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ON THE ROSARY

Rama Coomaraswamy, MD



The following essay is a talk given at the Thomas Merton Foundation in 2001. The Hesychaste prayer referred to is “Jesus Christ, Have Mercy upon me, a sinner.” While the conference was primarily concerned with Thomas Merton’s interest in this prayer, it provided an opportunity for sharing some insights into the nature of the Rosary.

 

 

 

 

 

THE ROLE OF OUR LADY IN THE HESYCHASTE PRAYER.

 

 

Jesus’s Name and Person are one and the same.

 

                                St Bernadine of Sienna

 

 

While Hesychasm can refer to the “whole complex of theory and practice which constitutes the path,”[1] the present paper attempts to limit itself to the so-called Hesychaste prayer. It is often thought that this prayer is limited to the classical formula” Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.”[2] I think this is to forget what is central to this prayer, namely the Name of Jesus. Remove from this prayer the Divine Name, and one voids it of its essential power. The Name can of course be incorporated in a variety of settings, as is well recognized in the East as well as in the West. Whatever the setting, it is the Name which is of the Essence.

 

It is often said that the Hesychaste prayer in the western church is manifested within the Rosary. Whether or not this is in fact the case - and my book on The Invocation of the Name of Jesus as practiced in the western Church clearly shows that the variety of forms, such as are still familiar in the East were once equally familiar in the West. The fifteen decade Rosary so common in the West from the 12th Century onwards clearly incorporates within its formula, the invocation of both the Names of Jesus and Mary.[3] It would seem however that in the West, the Invocation of the Name of Jesus is more closely linked to Mary than in the East. Why, one might ask, is this close relationship so much insisted upon?  This is not to suggest any lack of Marial devotion in the East - one has only to view the icons of Our Lady to realize that such an idea would be false, and indeed, the Greek Rosary or “prayer rope”starts with the following prayer on the red bead: “O great Mother of God Mary Most Holy, Intercede for me and save me.” However, not only is the repetition of the Names of Jesus and Mary closely linked in the Rosary; but many Western saints have united them in prayer in the form “Jesu-Maria,” and Joan of Ark did so on her banner. Why should this be the case? I would like to share with you a few speculations, using the word speculation in its mystical sense, for we see through a mirror darkly, and yet to probe the matter one needs to reflect within by means of the Light of Grace, and at the same time to avoid scrupulously any attempt at being original.

 

I should like to start out by recalling to you an old fairly tale, the relevance of which will become clearer later. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Snow White was persuaded by the wicked step mother or witch to eat the poisoned apple and fell asleep. She didn’t die, and the Dwarfs, the various human faculties, were able to function and keep her alive, but it was only when she was kissed by the Sun-Prince that she recovered. Or again, I would mention the well known story of St. George and the Dragon. It was only after the dragon was slain that the princess was released. Now in point of fact, many of us are like Snow White, asleep to reality, and like the princess, enthralled to the dragon. It is in these paradigms that one begins to get some clues to the problem.

 

Meister Eckhart said that it was of little import to him if Jesus was born of Mary in history, if He is not born in him, here and now. And he adds elsewhere that if one would have Jesus born in one, one must become the Virgin Mary. Mystical theologians have spoken of the Spirit blowing on the Waters at the time of the world’s creation as a foreshadowing of Jesus being conceived by Mary by the same Holy Spirit. In a sense there are two Marys - though of course there is only one. If there is a temporal and eternal birth of the Son of God, there must also be a temporal and eternal birth of His mother.[4]And indeed, Scripture places these words in the “mouth” of Our lady: “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was... When he prepared the heavens I was there... I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the habitable parts of his earth and my delights were with the sons of men..When there were no depths, I was brought forth .Before the hills was I brought forth “

 

Protestants frequently complain about the honor Catholics pay to the Blessed Virgin. This is based on their complete misunderstanding of what the Blessed Virgin represents in the divine economy. Now the Blessed Virgin. exemplifies for us all the qualities of the perfected soul, and in honoring her we also make her the model of our spiritual life. We must be born of her, and invoking the name of Jesus, which is to ask the Name, that is Jesus Himself to be present in us, requires that we be conformed to the Blessed Virgin in our souls. Eckhart describes the state of the Virgin’s soul at the time of the Annunciation:

