|
The Rosary is a collection of meditations and prayers -And what a magnificent group of prayers!..........LOOK! One given to us by Our Lord Himself, one given by Mary herself, and the others developed during the early centuries of Christianity.
The Apostles CreedThe Apostles Creed can be broken down into twelve articles. There is a tradition (though whether it can be proven I don't know) that the Apostles Creed was composed by the Apostles themselves, on the very first Pentecost Day, when they were infused by the Holy Spirit, and supposedly each of the Apostles composed one of the twelve articles. Having received a commandment from the Lord to go forth into the whole world and preach the Gospel, and recognising that since so few people in those days could read, they almost certainly would have deemed it necessary to compose a reasonably short "formula", to teach to people, so that all would know and believe in the same things. And this is what the Apostles creed is - a list of beliefs held by Christians. The Lord's Prayer- what could be a better prayer than the very one taught by Our Lord Himself, when the Apostles asked Him, "Lord How should we pray?" This was not just an idle question. The Jews had long had a great respect for prayer, and their prayers were numerous. Now here was this young man, who claimed to be the Son of God, and proved it by so many miracles that He performed. So who better to ask how to pray?The Hail MaryIt is generally thought of as consisting of three parts. The first part is taken direct from the Scriptures - "Hail (Mary) full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women" are the words used by the Angel Gabriel in addressing Our Lady (Luke 1,28).The second part "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb" comes from the greeting given to Mary by her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1,42), and the word "Jesus" was added some time later. The third part is a petition, which was added by the Church - "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." Amen. The Glory Be to the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit- one of the oldest and most loved of the Doxologies. (a Doxology is defined as a praising, giving or uttering praise to God)The Fatima Prayer(sometimes called the Fatima Ejaculation)A prayer taught by Our Lady herself to the three children at Fatima (Portugal) in 1917. See the Fatima story. |