"INTIMACY WITH JESUS"

The experience of the Saints bears witness to it: this popular Marian prayer [the Rosary] is a precious spiritual means to grow in intimacy with Jesus, and to learn at the school of the Blessed Virgin always to fulfill the divine will. It is contemplation of the mysteries of Christ in spiritual union with Mary ...

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

To be apostles of the Rosary, ... it is necessary to experience personally the beauty and depth of this prayer which is simple and accessible to everyone.

LET MARY LEAD YOU

It is ... necessary to let the Blessed Virgin take one by the hand to contemplate the Face of Christ: a joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious Face. Those who, like Mary and with her, cherish and ponder the mysteries of Jesus assiduously, increasingly assimilate His sentiments and are conformed to Him.

"CONTEMPLATION AND SILENCE"

The Rosary is a school of contemplation and silence. At first glance, it could seem a prayer that accumulates words, therefore difficult to reconcile with the silence that is rightly recommended for meditation and contemplation. In fact, this cadent repetition of the Hail Mary does not disturb inner silence but indeed both demands and nourishes it.

THE VOICE OF GOD

... In reciting the Hail Mary, we must be careful that our voices do not "cover" the voice of God Who always speaks through the silence like the "still small voice" of a gentle breeze (1 Kgs 19:12). ... How important it is to foster this silence full of God, both in one's personal recitation and its recitation with the community!

"RESPONSE TO THE WORD"

If it is to be a contemplative prayer, the Rosary must always emerge from the silence of the heart as a response to the Word, after the model of Mary's prayer. Seen clearly, the Rosary is completely interwoven with scriptural elements.

"STAY FAITHFUL"

Let us stay faithful to Our Lady and thus we shall stay faithful to love and to peace.

(Source: Meditation at Pontifical Shrine of Pompeii, October 19, 2008)