 

She was sitting in time untimely. She was sitting, a creature uncreaturely... Her soul was deiform. Her spirit was contemplating God... To her nothing at all under God was of any account. Her heart was aflame with the truth. Clear consciousness was her school. Heaven was her cell. Divinity was her reading... She was liberated from creatures and set upon God alone... She was in the land of freedom.[5]

 

  This is the fertile ground in which the Name can strike roots. Apart from this, like seed cast upon rocks or in a dry ground, no germination occurs. To borrow a phrase from Tibetan Buddhism, the Divine Name is the “Jewel in the Lotus” - the Lotus being equivalent to the Rose, the flower which metaphysically represents Our Lady.

 

What then are the Marial virtues which we should desire to acquire? The answer lies in part in the Magnificat, every phrase of which is incidentally drawn from the Old Testament, and which is repeatedly brought to our minds and hearts in the Divine Office. First of all, Mary, when praised by Elizabeth because of her Divine Motherhood, immediately deflected this praise to God who alone is worthy of such praise. And further as Denis the Carthusian and St. Ambrose state, it is His Image that should be magnified in us. And further, she did not simply say God be magnified, but magnificat anima mea - “my soul doth magnify the Lord”.

 

Et exultet spiritus mea in Deo salutari meo.. Scripture which never wastes a word makes a distinction between her soul (anima) and her Spirit (spiritus). Jean Borella comments on this distinction between the soul that magnifies the Lord, and the Spirit that exalts in God. First of all he points out that this speaks to the tripartite nature of man the fact that all of us are so “constructed” as to have within us the hierarchy of Spirit, psyche and body which is why we must love God with all our heart-Spirit, with all our souls-psyche, and with all our strength-body. He then tells us that the soul - anima, psyche - glorifies the Lord because it is perfectly pure and virginal because it reflects the Divine Light of the Spirit integrally and the Divine Light is the light of glory. The Spirit exults in God Himself because it is encompassed by the Divine. The soul’s perfection is its virginal annihilation, its status of being a pure mirror; the perfection of the Spirit is its exultation, its deifying participation in the eternal dance of Divine Love.[6]

 

It is clear that Mary is in no way exalting herself - there is no “I” or ego in her response; she is not exalting in herself, but in her Bridegroom - as St. Paul said, “He who glories in God [truly] glorifies. She is clearly, as Dennis the Carthusian states, “illuminated by divine contemplation and fervent love.” It is generally understood that in this exchange between herself and Elizabeth, she manifests the virtue of humility. Now humility is often misunderstood as seeking to be lowly in this world. To understand it more clearly, it is good to contrast it with pride which is nothing other than self-love.[7] True humility is the absence of all self-love. It is because of this that she states that “all generations shall call me blessed.” Once again, the Blessed Virgin ascribes all this to God “for He who is mighty has made me great.” Now all this may seem to be a digression, but what follows is pertinent to the subject under discussion, for what follows is Et sanctum nomen eus. - and Holy is His Name. If in fact we must become like unto the Virgin, then in acquiring the various qualities outlined above we, as it were, prepare the ground in which His Name is Holy in us. The Name apart from this preparation may have some benefit, may even direct us towards obtaining these virtues, but it is to a great extent sterile, for as Christ said, “not everyone who cries Lord Lord. will be saved...” It is therefore of the greatest importance that the Name be invoked in a certain setting, a setting of self sacrifice, a setting in which we, as far as is possible extrude from ourselves all self love. Et miseracordia eus, for in this setting His mercy not only will, but must flow forth. And indeed, His mercy is necessary if we are to void in our souls all traces of self-love, for as He Himself taught, we can do nothing by ourselves.

