder, and she pondered all these marvels. She compared the grandeurs of the incarnate Word with his deep abasements: the straw and the manger with his throne and with the bosom of his Father; the power of a God with the weakness of a child; his wisdom with his simplicity.3 One day the Blessed Virgin said to Saint Bridget: "When I contemplated the beauty, the modesty, and the wisdom of my Son, my soul was carried away with joy; and when I considered his hands and his feet that would be pierced with nails, I poured out a torrent of tears—my heart was breaking with sorrow and pain."
A Universal Devotion
From the early Church to the saints, the faithful have always sought to deepen their love for Christ by meditating on the places and events of his life.
73. After the Ascension of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin spent the rest of her life visiting the places this divine Savior had sanctified by his presence and by his torments. There, she meditated on the excess of his charity and the harshness of his Passion.4 This was also the continual practice of Mary Magdalene during the thirty years she lived at Sainte-Baume.5 Finally, Saint Jerome says that this was the devotion of the first faithful. They came from every country in the world to the Holy Land to engrave more deeply in their hearts the love and memory of the Savior of mankind, by seeing the objects and places he had consecrated by his birth, his labors, his sufferings, and his death.
The Rosary for Every Christian
Meditation on the mysteries of Christ is not reserved for the religious, but is a necessary armor for all Christians living in the world.
74. All Christians share one faith, worship one God, and hope for the same happiness in heaven. They recognize only one mediator, Jesus Christ. Everyone must imitate this divine model, and to do so, they must reflect on the mysteries of his life, his virtues, and his glory.✦✦ It's a mistake to imagine that meditating on the truths of the faith and on the mysteries of Jesus Christ's life concerns only priests, religious, and those who have withdrawn from the entanglements of the world. If religious and clergy are bound to meditate on the great truths of our holy religion so they can answer their vocation worthily, people in the world are at least as bound to do so, because of the dangers of being lost that they face every day. They must, therefore, arm themselves by frequently remembering the Savior’s life, virtues, and sufferings, which the fifteen mysteries of the holy Rosary set before us.
Read the original Latin
La méditation des mystères du Rosaire est un grand moyen de perfection 71. Les saints faisaient leur principale étude de la vie de Jésus-Christ, ils ont médité sur ses vertus et sur ses souffrances, et, par ce moyen, ils sont arrivés à la perfection chrétienne. Saint Bernard a commencé par cet exercice, qu'il a toujours continué. «Dès le commencement de ma conversion, dit-il, je fis un bouquet de myrrhe composé des douleurs de mon Sauveur; je mis ce bouquet sur mon cœur, pensant aux fouets, aux épines et aux clous de la passion. J'appliquai tout mon esprit à méditer tous les jours sur ces mystères.» C'était aussi l'exercice des saints martyrs; nous admirons comment ils ont triomphé des plus cruels tourments. D'où pouvait venir cette admirable constance des martyrs, dit saint Bernard, sinon des plaies de Jésus-Christ, sur lesquelles ils faisaient leur plus fréquente méditation? Où était l'âme de ces généreux athlètes, lorsque leur sang coulait et que leur corps était broyé par les supplices?
Leur âme était dans les plaies de Jésus-Christ et ces plaies les rendaient invincibles.
72. La très sainte Mère du Sauveur ne s'est occupée toute sa vie qu'à méditer sur les vertus et les souffrances de son Fils. Lorsqu'elle entendit les anges chanter à sa naissance leur cantique d'allégresse, lorsqu'elle vit les pasteurs l'adorer dans l'étable, son esprit fut rempli d'admiration et elle méditait toutes ces merveilles. Elle comparait les grandeurs du Verbe incarné à ses profonds abaissements; la paille et la crèche, à son trône et au sein de son Père; la puissance d'un Dieu, à la faiblesse d'un enfant; sa sagesse, à sa simplicité. La Sainte Vierge dit un jour à sainte Brigitte: «Lorsque je contemplais la beauté, la modestie, la sagesse de mon Fils, mon âme était transportée de joie, et lorsque je considérais ses mains et ses pieds qu'on percerait avec des clous, je versais un torrent de larmes, le cœur me fendait de tristesse et de douleur.»
73. Après l'Ascension de Jésus-Christ, la Sainte Vierge passa le reste de sa vie à visiter les lieux que ce divin Sauveur avait sanctifiés par sa présence et par ses tourments. Là, elle méditait sur l'excès de sa charité et sur les rigueurs de sa passion. C'était encore l'exercice continuel de Marie-Madeleine pendant les trente années qu'elle vécut dans la Sainte-Baume. Enfin saint Jerôme dit que c'était la dévotion des premiers fidèles. De tous les pays du monde ils venaient en Terre Sainte pour graver plus profondément dans leurs cœurs l'amour et le souvenir du Sauveur des hommes, par la vue des objets et des lieux qu'il avait consacrés par sa naissance, par ses travaux, par ses souffrances et par sa mort.
74. Tous les chrétiens n'ont qu'une foi, n'adorent qu'un Dieu, n'espèrent qu'une même félicité dans le ciel; ils ne connaissent qu'un médiateur qui est Jésus-Christ; tous doivent imiter ce divin modèle, et pour cela considérer les mystères de sa vie, de ses vertus et de sa gloire. C'est une erreur de s'imaginer que la méditation des vérités de la foi et des mystères de la vie de Jésus-Christ ne regarde que les prêtres, les religieux et ceux qui se sont retirés des embarras du monde. Si les religieux et les ecclésiastiques sont obligés de méditer sur les grandes vérités de notre sainte religion pour répondre dignement à leur vocation, les gens du monde y sont au moins autant obligés, à cause des dangers où ils sont tous les jours de se perdre. Ils doivent donc s'armer du fréquent souvenir de la vie, des vertus et des souffrances du Sauveur, que nous représentent les quinze mystères du saint Rosaire.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Eph.4.4-Eph.4.6 — There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope of your calling. Eph.4.5 — one Lord, one faith, one baptism Eph.4.6 — one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all
- ↩1Tim.2.5 — For there is one God and one mediator between God and humankind, the man Christ Jesus,
Notes
- 1 ↩Bernard's 'bouquet of myrrh' is his classic allegorical reading of the Canticle's fasciculus myrrhae as meditation on Christ's Passion sorrows.
- 2 ↩généreux athlètes retains the classical Christian image of martyrs as athletes of Christ; généreux here means noble/valiant rather than generous in a material sense.
- 3 ↩abaissements rendered as abasements to keep the sense of voluntary self-lowering; alternatives include humiliations or lowliness.
- 4 ↩French «charité» is rendered as charity (theological virtue of Christ's self-giving love), not generic kindness. «Excès» keeps the force of overflowing measure rather than a modern pejorative 'excess'.
- 5 ↩«Encore» taken as 'also' (this same meditative exercise), not temporal 'still'. Sainte-Baume is retained as the traditional place-name of the Provençal shrine associated with Mary Magdalene.
The Secret of the Rosary (Le secret admirable du très saint Rosaire) companion
A prayer for every moment, already on your phone
Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.
Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.
- One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
- Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
- Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere