For the militant-inclined Catholic, I’ve heard of the Rosary as a weapon. I’ve never thought of it for internecine use. Msgr Charles Pope caught a surprising amount of heat on his blog for suggesting (as I’ve done twice here) new mysteries for the Rosary. Some of the more strident commentary:
I never pray the “luminous” mysteries. The Rosary is the Rosary, as given to St. Dominic according to tradition.
It is a shame that the Queen of Heaven and Mediatrix of all graces just did not know what we needed when giving the gift of the Holy Rosary – oh well thank goodness we have JPII. Perhaps in his honor we can now add the Assisi mysteries, the kissing of the Koran mysteries and the I apologize for being Catholic mysteries….. Too many to mention.
(T)he rosary as given by Mary herself to St. Dominic, is perfect.
(I)ntroducing them into the Rosary itself was a pastoral disaster. It was not an organic liturgical development, but very much an addition of something new.
JPII’s insertion of a new set of mysteries is endemic of the liberal and progressive mindset that is too impatient for the hard work to restore devotion to the traditional devotions.
I think a good clarification would be for the pope to declare that any and all indulgences and graces attached specifically to “the Rosary” apply ONLY to the traditional three sets of mysteries.
(I)t is hard enough at times to remember the three original ones, without complicating it more, to teach the young ones.
People who pray the rosary often do so in private. New mysteries and reflections may have always gone on, as long as devotion and knowledge of Scripture was able to be combined in a soul. But I confess a slight surprise at the battering Msgr Pope took on his post. A self-proclaimed conservative sees how very wide the spectrum is in Catholicism these days, and how the smallest original thought can be a standard by which unity can be broken.
11 May 2012 at 10:19 am
I don’t pray the luminous mysteries, either, and I wouldn’t put myself in the “conservative” camp, liturgical preferences aside. I like that the rosary has traditionally been the ‘little psalter’ with the 150 Hail Marys symbolizing the 150 psalms. The luminous mysteries break that. I also don’t really care what other people do in their devotions, so long as they leave mine alone.
11 May 2012 at 5:02 pm
I love good old fashioned ultramontane Catholic heresy: “It is a shame that the Queen of Heaven and MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACES — “
11 May 2012 at 6:34 pm
The Mediatrix title not necessarily heretical. It is equivocal, and easily capable of being misunderstood, and therefore one can say Rome has prudently avoided dogmatizing it.
11 May 2012 at 6:35 pm
EWTN has backed off, haven’t they? Granted the only time I really watched was when I was doing battlegrounds in WoW, and I haven’t played WoW in over a year.
11 May 2012 at 8:11 pm
I’ve only prayed the rosary once and then because a spiritual director asked me to. I had to look it up online to see how to do it – don’t remember this at all from RCIA.
12 May 2012 at 8:42 pm
I wonder how many of them know of the Rosary of Seven Sorrows? Which also goes back to the Middle Ages. The rosary as we knew if before the recommended addition of lumonious mysteries 2004 wasn’t presented to St. Dominic. I wonder if those complaining add the Lourdes pray? That was added after the rosary was given to St. Dominic. There are many different versions of the rosary.
That being said, I also avoid the Luminous Mysteries, I have always viewed the Rosary as a mediation on the life of Christ through the eyes of Mary, the addition of the Luminous Mysteries interrupts that. Also, even through John Paul II recommended it, it was treated as mandatory, which I didn’t like. Further, which I certainly believe the liturgy needs ongoing renewal, devotions are a little more tricky. Modifying the Rosary is like walking a tight rope, it might have been better to develop a new devotion rather than add new mysteries to a stable devotion.