 

“Mary preserved from original sin, is the pure creature as God had willed it to be and just as it came forth from his hands. In her we contemplate human nature in all of its purity. But what is this pure nature? The angel of the Annunciation reveals it. It is “full of grace,” In her, God has found the perfect creature whose will makes itself the receptacle of the Divine Will (“I am the handmaid of the Lord”) to make possible our salvation (“be it unto me according to thy word”). Here we clearly see how “the work of creation” and “the work of salvation,” the opus creationis and the opus salutis, are reunited; it is in Mary that this joining, this reversal, this conversion of the creative work into the redemptive work comes about. It is she who offers the Grace that human nature needed for its work, she who gives to the Divine Word a human nature perfectly obedient to the Father’s Will, which calls for the incarnation of the Son. And it is therefore within Mary that the key to the supernatural mystery of our nature abides.”[8]

 

The exemplary perfections of Our Lady are also brought forth to us by St. Ambrose.:

 

 

“Virginity is thus proposed to us, as if in a picture, in Mary’s life. From her life, the beauty of her chastity and her exemplary virtue shine out as from a mirror. Here you may well receive instruction on how to lead a life in which virtue, instructed by example, shows you what you must do, correct, or avoid” (Expositio in Lucam 2:24).

 

 

This raises the issue of virginity, for few of us are such in the body. While in no way depreciating that sacrifice which perpetual virginity involves - at least for those who do not let their lamps go out for lack of oil - oil being a symbol of wisdom - it is important to understand how her virginity applies to us. As Philo said: “the union of human beings that is made for the procreation of children, turns virgins into women. But when God begins to consort with the soul, He makes what before was a woman into a virgin again.” On the feast of St Agnes the following prayer is incorporated into the liturgy: “When I love him I am chaste: when I touch him I am pure: when I possess him, I am a virgin.” Again St Augustine tells us that “as soon as Naamon had been washed from the stains of the body and mind, he was no longer a leper, but became a spotless virgin without wrinkle.” St. Mark the Ascetic in the Philocalia tells us: “He who wishes to achieve true, undefiled and complete virginity... struggles to put to death every trace and stirring of passion itself... He prays for the disappearance even of the mere thought of lust, occurring as a momentary disturbance of the intellect... He who hopes to achieve pure spiritual and undefiled virginity crucifies the flesh through ascetic labors and puts to death whatever is earthly in him through intense and persistent self control.” Christ Himself said to Margaret of Cortona, a married woman and the mother of several children:  “My daughter, your many penances have purified your soul from all the effects of sin to such a degree that your contrition and your sufferings will reintegrate you into the purity of a virgin.”[9] No wonder then that St. Therese of Liseaux wrote to her married sister that “we must be virginized.” One final quote on this topic from the English poet John Cordelier:

 

                                Of pure Virgins none

                                                Is fairer seen

                                Save one

                                                Than Mary Magdalene.

 

And so it is that if we are to invoke the divine Name, we must take Mary as our exemplar. Just as the Spirit “blew” upon the waters at the time of creation, so also the Name which is one with the Spirit must blow upon the well prepared soil. That soil need not be perfect, but it must be sufficiently fertile to allow the Name to grow with us. Marco Pallis, with whom Thomas Merton carried on an extensive correspondence spoke to this very point. :Mystical experience on the cheap, that is to say, minus any requirement that the would-be disciple should adhere to that religious form where the esoteric teachings he seeks originated... beware of the professing “master” who offers Sufism without Islam, or a Tibetan Tantric initiation without Buddhism, or the Jesu prayer without Christianity...”[10]  As the Book of Privy Counseling states  “I am presuming, of course, that you have been duly absolved of your sins, general and particular, as Holy Church requires. Otherwise, I should never approve of you or anyone else beginning this work”.( Ch. 2). To invoke the Name apart from Mary and all that Mary represents, runs the risk of self delusion and even self hypnosis such as occurs when any sort of ejaculatory prayer is used outside of the proper context.

