Contemplating on the light

	Bishop Robert J. Banks

At a recent public meeting, a young lady, quite upset by what was going on, said, "There is not going to be any change as long as we have an old Pope. He isn't going to do anything."

Her remark took me back almost 50 years to the day Pope John XXIII was elected. I was in Boston and a lady stopped me to say, "What a disgrace! They elected that old man as Pope. He is too old to do anything." Within the year, he called into existence the Vatican Council II and began so much change that we are still trying to digest it.

Our present Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, is not letting his age or physical need keep him from coming up with new ideas. Most startling for the average Catholic who prays is his change in the Rosary. Almost out of the blue he has added a new set of mysteries to the usual three: Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious. We now have the Luminous Mysteries or Mysteries of Light. The Pope further suggests that we can pray the Luminous Mysteries on Thursday and devote Saturday to the Joyful Mysteries.

The new Mysteries do not mean we have to buy a new set of rosary beads. Just as we use our rosary beads for the usual mysteries, we now have the option of using the same rosary beads for the Luminous Mysteries.

I smiled when I heard about this new development. I had just written a column in which I said you could, if you wanted, say just one decade at a time or for a day. This advice was for those who think the Rosary might be too long. Now our Holy Father adds a set of five Mysteries. But for those who are put off by long prayers, you can still do one or two decades at a time.

The Pope and I might not have been in sync about the length of the Rosary, but we were more in harmony when it came to new mysteries. A few years ago, I tried saying the Rosary, using events in Our Lord's life in place of the usual Mysteries. I did not keep it up for long, but it was an interesting and helpful change for a while.

I am delighted with the events in Jesus' life that the Pope chose for the new mysteries, especially the institution of the Eucharist. We Catholics have been arguing so much about the different ways to celebrate Mass that we may have lost sight of the substance of the Mass -- the presence among us of the saving power of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. Now we can quietly reflect for a few minutes on what Jesus told us to do in his memory -- celebrate Mass.

Which brings up another subject the Pope and I apparently both think is important --reflective prayer. Over the past year, I have spoken to both our priests and our seminarians about the importance of taking time for reflective prayer, using Scripture as the basis for the reflections. And last Lent I encouraged people to use the little prayer books put out by the Diocese of Saginaw that provided six-minute reflections on Scripture passages.

Our Holy Father in his new letter on the Rosary stresses that it is reflective or contemplative prayer. He says quite plainly, "In effect, the Rosary is simply a method of contemplation." He offers it as an alternative to those Christians who have sought the effects of contemplative prayer by using techniques of a psychophysical nature.

The Pope also stresses that the Rosary is basically Christocentric. It is all about Christ, but as seen, in a sense, through the eyes of Mary. Our Holy Father says that we sit "in the school of Mary" and we are led "to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love."

Obviously the Mysteries are principally about Jesus as we see him in the Scriptures. That was true of the ones we had before, and it is true of the new ones: (1) his Baptism in the Jordan, (2) his self-manifestation at the wedding of Cana, (3) his proclamation of the Kingdom of God, (4) his Transfiguration, and (5) his institution of the Eucharist.

The Pope reminds us that the whole purpose of the Rosary is to lead us to a deeper knowledge and love of Jesus. He then quotes one of my favorite Scripture passages from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, but I'll use my version of it: "May Christ dwell in your hearts in faith and may love be the root and foundation of your lives so you may experience the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge." (3,17-19)

Later in this letter, our Holy Father, commenting on the 10 Hail Mary's which are the heart of the Rosary, says, "The center of gravity in the Hail Mary, the hinge as it were which joins its two parts, is the name of Jesus. He goes on to say that it is precisely the emphasis given the name of Jesus that is the sign of a meaningful and fruitful recitation of the Rosary.

And there is no question that our Holy Father knows from experience what constitutes a meaningful and fruitful recitation of the Rosary. He makes it very clear from the beginning of this love letter that the Rosary is and has been central to his personal prayer life. To quote him, "From my youthful years, this prayer has held an important place in my spiritual life ... The Rosary has accompanied me in moments of joy and in moments of difficulty. To it I have entrusted any number of concerns; in it I have always found comfort... The Rosary is my favorite prayer ... How many graces have I received in these years from the Blessed Virgin through the Rosary ..."

His plea is that many more will open themselves to the same experience.