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by Wendell Talibong

OZAMIZ Archbishop Jesus A. Dosado, CM has catechized the lay faithful of Misamis Occidental regarding the celebration of the Most Holy Rosary celebrated in the Month of October.
In his Catechism entitled: “To Jesus through Mary” Archbishop Dosado said, throughout the centuries Catholic writers have shown how devotion to Mary can lead us closer to Jesus. True devotion to Mary and saints leads us closer to Jesus. True devotion does not in any way impede our focus on Jesus.
The Rosary is a way of reflecting on Christ. Paragraph 2708 of the Catechism notes: "Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary."
"How do we meditate on Jesus?" The prelate asked.
He stressed on the one hand, it is true that we can look at Jesus, or any individual person, in isolation. However, we most often study people in their relations to others.
“If I were studying a man, I could look at his vital statistics. I could talk about weight, intelligence, education, ability, strength, and so on. However, it might be much more important to study how he relates to those around him. How is he as a husband and father? How is he as a worker, employee, or supervisor? Similarly, we do not meditate on Jesus only in isolation,” he said.
Dosado added, “We study Jesus in His relationships. He is the Son of God. The gospels reveal to us the depth, warmth, closeness, and love in that relationship. Jesus invites us to share that relationship.”
The gospels also reveal Jesus in relationship to others. We see Jesus in a family, the Holy Family. We see Him with the apostles. We see Him with the suffering and with sinners.
It is important to study Jesus in relationships. As see Jesus in relationships with others, we come to an awareness of the relationship He wants to have with us.
We also grow in awareness of the relationships He wants us to have with others. Since all of us are part of family groups, it is appropriate to consider Jesus' family relationships.
It is appropriate to remember the women in the life of Jesus. It is important to study Jesus' relationship with His mother Mary. We look to Jesus as a role model in our relationships with women.
PERHAPS the most emblematic sacramental in Catholicism is the rosary that string of beads with a crucifix attached. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the rosary settled into its present form. It now consists of the Apostles' Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Gloria.
The Apostles' Creed appeared first as a second-century Roman baptismal creed, and it took its present form in the 400s. Although this creed wasn't written by the apostles, it's generally agreed it could very well have been of apostolic origin.
The Our Father is prayed on the solitary beads that separate the groups of ten beads (the "decades"). Every Christian is familiar with this prayer, which is found in Matthew 6:9-13.
If there should be any lingering doubt that God doesn't look askance on repetition in prayer, note that in Revelation 4:8-11 we find the heavenly host engaging in repetitive prayer ("Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty"), said "day and night" before the throne of the Almighty, followed by repetitious antiphons from the elders.
The Hail Mary is the heart of the rosary and is said on each of the ten beads which are grouped together to form a decade, there being fifteen decades totaling 150 Hail Marys - as many Hail Marys as there are psalms.
The first part of the prayer is composed of two Bible verses strung together: "Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee" (Luke 1:28) and "blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb" (Luke 1:42).
The remainder of the prayer reads, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen."
As she was on earth called the object of divine grace (Luke 1:28) and is now inheaven a glorified saint, Mary is called "holy."
The title "Mother of God" (Greek, , "God-bearer") is an ancient one. A piece of papyrus found in Egypt and dating to 250-270 invokes the intercession of the .
Catholics maintain that the person born of the Virgin Mary is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the divine Word (Greek, ), and is therefore God (John 1:1,14). As Jesus is God, humanity and divinity fully united in one Person, the mother of Jesus is therefore the mother (but not the originator or creator) of God; she is the .
Many non-Catholics object to the practice of asking the saints in heaven, including the Virgin Mary, to pray for us. Often cited is 1Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Since Jesus is our only mediator, they argue, Mary (or any other saint) shouldn't be asked to pray on our behalf.
By praying "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death," Catholics intrude on the sole mediatorship of Christ. But this idea can be held only if one believes that death creates a chasm between Christians on earth and Christians in heaven.
Catholics believe that Christians aren't separated from Christ or each other at death (Rom 8:38-39). The Body of Christ "is one though it has many parts" (1 Cor. 12:12), and Christians don't become amputated from the Body when they go to heaven. Nor are there two Churches, one in heaven and another on earth, separated by death and thus somehow not in communion with each other.
The Church is the Bride of Christ (Rev. 21:9ff), and Jesus is a strict monogamist. We reject any idea that separates us from one another and consequently destroys the unity of the Church.
As stated in the Apostles' Creed, Catholics believe in "the communion of saints." This means that since we're all one in Christ, we can ask the saints in heaven to pray for us every bit as much as we can ask our brothers and sisters in the Lord here on earth to pray for us.
Since we are specifically commanded to pray for each other (1 Tim.2:1, Eph. 2:1, Heb. 4:16), and since the word of the Lord "stands firm in the heavens" as well as on earth (Ps. 119:89), we don't violate Scripture by asking for the prayers of the saints in heaven. It is precisely because of Christ's mediatorship that Christians in heaven can pray for those on earth.
We know the saints in heaven are aware of what occurs to us (Heb.12:1, Luke 15:7) and that they offer prayers (Rev. 5:8-10, 8:3),including praying for God's intervention on the earth (Rev. 6:9-10). Hebrews 12:22-24 tells us we approach not only Jesus, "the mediator of the new covenant," but the heavenly Jerusalem and the "assembly of the first-born enrolled in heaven" and "the spirits of the just made perfect." We don't hesitate to ask them for their prayers because the prayers of the righteous “avail much" (Jas. 5:16b).
Some object that the saints are dead and that the Bible forbids communication with the dead (Lev. 19:31, 20:6, 27) through mediums and other occult means (necromancy).But Catholics do not attempt to get information from spirits, as is done in séances. The Church condemns occult practices.
Moreover, the saints in heaven aren't "dead"; they're more alive than you or I: "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," Jesus quoted from Exodus. "He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Ye therefore do greatly err" (Mark 12:26-27).
If Jesus did not intend the saints on earth to communicate with the saints in heaven, he certainly set a rather poor example in appearing to Peter, James, and John on Mount Tabor (Matt. 17:1-8).
After the ten Hail Marys, the Gloria is said on the solitary bead separating the decades. It's a doxology that has been used since the Trinitarian controversies of the early Church: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen." It is, like the Apostles' Creed and the Our Father, to be found in most mainline Protestant churches.
The rosary is a contemplation of the Gospels. With each decade is associated a "mystery," Gospel episode to be meditated upon, the word “mystery" being used in the theological sense of divine revelation.
‘"Rosary" comes from the Latin , which means "rose garden" and suggests the presenting of a rose wreath, to our Lady.” Archbishop Dosado concluded.