Karen in Dallas, Texas, listening on Guadalupe Radio. It's open forum on
Catholic Answers Live and Tim staples is taking your questions.
Karen, what is your question for Tim? Hi, I have a question about the Glorious
Mysteries; we end it with the Assumption and the Coronation of
Mary. And so I was wondering, why do we do that and where does that originate
from? Yeah, great question Karen let's start with the "why." It's so
important that we understand, when we talk about our salvation as Catholics,
we don't look at things--and I should say the Bible doesn't either--we don't look
at things the same way, say, a Fundamentalist or Evangelical or even
most Protestants, that it's all about just me and Jesus; but we believe that we
are members of a body, that when we talk about salvation we're talking about much
more than just me and Jesus. I mean, to say that our salvation just relates to
me and Jesus would be like saying the finger on my hand has nothing to do with
the rest of the body. In fact, my finger could jump off my hand, it doesn't need
the rest of the body--no! My finger needs the rest of the body. St. Paul tells us,
in 1 Corinthians 12:12 to 27 and Romans 12, we're a body! We need each
other for salvation. So salvation we see as a corporate reality, not just a one-on-
one thing. And so when, you know, when we're talking about the the mysteries of
the rosary, we're talking about God's plan of salvation, and within that plan
includes the Blessed Virgin Mary, in a particular way because this is a Marian
devotion, but Mary's Assumption and Coronation serve as sources for hope for
you and I. This is why we say in the Hail Holy Queen, "Our life, our sweetness, and
our hope!" We're not denying, of course, that Jesus Christ, as Paul says to the
Colossians, is the hope of glory. Christ in us is the hope of glory, of course. But
we see in Mary the grace of God perfected and
fulfilled and we can look to her-- "Hey, if God did it for her, he can do it
and he will do it for me." So we see the Assumption and finally the Coronation of
the Blessed Virgin Mary as very much relating to the glory of God.
"Wow, look what God did!" in Mary and also as pertaining to us, because she serves
as that source of hope. And you know what, I'll say this, Karen, as well: Cy can be
a source of hope for us. I look at Cy and I see the joy of the Lord
and such--sometimes-- I'm trying to work it up right
now, so you will see it. But really we do, we become sources of hope and
inspiration for each other. You know, I-- Karen, I just quoted earlier
1 Corinthians 4:14-15, where St. Paul says, "Even if you have ten thousand
instructors in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have not many fathers...I become your
father, for I begot you through the Gospel." In the next verse he then says, "I
urge you therefore, brethren: be imitators of me." Right? Man, to my Protestant ears
that sound--that that would have sounded almost blasph--"What do you mean, imitate
you? Man, I imitate Jesus!" No, he says, "imitate me." Now that's a pretty bold
statement; I don't know if I'm there yet, Cy... I know I'm not. That's right.
Especially with my driving. Don't imitate me. But you know what, we need
brothers and sisters in Christ. We need Mother Theresas and Pope Saint John
Pauls and St. Pauls and St. Peters and all the lives of the saints that we can
look to for inspiration; much like, Karen, basketball players will
look to Michael Jordan for inspiration, right? "Wow! Like Mike, if I could be like
Mike," remember those commercials? I do not, but that is so much fun listening to
you sing it. That's right! See, and so that's, I mean, in a nutshell, Karen, that's what it's about;
of course this is a Marian devotion, so it's focusing on Jesus and the life
of Christ as it relates to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but really we enter into
that great mystery as well, because Mary is really the archetype of
what it means to be a Christian. So we imitate her, just as, you know, we
imitate St. Paul and St. Peter. Now, as far as when, when did those mysteries
develop--that is a great mystery. There are different theories as to when,
although our friend, Father Donald Callaway, just wrote a great book on the
rosary which I'm just making my way through and it's blowing my mind. I'm
actually-- Really? Oh yes, I mean he's...it's very interesting, but Karen, there
are different theories within the Church as to when the rosary developed, how
developed was it by the time of St. Dominic and such, but just put it this
way, Karen: it's a very ancient tradition in the Church, it goes back a long long way,
it developed over time, no doubt, but it is a beautiful tradition that has the
approbation and the blessing of the Church and it has produced scads of
saints over the centuries. Thanks Karen, thanks very much for that call.