The Rosary: Enter Into The Mysteries Of The Incarnation

As the Gospel of John tells us, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). And how wonderful it is that God chose to make his home in us through our Blessed Mother. As Pope Saint Paul VI quotes these beautiful appellations of Mary — ‘Abode of the King,’ ‘Bridal Chamber of the Word,’ the ‘Temple’ or ‘Tabernacle of the Lord,’ the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ or ‘the Ark of Holiness’ ‘The unwed Virgin espoused to the Spirit,’ ‘Temple of the Holy Spirit…’” — we are reminded of the rich biblical echoes of these titles.

The Incarnation is the profound union between divinity and humanity. Because God became man, man is reunited with God. Had Christ not become man from Mary’s womb, we could not be partakers in our divine inheritance though His death and resurrection. When we pray the Rosary, we enter the mystery of the Incarnation and allow the mysteries to enter into us. From the joyful angelic salutation to the crucifixion to the coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth, the mysteries of the Rosary preach the entirety of the Gospel message, and of God’s promise and fulfillment of that promise. Every mystery of the Rosary offers us an opportunity to grow more deeply in our relationship with Christ and his Mother: elation at His birth, sorrow with Mary at her Son’s crucifixion, and jubilation alongside her in His resurrection. The Rosary offers us the opportunity to contemplate deeply the mystery of the Incarnation, recalling the lives of Jesus Christ and His Mother who continue to share our human emotions of sorrow, anguish, love, and joy.

With the Rosary, we fill our souls with the Holy Spirit in whom we can imitate Jesus and Mary to love and serve our neighbor. From Mary’s visit to her pregnant cousin Elizabeth, to her assistance at the Wedding of Cana, and her witness of the resurrected Jesus, we are also called to live out our faith in love, word, and deed. The mysteries of the Rosary need to be experienced viscerally. The Rosary helps us to enter more deeply into the Incarnation, the mystery of God becoming Man, of the bridging of the gap between spiritual and material. Let our body and souls be permeated by the Divine so that we may be made holy, overflowing in love to serve God and our neighbor.

We recall that St. Dominic was called by our Blessed Mother to preach her psalter: to preach the Rosary and its mysteries. This call will echo through the ages of time. Let us contemplate and preach the Gospel news that God became one of us, so that we would be elevated and partakers of His divinity.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death!