What's the Point of the Rosary?

"What's the Point of the Rosary?"

It's a question I was asked recently, and it's a question that many non-Catholics seem to ask when exploring or discussing Catholicism. In this case, the person I was talking to objected to the Rosary for a multitude of reasons: that it was not Scriptural, that it was not 'thoughtful' prayer, and that it was repetitive.

Today as we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary - a Feast which commemorates the giving of the Rosary to St. Dominic, the victory at the Battle of Lepanto, and the Siege of Belgrade - it seemed like an opportune time to put down some of my responses to these objections in writing, chiefly:
- The prayers of the Rosary are intensely Scriptural.
- The prayers of the Rosary are meaningful and hardly 'thoughtless' prayers.
- The repetition of the Rosary prayers is beneficial rather than detrimental.

Hopefully by carefully addressing these points, the efficacy and importance of the Rosary will be made clear. I will not be discussing the countless apparitions, appearances, visions, and instances in which the Saints, Our Blessed Mother, or Christ have commended the praying of the Rosary. While these might be more than enough evidence for Catholics, it cannot be assumed that critics of the Church will so easily accept these reasons.

"That the Rosary prayers are not Scriptural"

There are five chief prayers of the Rosary, apart from the Mysteries: the Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Gloria, and the Salve Regina. The Mysteries are a series of instances from Christ's life that we meditate on as we pray the Rosary prayers. Many also include The Fatima Prayer in their rosaries, but this is hardly universal and so will not be addressed here.

Of the five prayers, the Creed, the Our Father, and the Gloria often receive little objection. The Salve Regina is not often discussed either. This leaves the Hail Mary as the prayer that is most often objected to, especially whether or not we should even say it according to Scripture. It is my belief that we should, and that the prayer is not only abundantly based in Scripture, but commended by it. First, we include the traditional text of the prayer below:

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death. Amen.."

We find the Scriptural basis for the Hail Mary prayer throughout the biblical narrative: from the announcement of the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:28–30: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou amongst women.") and greeting of her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1:42–44: "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb...And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy."). Note the bolded sections of the Scriptural passages above. They will become important later. Suffice it to say that the first part of the Hail Mary is most assuredly rooted in Scripture. Elizabeth's greeting and longstanding tradition confirm that she is also the Mother of God; both passages confirm her holiness; and the Book of the Apocalypse makes clear that those in heaven pray for us (Apocalypse 5:8 and 8:3–5).

So the Hail Mary is rooted in Scripture. But the critic might reply that this does not mean it should be said, or should be a prayer. They ask to know why we believe we should say it in addition to demanding its Scriptural basis. Thankfully, Scripture again provides ample evidence that we can exclude the hundreds of holy examples offered in later centuries by the Church.

Why Should We Pray the Hail Mary?

Our argument as to why we should pray the Hail Mary, or to Mary in general, begins nearly where we left off, back in the first chapter of Luke, just a few verses after Elizabeth's greeting above. Two very important statements are made, beginning with verse forty-six (Luke 1:46–48: "And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord ... Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.") and concluding in verse forty-eight.

Starting with the latter of these two verses the statement is very clear, 'All generations shall call me blessed.' We can hardly do that, actively do that, if we never talk about the Mother of God. But the first verse, forty-six, is equally important. Many Protestants might object that praying to Mary and the Saints 'gets in the way' of our relationship with God. But here Scripture says something different. It says that Mary's soul magnifies the Lord. It doesn't get in the way of our relationship with God; it doesn't replace it. No, it can magnify and make it even stronger. But how?

Say you've decided to take up a hobby, let's say tennis. You'll need a tennis partner...Won't you pick someone passionate and dedicated to tennis over a lukewarm partner? You'll pick them because tennis can be hard, it can be frustrating. But when you're doing it alongside someone passionate and loving it, isn't it made easier? Or let's say you encounter someone doing a job to which they are committed and about which they are passionate, a job they love. You'll see a whole new side of the job, you'll appreciate so many more elements of it than if you observed someone who barely wanted to be there.

Mary magnifies our relationship and connection to God in the same way. She is that passionate example of utter love and devotion, a real and relatable example. We turn to the passionate tennis partner for help because we know they'll be there and supportive of us. We turn to the worker who is committed and passionate because we know they will try their best for us. Both provide examples to imitate, just like the Blessed Mother does. The living example of Christ in others doesn't get in the way of our relationship with God, it enflames it and inspires it. And few can claim to be a more loving and obedient servant of God than Our Blessed Mother.

We can also look to the Old Testament to speak as to the efficacy of Mary's intercession for us, and why our prayers to her magnify and do not obscure our closeness and relationship with the Lord. Typology is an important tool in Scriptural exegesis. Scripture is full of types. Christ is the New Adam; the Old Adam is a type of Christ. One was the first 'New Man' leading to our redemption, and the latter the first 'Old Man' leading to our fall. When we read the Old Testament and the Gospel accounts closely we'll see many more types which prefigure and relate back to one another.

How often do we hear passages of Solomon's poetry which seem to prefigure and speak almost 'in the voice' of Christ, or hear of his wisdom? He is figured as the 'King' and 'Lord' of Israel, only his lordship is temporal. Christ too is the 'King' and 'Lord' of Israel, only His lordship is spiritual. Israel too is a type: the old type refers to the literal people of Israel, and the new type the whole people of the Church. Just because they are two 'different' groups doesn't mean the admonitions to the Old Testament Israel don't apply to us, the new Israel. We simply need to carefully distinguish them.

