Vigils Reading – Our Lady of the Rosary

A reading from

FR ROMANO GUARDINI

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To linger in the domain of Mary is something divinely great. One does not

ask about the utility of truly noble things, because they have their meaning

within themselves. So it is of infinite meaning to draw a deep breath of this

purity, to be secure in the peace of this union with God.

With this we come back to what was said in the beginning. We need a

place of holy tranquility that is pervaded by the breath of God and where we

meet the great figures of the faith. This place is really the inaccessibility of God

himself which is opened to us only through Christ. All prayer begins when we

become silent, when we recollect our scattered thoughts and feel remorse at our

trespasses, when we direct our thoughts toward God. If we do all this, the place

is thrown open, not only as a domain of spiritual tranquility and mental

concentration, but as something that comes from God.

We are always in need of this place, especially when the convulsions of the

times make clear something that has always existed but which is sometimes

hidden by outward well-being and a prevailing “peace of mind”: namely, the

homelessness of our lives. In such times, a great courage is demanded from us:

not only a readiness to dispense with more and to accomplish more than usual,

but to persevere in a vacuum we do not otherwise notice. So, we require more

than ever this place of which we speak, not to creep into to hide, but as a place to

find the core of things, to become calm and confident once more.

For this reason the Rosary is so important in times like ours–assuming, of

course, that all slackness and exaggeration are done away with, and it is used in

its clear and original forcefulness. This is all the more important because the

Rosary does not require any special preparation. We do not need to generate

thoughts of which we are not capable at the moment or at any other time. We

step into a well-ordered world, meet familiar images and find roads that lead us

to the essential.

The Rosary has the character of a sojourn. Its essence is the sheltering

security of a quiet, holy world that envelops the person who is praying. This is

particularly evident when we compare it with the Stations of the Cross, which

have the character of a journey. We follow the Master from one “station” to

another, and feel at the end that we have reached our goal. The Rosary is not a

road, but a place, and it has no goal but a depth. To linger in it has great

compensations.