HOLY ROSARY

After holy Mass the Rosary is one of the most beautiful and efficacious forms of prayer…. The mysteries recall the whole life of Jesus and Mary and their glory in heaven…. [It] reminds us of how much Jesus has suffered for love of us and teaches us to follow him by bearing the cross which divine providence has sent us to purify us. It takes us finally from our earthly hopes and ambitions and makes us think of the true object of Christian hope—eternal life and the graces necessary to arrive there. The Rosary is more than a prayer of petition. It is a prayer of adoration inspired by the thought of the Incarnate God, a prayer of reparation in memory of the Passion of Our Savior, a prayer of thanksgiving that the glorious mysteries continue to reproduce themselves in the uninterrupted entry of the elect into glory.
A more simple and still more elevated way of reciting the Rosary is, while saying it, to keep the eyes of faith fixed on the living Jesus who is always making intercession for us and who is acting upon us in accordance with the mysteries of his childhood, or his Passion, or his glory. He comes to us to make us like himself. Let us fix our gaze on Jesus who is looking at us. His look is more than kind and understanding: it is the look of God, a look which purifies, which sanctifies, which gives peace. It is the look of our Judge and still more the look of our Savior, our Friend, the Spouse of our souls. A Rosary said in this way, in solitude and silence, is a most fruitful conversation with Jesus. It is a conversation with Mary too which leads to intimacy with her Son.
 
Father Garrigou-Lagrange (+ 1964) was a Dominican theologian who produced numerous books and articles. He was the theology doctoral advisor of the future Saint John Paul II.