Bethsabee, the mother of King Solomon, is one such type. In this case she is often seen as typologically connected to the Blessed Mother, just as Solomon is typologically connected to Christ. The book of 3 Kings (1 Kings in some canons which call the preceding books 1 and 2 Samuel) contains a notable passage:

"Now therefore I ask one petition of thee: turn not away my face. And she said to him: Say on. And he said: I pray thee speak to king Solomon (for he cannot deny thee any thing) to give me Abisag the Sunamitess to wife. And Bethsabee said: Well, I will speak for thee to the king. Then Bethsabee came to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonias: and the king arose to meet her, and bowed to her, and sat down upon his throne: and a throne was set for the king's mother, and she sat on his right hand. And she said to him: I desire one small petition of thee, do not put me to confusion. And the king said to her: My mother, ask: for I must not turn away thy face." (3 Kings 2:16–20)

The mother of the old 'temporal' type of Christ went to him, was enthroned beside him, and petitioned him on others’ behalf. How much more then must the 'spiritual' type of Christ (Christ Himself) show the same respect and heed to His mother. Often when we see a set of 'types' in Scripture, the New type is fulfilling in a more complete way the latter. The New Adam fully redeems what the Old Adam condemned. The New Israel brings God's love to all, the Old confined it to one people. The Old Mary (Bethsabee) was honored and revered yet her faulty petition was denied; the New Mary is similarly honored and revered, yet her holy petition was granted. (For example, His first miracle was done at her request - John 2:3–11).

"That the prayers of the Rosary are thoughtless"

Another objection brought up by my conversation partner was that prayers like the Hail Mary became rote repetition. He said that one should say one's own prayers, made up in their mind, that gave them true meaning. Just 'mumbling off repeated words' did not. He called such prayer 'thoughtless,' and his own personalized individual prayers 'thoughtful.'

I won't disagree that there are times when individualized, personal prayer is very helpful. But I did disagree with his characterization of repetitive prayers like the Hail Mary. Instead of calling them "thoughtful" and "thoughtless," I prefer to distinguish them into the types of "thought-Full" and "emotive." Both types have their place, and both types can have their drawbacks.

I call "thought-Full" prayer that kind of personal prayer where you don't 'have a script.' You're thinking of what you're saying with each word; it's different each time. It's definitely personal, but it also is rather busy. Indeed, even as we try to engage in prayer some part of our minds is thinking of what words to say next, or kicking ourselves for a word or phrase we just said, or worrying what might come next - especially if others are joining in. This kind of prayer, which employs the active intellect in forming itself, necessarily anchors us to some small 'temporal' part of our minds. We remain there, thinking about grammar and rules, what to say, and how to say it. For some it's perfectly fulfilling, for others it can begin to feel taxing having to always find the certain words you need to say when.

"Emotive" prayer, meanwhile, consists of prayers which we memorize and repeat, like the Hail Mary. We don't have to think of the words, the grammar, the structure, or what comes next. We know it. We can say those words to focus ourselves as we put in our emotions and feelings to what we're saying. What we feel. Sometimes it's hard to articulate what we feel. When we say emotive prayers, we don't need to waste brainpower trying to verbalize what it is we feel; we can simply imbue the words we say with that feeling itself. We can really begin to meditate, to dwell on peace and serenity. The words are taken care of; our feelings and devotion are what we can truly focus on. It also allows us to reflect on deeper thoughts without having to worry about composing glossy thoughts or formed sentences about them. The Mysteries of the Rosary ask us to dwell and meditate on their content as we pray the Rosary, the prayers of which help to focus our mind and attention while we deliver our full feelings to the topic of each Mystery.

Of course, both kinds of prayer have their positive and negative sides. "Thought-Full" can indeed be more personal, but it also can hinder our emotional expression and mire us in worldly/mundane concerns. "Emotive" prayer can indeed allow a greater emotion and meditation in prayer, but if we don't bring that to the table it can just become rote repetition. In the end, I don't think it's right to say that repetitive, memorized, or prepared prayers are bad. I don't think "thought-Full" ones are either. Sometimes it's about finding balance, and trying to engage with both...even if one comes with more difficulty than the other. And even if you don't engage in the opposite type, maybe consider there are some people who do benefit from it...even if you don't.

"That the repetition is detrimental"

We've already covered some of the objections to repetitive prayer in the above section. But I think there's another benefit that should be discussed, one which the Battle of Lepanto offers a wonderful example of.

Repetitive and memorized prayers like the Hail Mary, Our Father, etc. etc. are beneficial because they are easily communal. Hundreds of people can take out a rosary and pray it together in unison...That's a lot harder to do when it's a hundred people trying to say the same 'on-the-spot' prayer at once.

Prayers are efficacious, and all the more so when more people pray together. The Battle of Lepanto had hundreds of ships involved. Each was an individual ship, just like an individual person, working in unison, sailing in the same direction, to achieve victory. Part of the success of the day was due to the unified front presented by the Christian fleets, to the fact that they were moving together in lockstep. It's the same way with the Rosary. A hundred, a handful, or even just two Christians 'rowing' together in lockstep. At Lepanto it won the temporal victory...With the Rosary it can win the spiritual.