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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

12A

How have you got to know the Virgin Mary over the years? What have you learnt about her?

How do you relate to Mary today? How do you think about her?

What does Mary’s example mean to you? How does it help your faith?

What other ideas or questions strike you from this part of the film?

 

12B

What is your experience of praying the rosary? Have you found it helpful? What are the joys and challenges?

Do you have any other Marian devotions: favourite prayers, a favourite title; statues, shrines, pilgrimages, etc?

How does your devotion to Mary help your relationship with Jesus?

What other ideas or questions strike you from this part of the film?

 

KEY IDEAS FROM THE FILM

Before speaking about the rosary, let me speak a little bit about devotion to the Virgin Mary in general, especially for anyone who hasn’t thought about this very much, or is maybe a bit unsure about what it means and whether it’s a good thing.

She is the mother of Jesus, the Mother of God, as we know from the Bible and the teaching of the Church. And because we are all united with Jesus in his Body, the Church, that means she is our mother as well. Jesus wants us to love his mother, as he loves her; and he wants us to be loved by her, as he is loved by her.

Mary leads us to Jesus, that’s quite a common thing to say; but it’s also true that Jesus leads us to Mary, so that we can love her and honour her as he does, and receive her help in our earthly journey, as he did. He doesn’t want us to have anything less than he had.

This is seen so clearly in St John’s Gospel, when Jesus is dying on the Cross. He sees St John, the Beloved Disciple, and he says to Mary, “Woman, behold your son!” and he says to St John, “Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26-27). St John here represents every disciple. Each of us can freely choose to take Mary as our mother.

Our relationship with Mary, as our spiritual mother, brings us so many graces. We learn from her example: from her Yes at the Annunciation, from her love for Jesus, from her faithfulness when she stood at the foot of the Cross, from her prayer with the Apostles at Pentecost. We enjoy her friendship: she is a mother, a friend, a sister, a fellow disciple; we can talk to her and share our life with her, and be consoled in a spiritual way by her love and affection. We benefit from her intercession. Think of the Wedding Feast of Cana in St John’s Gospel, when Jesus responds to Mary’s request for help, and when she encourages the servants to listen to what Jesus asks (John 2:1-10). It’s the same today, with Mary now in heaven. She is bringing our needs to Jesus, and helping us to remain faithful to him.

Mary loves us and cares for us. We are her dear children. We can turn to her often, for help and prayer, or simply for company and consolation. Her maternal love is one of the greatest gifts God has given us.

But what about the rosary? It is, simply, one of the most beautiful and powerful prayers that we can say. It’s also one of the easiest. Mary herself encouraged us to pray it, when she spoke to the shepherd children in Fatima. And when she appeared to St Bernadette in Lourdes she was holding a rosary in her hands, even though she didn’t pray the words of the Hail Mary to herself!

If you don’t know, a rosary is a set of beads on a circular string. These are arranged in five sets of ten beads, where each set of ten is called a decade. You can look up online the exact details and methods of praying the rosary in its traditional format – there are a few things to learn, but it’s not difficult.

Why is this so powerful? What is the secret of the rosary? There are many reasons. First, it’s a vocal prayer, that uses some of the most important prayers from the bible and the Christian tradition. Second, it’s a prayer of intercession. We are praying for the needs of the Church and the world. Third, it’s a form of meditation and reflection. We dedicate each decade to one of the mysteries of our salvation – to the Annunciation, for example, or the Crucifixion, or the Resurrection. We are thanking God for these great mysteries. We are trying to reflect on them and see how they apply to our lives. The rosary is a biblical prayer, because we are walking with Jesus and Mary through events of the Gospels. Fourth, it’s a physical prayer. The fact of moving our fingers through the beads can help to focus the mind and the heart. It’s not just a means of counting our prayers, it’s a way of expressing our faith. Fifth, it’s a prayer you can say with other people. Everyone knows what they are doing. It doesn’t need lots of planning. You can pray it with your family, with friends, with people in the parish, or with an online group.

And finally, one of the reasons the rosary is such a great prayer is that it’s easy to pray. We can learn the core prayers off by heart easily. We know where we are going. We won’t get lost. It won’t go on forever. It’s a simple, reliable, trustworthy way of praying. We can pray the rosary almost anywhere. It keeps us praying. It keeps us rooted in Jesus and united with Mary. When prayer seems impossible because we are too tired or worried or distracted, we can still pick up the beads and say the prayers.

So many popes have encouraged people to pray the rosary, speaking about its spiritual power. St John Paul II said it was his favourite prayer. And so many ordinary people have experienced the blessings that come from the rosary. How many times have I asked people about their favourite way of praying, and they have answered by saying the rosary.

So I’m encouraging you to pray the rosary! If you are unsure I’d just say: Try it. Give it a go. It will make a difference. It will bring you closer to Jesus and Mary, how can that not be for the good?

The tradition is to try to pray one complete rosary each day, one set of mysteries, which is five decades with the special prayers at the beginning and end. It takes me about twenty minutes without rushing. It’s beautiful if you have time for that. But you might want to pray a mini-rosary, just one decade, which takes about three or four minutes. Or even to pray what I call a mini-mini rosary, or an emergency rosary: just to pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. Don’t be hard on yourself. Small is beautiful.