Simple Rosary ‘Magnifies’ Gospel, Homilist Says

By GRETCHEN KEISER, Staff Writer

Published: October 30, 2003

CONYERS—The rosary is as familiar a pattern for many Catholics as the seasons of the year.

On a day distinguished by the scents and colors of autumn, hundreds stood in the crunchy leaves on the sun-dappled lawn of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit recently, praying and listening to the cadence of the familiar prayers but also acknowledging the realities of the times in which they live.

The intentions for the 32nd annual archdiocesan Rosary Rally, held Oct. 12, included restoration of the church following the sexual abuse scandal, world peace, for the Holy Spirit to inspire political leaders as they deal with legislation on matters of life and death and moral decline in America, for people to support the pope in his opposition to the legalization of homosexual unions in marriage, and for spiritual fortitude.

Msgr. Paul Reynolds, vicar general, led people as they recited the luminous mysteries of the rosary, and then he was the principal celebrant of Mass, held in the abbey church. Fourth degree Knights of Columbus, Knights of Peter Claver, members of the Serra Club and the Rosary Rally committee assisted at the event, while Father Anthony DeLisi, OCSO, coordinated the monastery’s hosting of the rally.

Monks, priests, families with children and people of all ages and nationalities made up the group. Bill Weller served as reader for the Mass.

Homilist Father Jack Durkin, pastor of Christ Our Hope Church, Lithonia, spoke on the Gospel reading in which Jesus challenges the rich young man to take the next step in holiness and sell all he has, give it to the poor and follow Jesus.

“That is the message of poverty. In our church, there is a preferential option for the poor,” Father Durkin said, adding that he knows many people in his parish who are struggling right now, looking for jobs, draining their retirement savings and wondering whether they can pay for their next meal.

People in those straits “have suffered greatly,” he said, but they are “closer to God.”

“Those of us who are better off, we’re farther away from God. That’s the straight talk,” Father Durkin said.

Jesus did not disdain poverty, he continued, being born to a poor handmaiden, and Mary in the Magnificat declares, “The Lord has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.”

In his own life, Father Durkin said, this Gospel reading challenged him so deeply that he gave up his job as a teacher, with vacations and disposable income, to become a priest. He encouraged people to take seriously “the wisdom of the cross” that is at the heart of the Gospel.

“Our God is not about easy street,” he said. “Our God is about Calvary.”

To respond to Pope John Paul II’s call for the church to cast out into the deep in this new millennium, he pointed out that people must first go deeper within themselves in prayer.

Before one can be a channel of grace, he quoted St. Bernard, one must become a reservoir of grace. God must fill the reservoir in prayer.

“We believe that we are blessed by God to be a blessing. It is important that we pray to be holy . . . Get on your knees and pray to be holy,” Father Durkin said. “We have to seek for a deeper holiness.”

Mary is a teacher of prayer, he said. “If we pray with Mary and if she teaches us to pray, we are going to pray with greater efficacy. Mary is always praying for the church.”

Mary leads people to Jesus, he said, and her motherly presence is most desired by those who are near death.

The pope has “asked us to be active contemplatives,” Father Durkin said. “We have to refocus our priorities to see if they are in line with those of the Holy Family. We need to contemplate the face of Jesus—in our families, in our enemies. Pray before the Blessed Sacrament.”

Then, he said, become evangelists who cast their nets into the deep. Be humbly willing to show others the rosary and believe that the church is attractive to those who are searching for holiness.

“Do you as a Catholic Christian invite (others) to your parish? Do you revel in and enjoy your faith?” he asked.

While Catholics sometimes are reluctant to offer the rosary to non-Catholics, the pastor said he has found non-Catholics who experience the rosary at wakes and funerals are comforted by it. “We offer something beautiful and it is attractive. It is my favorite prayer outside the Eucharist.”

The rosary is a Gospel prayer that includes the entire Christian journey in its mysteries, he said.

“Give them a rosary. People will pray it,” he said. “You don’t think so, but they will.”

To share the Gospel message today, he added, “We need a big print edition for a blind age.” Who better than Mary to offer this magnification, he asked.

“Mary says, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord.’ She doesn’t say, ‘My soul shrinks the Lord.’”

“Let us be poor and humble enough to share the simplicity of the rosary with others, to draw them to Christ,” he concluded. “We learn the rosary to teach the rosary. We get a rosary to give it away.”

Those who came to the rally said that the rosary is a prayer that brings them peace and comfort and that helps them to apply the life of Christ to their own.

“I like the mystery of the Annunciation. It is trying to get a depth or a handle on the incredible mystery of the Incarnation,” said Rich Wharton of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta.

The mystery of the proclamation of the kingdom of heaven “reminds me of my duty as a Christian to do as Christ did—to evangelize,” Wharton continued. “I am not here to work and pay bills. I am here for a higher purpose. That mystery calls that to mind for me.”

Vilma Thomas of Christ Our Hope Church said her rosary hangs on her bedside.

“You pick it up at two or three o’clock in the morning and you pray it,” she said. “I love the luminous mysteries.”

Julie Boisselle, a native of Trinidad who also belongs to Christ Our Hope, said that she carries a small rosary so that she can pray even when she jogs.

“I find the rosary very comforting,” she said. “I love the glorious mysteries—hope and praise.”

“It is very relaxing, yet it focuses you. When you are saying it, you feel relieved,” said Gwen Dolyn Cutter of Christ Our Hope. “The only way I can get peace of mind at work is to pray it.”

Wharton said he grew up in a family where they prayed the rosary on long car trips and often at home. As a young man, he prayed it daily for six months, but then drifted away from the church for 13 years. Now he belongs to the MIM Rosary Group at the Cathedral.

“I really believe the Blessed Mother had a lot to do with my coming back to church,” he said. “I found myself at her rosary group at the Cathedral. It really resonated.”