The Rosary brings us closer to Mary
Every woman who has experienced motherhood knows well how involving the life of the child is, conceived and born in pain and joy; and knows that her existence will be linked forever to its destiny. This, in fact, is the most complete and profound form of knowledge of the inner person, able to grasp even the most delicate shades of thought and feeling. For this reason Mary can guide us to the contemplation of Christ. Uniting ourselves to her with simplicity and desirous to know the Lord, we can truly make a marvelous journey of authentic contemplation.
Contemplating the mysteries of Christ is not in fact like looking at pictures in a gallery from which the observer remains detached, drawing from them aesthetic enjoyment at most. To contemplate Jesus means to immerse oneself in Him, in His unfathomable mystery of life. Mary can and wishes to accompany us in this interior journey through the mystery of love that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Rosary, an exquisitely contemplative prayer, brings before our eyes all of these memories, which are the mysteries of our salvation. Today, in a frenetic civilization, the art of calm recollection and the taste for listening are increasingly being lost, since news is presented at a frenzied pace and often with aggressive language and images. We have all the more need to learn from Mary, therefore, the sweetness of listening, of thoughtfully pausing on what we have heard and of contemplating what is being revealed to our inner sight.
Through the prayer of the rosaries the salvation worked by Christ is truly experienced and strengthened before the recurring assaults of the old adversary who, although already conquered, does not want to give respite to the Son of the Woman and to her descendents. He lays traps, but the Rosary is a chain stronger than his snares; it brings us close to Mary, and Mary is our stairway to Jesus as Jesus is to the Father. This stairway, however, must be climbed without turning back, without shifting our gaze from the shining star. Mary reflects the Light that is Christ himself, and so illuminates our way and dissolves the shadows that try to envelop our heart. In this way the sweet chain of the Rosary can become for us a splendid crown of glory.