[[Scroll down for the UPDATE]]
I know I’ve announced projects before and failed miserably. This is another attempt.
I’ll never get anything done like this unless I just brutally throw out bare bones notes to consider.
I’m not well-read on the Rosary. I know Saint Louis de Montfort put some of his secrets down on paper.
A confession: I did read some of that work as a seminarian many decades ago, not all of it, nothing since. I’m bad and evil. I remember nothing.
I did breeze through some encyclical letters on the Rosary by various of the Roman Pontiffs when that was still a thing to do in the life of the Catholic Church, again, when I was a seminarian. All in another life. I remember nothing.
On YouTube, I listened to Father Donald Calloway speak of his own writings on the Rosary, I think while I was busy feeding Shadow-dog and Laudie-dog, but that’s it. I didn’t read anything. I remember nothing.
I am the most un-well-read priest in the history of religion.
And yet I have the hubris to jot down some notes in addition to what others have written, not knowing whether what I write is ridiculously redundant or not.
It’s surely a good exercise for me. But don’t think that this will keep me out of trouble. It’s way the other way around. Jesus and Mary are always good troublemakers. Prayer is the most practical thing you can do, particularly the Rosary. Anything someone who prays the Rosary does in this world will be trouble: the Rosary and the world don’t get along too well.
This will just be a first go-round of notes, nothing polished, nothing complete, nothing artful or clever.
It will just be brutal. I’d love to have readers with me to smack me down.
The driving engine of all this enthusiasm is my all of a sudden praying the Rosary, meaning, like, a lot, even multiple full Rosaries. My Confessor a while back was trying to come up with a penance for me. He asked if I had said the Rosary yet that day. I responded that I had said two Rosaries up to that time. “So!” he exclaimed, “you haven’t even said one full Rosary yet, have you?” “I still have the Glorious Mysteries to say,” I said. “Your penance is to complete the full Rosary.” :-)
This is a Confession about my ineptitude as a priest, as a Catholic. Where have I been that I haven’t been praying the Rosary a lot? I’m so ignorant. I have the highest academic degrees in the Church, but I tell you, I’ve learned nothing compared to what the Rosary has taught me even just recently.
They have taught me, Jesus and Mary, their two Hearts. I have to call this conglomeration of notes to come, please God, “The Two Hearts Rosary.”
I think I should concentrate on the traditional fifteen mysteries. Perhaps having gone through those mysteries I’ll be able to cycle through once again, adding some Scripture here, perhaps a Father of the Church there, rounding out some of the notes, hopefully also incorporating thoughts of the readers. These won’t be in any particular order.
///// UPDATE:
So, some comments have brutally rebelled over against commentary only on the traditional 15 mysteries of the Rosary. I agree about “other” mysteries of the Rosary, the Luminous Mysteries, or Mysteries of Light, that Saint John Paul II offered to the Church. He also had a couple of other Mysteries of the Infancy of Jesus, including the Slaughter of the Infants in Bethlehem and then the Exile into Egypt. Others through the centuries have come up with other mysteries. For instance, it is a custom in a number of religious orders to add a sixth mystery to whatever five decades one is otherwise saying, namely, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at least a lifetime ago when such things were done. I’m thinking of the Discalced Carmelites and the Conventual Franciscans. Perhaps it’s all changed now. The Brigittines have their own thing going, as do others, as noted in the comments.
But my purpose is not to come up with yet another Rosary. I would just like to share – what to call it? – a perspective by which, in which one might pray any particular mystery of any kind of Rosary. So, at the same time, a thousand times easier, a thousand times more difficult.
I agree with the particular mention of the Wedding of Cana. Yes, that will be included as will others.
Again, it’s not so much about the particular mysteries but rather the perspective that would make any Rosary a Two Hearts Rosary. I have no idea how apt I will be in this attempt to describe the indescribable.
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 
Your “confession” is a great encouragement to the flock. We dan all do much better not only with the Rosary, but also with the entirety of our Catholic life (by the way, how is Laudie-dog doing).
“It will just be brutal. I’d love to have readers with me to smack me down.”
The Blessed Virgin Mary must have a smile on her face. This, too is the kind of simple redundancy, that children exhibit in front of loving parents, who would never dream of smashing down innocence. Your discovery of the Rosary only reminds me of my own, past – and ongoing, discovery of the Rosary, and all of the unused graces that I never knew were always available to me, and others. As you have said, before, Father; “it is all about making us better intercessors!”
OK, I will be the butthead…
(splutter) don’t skip Luminous please…they can be Traditional too. But some of the Best, and just as Marian-Hearted (if not more)
HA, I’ll be a butthead with Monica – I love the Luminous Mysteries: Baptism of jesus by John at the Jordan (“He must increase, I must decrease: 2) Wedding Feast at Cana, Jesus’ first miracle (and Mary tells us “do whatever He tells you” 3) Sermon on the Mount, the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (you got the beatitudes!) 4) Transfiguration (when Peter sees the Glory and still goofs it up) 5) Jesus gives of Himself in the Holy Eucharist (My Lord and My God….I believe, help my unbelief….Jesus hidden again, like in Mary’s womb)
I’ve heard the reasons the Luminious shouldn’t be part of the Rosary, but frankly…
HAHA! Call me “butthead”, too! When Saint John-Paul II promulgated* the Luminous mysteries, It struck me as inevitable! I had always wondered why such important events [in the Luminous Mysteries] were not already part of the Rosary. I immediately embraced them.
*is “promulgated” the right word?
Father George, I am so glad to hear that you will be picking up this spiritual weapon. This prayer is so very Powerful! You may want to consider the Luminous Mysteries as well, which are: The Baptism of the Lord; The Wedding Feast of Cana; The Proclamation of the Kingdom; The Transfiguration; and The Institution of the Holy Eucharist. Once you begin praying the Luminous Mysteries, you will appreciate how special these Mysteries are and that they belong to the Rosary. I always dedicate the Luminous Mysteries to the priesthood. When the Rosary is prayed as a group you will see how quickly the tides turn against the evil forces.
God bless you Father George!
Sincerely,
catherine
The Rosary is a beautiful prayer second only to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Each rosary said, is a rose offered to the Blessed Mother. Our Lady made 15 promises to those who recite the Rosary –
They are:
1. Those who faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.
2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell. It will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
4. The recitation of the Rosary will cause virtue and good works to flourish. It will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God. It will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.
6. Those who recite my Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. In His justice, God will not chastise them; nor shall they perish by an unprovided death, i.e., be unprepared for heaven. Sinners shall convert. The just shall persevere in grace and become worthy of eternal life.
7. Those who have a true devotion to the Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who faithfully recite the Rosary shall have, during their life and at their death, the light of God and the plenitude of His graces. At the moment of death, they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.
11. By the recitation of the Rosary you shall obtain all that you ask of me.
12. Those who propagate the holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of their death.
14. All who recite the Rosary are my beloved children and the brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion for my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
Many amazing things have been attributed to saying the rosary.
Sister Lucia, a visionary of Fatima said:
“The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, or of our families, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.”
What helps me to say the rosary is to go online and say it along with members of online prayer groups that I belong to. I still struggle saying it just on my own. But I do like the Luminous mysteries.
I must ask: What five mysteries do you propose for your Two Hearts Rosary ? Separately, I also agree with the positive comments on the Luminous Mysteries. Final thought: there is no mention of the Franciscan Crown
Looking forward to your notes, thank you Father.
Ah, I think I am slowly beginning to see your point, Father. Thank you for the update, I made me re-read your entire post, a much closer read was needed.