Our Lady of the Rosary

Three modern Anglican writers on the use of the rosary:

“If I had been asked two dozen years ago for an example of what Christ forbade when he said ’Use not vain repetitions,’ I should very likely have referred to the fingering of beads. But now if I wished to name a special sort of private devotion most likely to be of general profit, prayer on the beads is what I should name. Since my previous opinion was based on ignorance and my present opinion is based on experience, I am not ashamed of changing my mind. Christ did not, in fact, prohibit repetition in prayer, the translation is false; he prohibited gabbling, whether we repeat, or whether we do not. Rosaries, like any other prayers, can be gabbled, and if they are gabbled, they certainly will not be profitable. Devout persons who take to the beads as a way of meditating are not likely to gabble, for their object is to meditate.”

Austin Farrer 'Lord,I Believe'


“The rosary is a ‘little way’, asking of us no more than the simplicity of children, but to those practised in it it offers a rich reward. This, however, may never be seen as an individual possession for it is of the very nature of love to radiate light and peace and joy and to spend itself quietly in helpful and practical ways. It is thus that the life of society is transformed, the leavening of the lump from within working what no government fiat could ever achieve. And so it must be that the witness of the Church will always be to the priority of prayer if its influence is to make impact on society as a whole. It would be foolish to urge that the use of the rosary was more than one of a number of ways, though it is one which is eminently simple, practical and convenient. Those well versed in it need no persuasion of its power to quicken life at its roots and to centre us once more upon God when we have fallen away. For the newcomer, let him or her go forward boldly in faith, allowing experience to teach what is partly beyond the power of words to make plain.”

Robert Llewelyn 'A Doorway to Silence'


As members of the Church, we consider and pray about the great truths of our faith, not as outsiders but as those who are closely united to the Lord by faith and baptism. We Want to live through the events of his life and death with him. this is precisely what Mary did, so she is the type and representative of us all in our relationship with Jesus. When, in the last two mysteries we consider her place in heaven, we think of her as one who has been brought to glory by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. When we pray at any time, we do so as members of Christ, in union with him and the whole Church on earth and in heaven. It is with the prayers of his mother, so closely united with him, and associated with the events of his earthly life, that we especially join ourselves. we western christians are so preoccupied with the Church as a visible society, that we forget that most of our members, and the most distinguished, are not in this part of the Church at all.

Charles Smith 'Praying the Rosary'



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