Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C (2025) - Rosary Sunday - Fr Mannes Tellis, OP

(The first Sunday of October in the Province of the Assumption is celebrated as Rosary Sunday)

One of the many gifts to the people of God that has evolved in the Church’s devotional life is the Holy Rosary.

The Rosary developed from the medieval times, originally being a knotted rope, sometimes with as many 150 knots, on which to say Our Fathers and Hail Marys. It soon became known as Our Lady’s Psalter, since there are 150 Psalms.

The development of the mysteries assigned to the structure of the Rosary also gradually evolved. The current mysteries probably surfaced in the 15th century, though there were still, and are today, many other ways of saying the Rosary.

The joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries span the life of Christ and his blessed mother. With the addition of the luminous mysteries by Pope St John Paul II, a more complete meditation on the life of Jesus and Mary can be accomplished.

The heart of the Rosary is its mysteries, those episodes which evoke our attention and our meditation. I think this aspect of the Rosary can be lost. The method of reciting the Rosary has little to with the monotonous sequence of Hail Mary’s but rather using the repetition to form a mantra like pattern of prayer enables us to cultivate a relish for the mystery at hand.

Another good way to help focus on the mysteries is to find a suitable piece of scripture and preface each Hail Mary with that piece of scripture so as to connect the Rosary to its scriptural roots, for as Pope St Paul VI taught the Rosary is a compendium of the gospels”.

Another way to concentrate on the mysteries is to connect the mystery to some doctrinal or moral element of the Faith. For instance the Annunciation provokes thoughts on the Incarnation, that God took on flesh for us. It also highlights Our Lady’s fidelity to God’s will; that she is the first and most perfect disciple. From a moral perspective this mystery might be worth praying for the grace of humility or obedience.

Similarly when we pray the mystery meditating on the Crowning with Thorns it might be an opportunity to ask the Lord to rid you of impure or angry thoughts. It may also be a good place to intercede for people suffering mental health issues. In doing these things we begin to see how the Rosary can be incorporated into and is powerful to help our daily lives. The Rosary then has a number of ends, it raises our minds to those key mysteries of the faith, it provokes us to pray for the grace to assist our moral lives, and lastly it is a gateway to true contemplation.

So too, in our recitation of the Rosary one must say it is not an Olympic sport, it does not have to be finished in one go, it can be broken up across the day. This may help us too to pray throughout the day rather than in just one sitting.

Finally, we say the Rosary asking our mother Mary to hold our hand as we pass through the various events of her life and the life of her Divine Son. Ask Our Lady to help you say the Rosary with devotion, adequate reflection on the mysteries, and with a view to deepening your spiritual life. In reality the Rosary is a contemplative prayer, that is, it opens the door to us really entering in and seeking the face of God.

Fr Mannes Tellis, OP is the Parish Priest of Prospect-North Adelaide, South Australia.