Praying the Rosary for Inner Healing

Blessed Virgin Mary - Mother of God — Image by Ted Abbott via Flickr

The rosary has the ability to heal and mend what is broken in our lives. Fr. Dwight Longenecker, on Catholic Online, discusses how praying the rosary brings us inner peace by replacing all that is earthly in our life with what is heavenly.

From the article:

In a mysterious way Christ’s perfect life and the perfect love he shared with his mother, flow into the wounded places in our lives. This grace empowers us to return to the confessional with a clearer vision. It helps us to be open to the healing Christ brings through the Eucharist, and it gives us the strength to continue the daily hard work of being transformed into Christ’s image.

I really like this idea of replacing our “wounded places” with Christ’s love. It goes hand-in-hand with many of the message from Mary at Medjugorje when she asks us to clean out all that prevents us from fully accepting God’s graces.

The article also discusses how our lives mimic the values and themes seen in each mystery of the rosary:

Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Rosarium Virginis Mariae writes, “The rosary marks the rhythm of human life, bringing it into harmony with the rhythm of God’s own life.”

Pope John Paul II said that we can reflect on all the joys, sorrows, and challenges in our lives by looking at the ones shown in the mysteries of the rosary. Over time, through rosary prayer, our ways begin to mimic Jesus’ ways revealed in those mysteries. For example, we see Jesus taking up the cross in the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery. We know that Jesus fell down repeatedly and yet He always got back up and continued on. We can learn that we all have our “crosses” in life and at times we might fall (either by sin or just lacking faith and spiritual energy). However, to imitate Jesus we must get up and continue working towards His kingdom.

The next time we pray the rosary, let us ask ourselves what each mystery reveals about our own lives. Are we imitating what Jesus did in those mysteries or are we ignoring His teachings and example?