 

But there is yet another aspect of the problem. It is important to understand that when Scripture speaks of “men,” it intends to include all mankind, both women and men, and we must recognize  - which hardly seems necessary - that women and man are similar in their relationship to God. As Scripture says: “there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). But if in God there is no separation of nature from essence, there is in manifestation such a separation - such being necessary for creation. Hence nature is passive relative to the active or generating force, and this passivity - which is productive - is depicted as feminine. This is why God, who in His essence is neither male nor female, is in manifestation depicted as male. This same relationship of the active to the passive is reflected both in marriage, and in the relationship between the Spirit and the Psyche. The traditional view of man, as mentioned above, holds that man consists of  the Spirit of God - His Image - which resides in all of us; the psyche which includes our thinking processes and opinions; and the Body.  Adam was made in the Image and Likeness of God. With the fall, he lost the likeness, or in other words, his psyche lost that unity with the Spirit that existed before the fall, before he had partaken of Snow White’s poisoned apple, and it is our task of all of us to regain that likeness. Now in the individual it is the Spirit which must seek out the psyche, and it is the psyche which must desire to be wedded to the Spirit. But the psyche must be prepared for the wedding - must be dressed in that pure white wedding garment that symbolizes her purity so that the Word, joined to her, can be fecund.. (While we all carry within us this tripartite structure of Spirit Soul - which includes our thinking processes - and body, the psyche and body are frequently considered as a single psycho-physical entity, and hence it is often said that Duo sunt in homine, or again that there is a distinction between the Greater Self or Spirit, and the lesser self and that these two, as St Paul said, can be at war with one another. Now relative to the Spirit, the psycho-physical is feminine. Indeed, as one of the Eastern sacred texts states:”all creation is feminine relative to God.”  He - the Spirit -is the bridegroom to whom we should all aspire to be married. It is in this setting that the kiss of the magic prince allows for the healing of Snow White, - a kiss not unlike that which the would be bride in the Canticle of Canticles states, “let Him kiss me with the kiss of His lips.” Again, the slaying of the dragon by St. George allows for the princess to be wed. Genesis tells us that Adam was made in the Image and likeness of God.

 

The word “soul” can be confusing, and it is oft forgot that if there is a soul that is to be saved, there is also a soul that is to be utterly rejected. Mediaeval authors distinguished between the anima (feminine) and the animus or “intellectus vel Spiritus”[11] (masculine).Because the concept tends to be unfamiliar, allow me to quote some of the Church Fathers: Duns Scotus: tells us: "The woman is the rational soul [anima], whose husband [literally vir or 'man' (with the connotation of 'active power') not maritus or conjunx] is understood to be the animus, which is variously named now intellect [intellectus], now mind [mens], now animus and often even spirit [spiritus]. This is the husband of whom the Apostle speaks "the head of the woman is the man, the head of the man is Christ, the head of Christ is God." In other words, the head of the anima is the intellectus, and the head of the intellectus is Christ. Such is the natural order of the human creature. The soul must be submitted to the rule of the mind, the mind to Christ, and thereby the whole being is submitted through Christ to God the Father... Spirit revolves perpetually about God and is therefore well named the husband and guide of the other parts of the soul, since between it and its creator no creature is interposed. Reason in turn revolves around the knowledge and causes of created things, and whatever spirit receives through eternal contemplation it transmits to reason and reason commends to memory. The third part of the soul is interior sense, which is subordinate to reason as the faculty which is superior to it, and by means of reason is also subordinate to spirit. Finally, below the interior sense in the natural order is the exterior sense, through which the whole soul nourishes and rules the fivefold bodily senses and animates the whole body. Since, therefore, reason can receive nothing of the gifts from on high unless through her husband, the spirit, which holds the chief place of all nature, the woman or anima is rightly ordered to call her husband or intellectus with whom and by whom she may drink spiritual gifts and without whom she may in no wise participate in gifts from on high. For this reason Jesus says to her [the Samaritan woman at the sell], 'Call your husband, come hither.' Do not have the presumption to come to me without your husband. For, if the intellect is absent, one may not ascend to the heights of theology, nor participate in spiritual gifts."[12]

