During my first summer as a student brother I was assigned with one other brother to volunteer at a Saint Vincent de Paul center. One of the ministries run by the center was a summer camp for children. During one of the camp sessions, a little girl approached us, pointed at my rosary, and asked, “What is that?” I responded, “A gift from Jesus’s mom.” “Mary?” she replied. “Is that her bracelet?”
Once more the words of our Lord and the psalmist were fulfilled, “Out of the mouths of infants and nurslings you have brought forth praise” (Matt 21:16; cf. Ps 8:2). See, that little girl knew that if the mother of Jesus were to give a gift to the world to remind it of her love, it would be something special from her very person. Just as a mother gives a special possession to her child—a ring, a necklace, a locket—so too, Mary, the Mother of God, gives us her bracelet, the rosary, to remind us of her love. The rosary, then, is an icon of the Blessed Mother’s love, a love that is simple, always available, and powerful.
The love of the Mother of God is simple. Not simple in an unsophisticated and therefore lesser sense, but rather in the sense that it is undivided and pure. There is nothing complicated about Mary’s love. She loves God, and everyone and everything in light of God. Her love for God and neighbor burns fiercely and purely. The very structure of the rosary reflects the simplicity of Mary’s love. Constituted by the most basic prayers of the faith and paired with the saving mysteries of her Son, the rosary’s simplicity points the faithful towards the goal of the Christian life: a heart set on God alone.
The love of the Mother of God is always available. A mother’s love is unparalleled in its availability and attention towards her children. Mary, like any mother, lives to be available for her children. Her greatest joy is simply to be with us in the pilgrimage of this life as she draws us towards her and her Son for all eternity. The rosary reflects the availability of Mary’s love as it can be carried everywhere and said anywhere at any time.
Finally, the love of the Mother of God is powerful. If a regular mother’s love can bridge any distance and accomplish the seemingly impossible, how much more can the love of the sinless, ever virgin, Mother of God? The rosary reflects the power of Mary’s love as it invokes the presence, intercession, and aid of her who lives now, “clothed with majesty and splendor,” at her Son’s right hand (Ps 104:1).
Unlike other mothers, Mary lives body and soul at the right hand of her Son. She is now what we shall be in the future. Much like a mother would give her child her bracelet, Mary, the Mother of God, gives us the rosary not only to remind us of her love, but to be present to us, to intercede for us, and to guide us to Heaven.
✠
Image: Domingo Martínez, Virgen del Rosario (Public Domain)
