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Preface to the French Edition

by Father André Cabes, rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes

Praying the Rosary in Complete Harmony with God’s Heart

Salvation and Healing

This book helps us to bond with Jesus’ disciples on the paths of the Gospel, thanks to the companionship of Mary, the “Mama” who is always on hand. The prayer of the Rosary is not just any kind of prayer; it unites us with God’s welcome, which is directed to his creature that, in turn, finally accepts him. The Rosary helps us embrace the gift that God wants to bestow on us: simply to restore us in the relationship that, from the beginning, he offered us; an appeal that our deaf ears have ceased to perceive over time.

Father Dwight Longenecker, who passed from evangelical Protestantism to the Catholic Church, entered the family home where everyone recognizes in Mary their mother, for she is the mother of Jesus, God made flesh and the brother of each of us. Thanks to the “Yes” uttered by the young Mary of Nazareth to the fully imparted gift of God, we are re-created as children of divine life. Praying the Rosary gradually tames us and brings us to enter into a new life, that very life which corresponds to our vocation.

Beside Mary, the prayer of the Rosary opens us to the plea of the Lord of Life. Why choose death when, seeking us, he knocks at our door: “Adam, where are you?” Yet we are afraid, and we hide. However, with Mary, we unleash Jesus’ own cry of trust, which arose at the pinnacle of his suffering: “Abba! Father!” Thus we are brought back to life; once again, our hearts — even our bodies — are immersed in their source. The prayer of the Rosary embeds itself in our whole being; it heals us in the most intimate part of ourselves, by releasing us from suspicion, by letting ourselves be touched by Jesus’ hand and refashioned by his breath, by letting ourselves be restored to life.

Jesus’ States of Life

However, praying the Rosary for inner healing is not magic. Right from the beginning, Father Dwight warns us: the course is a difficult one. The cases he mentions do not witness to 100 percent success. Rather, he calls us not to neglect the regular remedies offered by our Church, such as meditating on the Word of God, reaching for the sacraments, etc. If the world only knew! We would be running on all fours to the sacrament of confession, for it sets us free. My privileged experience as a priest at the Shrine of Lourdes will not deny it. The Rosary does not dispense us from participating in the life of Church; quite the opposite. It impels us to take part, and brings us to encounter her not as a mere society to which we should subscribe, but as the humble Nazareth to which we are convened and where we uncover that we have reached home, for we are at Mom’s!

Along the lines of the great Christian tradition, starting from “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” to the Second Vatican Council, via Saint John Eudes and the French school of spirituality, praying the Rosary connects with our innermost being in its relation to the Father, a relation which Jesus comes to infuse in us, while we bond with the mysteries he experienced. “For by his incarnation the Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, he thought with a human mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin” (Gaudium et Spes, 22).

When I accept the apostolate of Jesus’ mother in my life, I do not register new ideas, but I allow divine life to give me birth through the infusion of the Spirit, which she welcomed in fullness. Thus in my life resides the Gift-Person, the love of God in person. Hence I am set free from the fears of loss, suffering, and dying. Instead, everything gets re-orientated towards offering. Sacrifice opens me up for communion with others: I do not deprive myself; I give, and I receive to a hundredfold the joy to love and be loved. From then on occurs “a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and the unity of God’s sons in truth and charity. This likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself” (Gaudium et Spes, 24).

The Proclamation of the Kingdom

From the Cross of Love, Jesus entrusts me to his mother, “Woman, behold your son.” Jesus’ mother directs my gaze and my heart to the source that springs forth: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). I will then have to fill, with the water of penance, the empty jars used by the Jews for ritual purifications at the wedding of Cana. Thus, as humble servants of the New Covenant, we may rejoice to remain beside Jesus and his mother. However, we must move ahead on the path of trust, and go beyond superficial feelings. We might get discouraged on the way, saying, “It’s too hard!” or even “that’s ridiculous!”

Father Dwight speaks of a real obstacle course, with obstacles induced by pride or discouragement. We must accept that we will progress slowly, but keeping in the right direction. It is never too soon, or too late, to get started! Jesus leads us gradually into his filial trust: he totally depends on his relationship with the Father. As for us, we are free! Yet, we are not to do merely anything we please, but rather we are to answer his plea for love.

We then realize that our own hands crucified the Lord. The tears of repentance pervade us when we fathom the abysses of darkness within us that compel us to despise our brothers and sisters, and even our own lives. However, simultaneously, we meet Jesus’ gaze upon us; in his eyes, there is no judgment or condemnation, only a gaze that calls us to live, and quit the prison of our artificial, proud, or fearful self. Jesus restores the child in us, the very child who answers “Yes!” to life and love received. “Blessed are you, Lord, for creating me!”

Father André Cabes

Rector, Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine (Lourdes, France)