 

Again, Origin teaches “Let us see also allegorically how man, made in the image of God, is male and female. Our inner man consists of spirit and soul. The spirit is said to be male; the soul can be called female. If these have concord and agreement among themselves, they increase and multiply by the very accord among themselves and they produce sons, good inclinations and understandings... The soul united with the spirit and, so to speak, joined in wedlock...."Marriage, as Hugh of St. Victor says, is an external sign representing the dilectio mutua animorum of the wedded pair; and this mutual affection symbolizes the love by which God and the soul are bound together when the latter is adorned with supernatural grace. St. Bonaventure likewise describes the relations existing between Christ and the individual soul as typical of the relations which should exist between the bridegroom and the bride, a union “begun here in grace and consummated in glory.”[13]

 

We see then the importance of Mary - and why “all generations shall call me blessed..”  We see also why she is the setting which allows for the full effectiveness of the invocation of the Name. Ultimately, of course, it is the Spirit of God who invokes the Name in us, and its reverberations transform our souls, and even our bodies, bringing them into unity with the Spirit. With this in view, let us point out some other aspects of the Rosary as currently used in the West.

 

Consider first, some of the symbolism, remembering that a genuine symbol is not something arbitrarily made up, but is more properly defined as the representation of reality on a certain level of reference by a corresponding reality on another level. The Rosary - the word literally means a “rose garden,” and as such reminds us of Paradise - consists of 153 beads, parallel to the 153 fish caught, according to St. John, when Christ called the Apostles to become “fishers of men.” The Cross is suspended from the rosary, for in fact all the merits we derive from saying the Rosary derive from the Cross. We bless ourselves, as we do in at the start of every effort. We follow with the Creed which affirms our faith, a primary condition for the granting of our prayers. The pendant beads 1-3-1 recall to mind the Trinity. The single beads, reminding us of the unity or oneness in God who is the beginning and end of all things. This unity is recalled again with each decade. The six large beads (Paters) represent the six days of creation. The seventh large bead is replaced by a piece of metal symbolic of the seventh day and the period of rest at the end of the Rosary. This piece of metal has three corners, once again representative of the trinity. The five decades are like five rose petals. It is the number of man and also of the five wounds of Christ. Ten is the symbol of perfection. The Jews did not have numbers, but used letters to signify number, and 15, is that of the greatest power. Moses tells us that the flood rose to the height of a decade and five The beads are strung on a rope or cord, which like the golden thread leads us through the labyrinth of life. One is reminded of Blake’s statement: “I give you the end of a golden string. Only wind it into a ball; It will lead you in at heaven’s gate Built in Jerusalem’s wall.”

 

There have been many rosaries used in the Church, and even today many of these are still in use such as the Chaplet of St. Michael, or the one described by St. John Eudes which consisted of 33 beads on which one said simply Jesu-Maria. . However, it would seem that Our Lady has particularly encouraged the use of the 15 decade Rosary as she always has this Rosary in her hands during her recent apparitions - perhaps because it is so pertinent to the days in which we live. Families often say five decades at night with their children as the full 15 would be hard for them to follow.[14] If we are to adopt the virtues and attitudes of Our Lady, what better way than to join her in our passage through life. The Rosary recapitulates the story of Our Lady on earth and in glory; the story of Christ’s manifestation on earth and his glorious ascension, and the story of the Church. It is also the exemplifying story of the individual soul - it is in fact all of these, for if we are baptized in Christ, Crucified with Christ and are Resurrected with Christ, all these aspects are intimately tied together.

 

 

 

The fifteen decades are divided into three sets - the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries. These also relate to the purgative, illuminative and unitive stages of the spiritual life, for as is clear from what was said at the beginning, in saying the Rosary, we are traversing the entire spiritual journey of the soul. Every spiritual path includes these three great degrees, “purification” which causes “the world to depart from man”’ “expansion” which causes “the Divine to enter into man,” and “union” which causes “man to enter into God.” One can also describe these three stages as Fear, :Love and Union. By following the Rosary, one opens the soul, firstly to the grace which separates from the world, secondly to that which draws one to God and thirdly to that which, if one may so express it, “reintegrates” one in God.[15]

 

As every soul must to a certain extent travel its own path, so also no one can give an interpretation of the Rosary which is in any sense complete. As the early Jewish fathers taught, Scripture (from which the Rosary is drawn) is like an anvil. When struck, a thousand sparks fly. However, among the possibilities are those mentioned in what follows:

 

Consider the first mystery - the angel Gabriel greets the Blessed Virgin - and indeed, each and every soul - offering to the soul the annunciation, for indeed we are all called by grace and hopefully will answer, “be it done to me according to Thy Word.” And having made this “fiat,” immediately charity is manifested in our actions - as with Mary who walked 15 miles barefoot to the home of the elderly Elizabeth who was six months pregnant - residing with her until she delivered. Now the soul, perfected in charity, gives birth to Jesus which is our third mystery.

 

What follows is the presentation to the temple – Forty days after His birth, in accordance with Jewish custom, Our Lady brought Jesus to the Temple. Her the infant Jesus was taken into the arms of Simeon and both Simeon and the widow Anna told our Lady about the terrible sufferings she would endure in following Jesus. And a sword shall pierce her heart – a indeed it will pierce the heart of every soul that follows Christ – it is the same sword that St. Paul speaks of when he said “take unto you the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.” (Eph. 6: 17.)  We must take the baby Jesus into our arms and heart as did Simeon, but at the same time accept this sword that divideth the spirit from the soul (Heb 4. 12) if we are to proceed along the spiritual path.

 

The last glorious mystery is the teaching of Jesus in the Temple – if we have traveled along the way to this point with a pure heart, than Jesus will teach us  in the temple which is our body, for He dwells in our heart, but of course we must take the time and care to listen to Him which is only possible when our heart is not filled with a host of vain and useless considerations – with the chatter of the world which drowns out his presence and teaching.

 

Next we come to the sorrowful mysteries. It may seem a long call to relate this to the illuminative aspect of the spiritual life. However, it is only with purification that the divine light can flow into us. We must crucify in us all that is inimical to Christ.  The agony in the garden becomes for us an example in all our sufferings. And like Christ, we can ask God to remove our anguish and pain, while adding of course - if it be Thy will. What follows is what the soul itself must undergo - all the humiliations and scourgess that life so abundantly provides, the willing acceptance and carrying of the Cross - and with a smile reflecting acceptance;  and ultimately the Crucifixion - for all that is in us that is not of God must be Crucified so that Christ may live in us.

 

Finally, the glorious mysteries. We have been baptized in Christ, Crucified in Christ, and thus will be Resurrected in Christ. The soul then not only is Resurrected in Christ, but ascends to Heaven with Him. The soul is inundated with the Holy Spirit and truly becomes the Bride of Christ - for as St. Bernard says, the Blessed Virgin and the purified soul is the daughter, bride and mother of Christ. It is in this condition that the Blessed Virgin and soul is crowned by Christ in Heaven.

 

And there is still more! The Rosary also allows us to at the same time invoke the Holy Name of Mary, for this also is a “sacred Name.” As St Ambrose said: “Your name, O Mary, is a precious ointment, which breathes forth the odor of Divine grace. Let this ointment of salvation enter the inmost recesses of our souls.” St. Peter Canisius says: “After the most holy and adorable Name of Jesus there is no name more glorious and moire powerful than the Name of Mary. At the mention of this Name, the angels rejoice and the devils tremble. Through the invocation of this Name sinners obtain grace and pardon.” Again, St. Bernard tells us: “O great, O gentle, O most lovable Mary, thy Holy Name cannot be spoken without inflaming the heart. To those who love Thee, it is unspeakable consolation and joy even to think of Thee; Thou art a sweet memory to those who honor Thee.” The Blessed Henry Suso stated: “When I pronounce the name of Mary, I feel myself inflamed with such love and joy, that between tears and happiness with which I pronounce this beautiful name, I feel as though my heart might leave my breast. For this sweet name is like a honeycomb dissolving in the innermost recesses of my soul.” No wonder than that St. Ephrem of Syria proclaimed that “The Name of Mary is the key to the gates of heaven.” There are saints who have invoked the Name of Mary in isolation, much in the same manner as the Name of Jesus is invoked, thus as it were embracing the gentle “Marial” virtues rather than the adamantine “Christic virtues” though ultimately of course, they are one and the same.

 

Every Ave carries with it the desire that, in so far as we join ourselves to Our Lady, Christ will be born in us. Thus it is that some have continuously recited just this prayer without the support of the beads

 

We have then presented the commonest - but not the only - and for many, the most efficacious form of the Hesychaste prayer in the Western Church. We have also stressed the importance of doing this within a proper framework which framework is given us by Our Lady, and by our Holy Mother the Church. It is not just a matter of repeating the Names of Jesus and Mary, though even this can be of great benefit as long as it is done with a modicum of love and respect. But for this method of prayer to be truly efficacious, it is important that it be done in the proper setting, namely within a traditional orthodox framework, and above all with an understanding of the role of the Blessed Mother. It is this which allows the divine seed to fall on fertile soil and not on stony ground. In the Eastern Church the saying of the Rosary is called Metanoia which literally means the changing of one’s mind.[16] It is thus that among her many titles, Our Lady is referred to as  “the Gate of Heaven,” and “the Mediatrix of all graces.”

 

Let us conclude with the prayer of St. Ambrose: “Let the soul of Mary be in each of us to magnify the Lord; Let the spirit of Mary be in each of us to exalt in God.”

 

 

©Rama Coomaraswamy, MD 2002

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


[1] From the introduction to Volume 1 of the translation of the Philokalia as translated by Palmer, Sherrard and Kallistos Ware.

[2] The recognition of our own sinfulness is fully present in the second part of the Ave Maria, “ Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen.”

[3] There have been many different rosaries in the Church. - Often called “chaplets,” and linked to various saints - such as that of St. Michael - and many of these are still in use today. Cf. The Rose-garden Game by Eithne Wilkins, Victor Gollancz, London, 1969. It is pertinent that in Ceylon the word for Rosary among the Catholic community is japamala, or the garland of the Name

[4] St. Thomas says, “On the part of the child there is but one filiation in reality, although there be two in aspect: (Summa III. 35.5 ad 3)

 

[5] C. de B. Evans, Meister Eckhart, Franz Pfeiffer’s edition, London, 1947, Vol II, p. 143.

[6] Jean Borella, The Secret of the Christian Way, SUNI, 2001. Page 80

[7] The Magnificat tells us later that God dispersit superbos mente cordis sui, that God has scattered the proud whose hearts are full of personal thoughts and opinions - a far cry from the heart that exalts in God.

[8] Jean Borella, op. cit., p. 165 

[9] Margaret of Cortona (13th Century) had lived in great luxury with a wealthy man, without benefit of marriage, and born him a son. After his death, she radically changed her manner of life.

[10] Marco Pallis, A Buddhist Spectrum, Seabury Press, N.Y., 1981

[11] The quotation marks are taken from William of St. Thierry’s The Golden Epistle., but the relationship is commonly accepted by theologians of that era.

[12] Translation of Christopher Bamford  in The Voice of the Eagle, Lindisfarne Press, 1992.

[13] Woman According to St. Bonaventure, Sister Emma T. Healy, Sisters of St. Joseph, Erie, Penn;., 1956.

 

[14] With very young children one can reduce this to saying only “Ave Maria.”

[15] Adapted in part from F. Schuon’s chapter on Meditation L’Oeil du Coeur,  Gallimard, Paris, 1950

[16] Usually translated as “repentance,” it literally means a “change of mind,” or “intellectual metamorphosis.” Cf. A. Coomaraswamy, On Being in one’s Right Mind, Review of Religion, Nov. 1942, and incidentally a favorite article of Thomas Merton.