We are in October, the month of the Holy Rosary, a month in which Catholics are invited to pray it daily. But not everyone sees the Rosary as a prayer pleasing to God. Protestants often even claim that it is a prayer in which more importance is given to Mary than to God himself. Their reasoning is quite simple: for every Our Father there are 10 Hail Marys; therefore, Mary is given ten times more importance than God.
Now then, are Protestants right in rejecting the prayer of the Rosary? Let us see:
The first thing to note is that to think that in each Hail Mary the Virgin is honoured and not God is already a first mistake. In each Hail Mary, not only is the Angel’s greeting to Mary repeated, but also the words that the Holy Spirit inspired in her cousin Elizabeth: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb”. And who is the fruit of her womb? Jesus. Therefore, if in each Hail Mary the Lord is blessed, it cannot be said that God is not honoured in them, since, as we all know: Jesus is God.
In the second part of the Hail Mary, her intercession before her Son is requested: «Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death». Again, this is not a prayer that leaves Jesus, who is also true God, aside.
On the other hand, Protestants often forget that the whole Rosary is prayed while meditating on the mysteries of the Gospel, and most of them are centred on the life of Christ. Let us recall them:
Joyful Mysteries (Monday and Saturday)
1. The Incarnation of the Son of God.
2. The Visitation of Our Lady to Saint Elizabeth.
3. The Birth of the Son of God.
4. The Purification of the Most Holy Virgin.
5. The Loss of the Child Jesus and his finding in the temple.
Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday and Friday)
1. Our Lord’s Prayer in the Garden.
2. The Scourging of the Lord.
3. The Crowning with thorns.
4. The Way to Mount Calvary.
5. The Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord.
Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday and Sunday)
1. The Resurrection of the Lord.
2. The Ascension of the Lord.
3. The Coming of the Holy Spirit.
4. The Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven.
5. The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin.
Luminous Mysteries (Thursday)
1. The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan.
2. Jesus’ self-revelation at the wedding at Cana.
3. The proclamation of the Kingdom of God inviting conversion.
4. The Transfiguration.
5. The institution of the Eucharist.
Practically all the mysteries refer to the important events in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ narrated in the Gospel. The person who prays the Rosary daily meditates every week on all the important moments of the Lord’s life. Can it still be said that it is not Christ-centred, or that it leaves God in second place?
The fulfilment of a prophecy
By praying the Rosary, the words inspired by the Holy Spirit and recorded in Scripture are also fulfilled: “From now on all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). It is not exactly thanks to Protestantism that this prophecy is fulfilled daily, because although someone may admit that Mary was blessed if asked directly, that is not what the prophecy predicts.
FROM NOW ON: From that moment onward…
ALL GENERATIONS: Generation after generation of the people of God
WILL CALL ME BLESSED: They will call her that. It does not say that they will know she is blessed, but that they WILL CALL her so. That is what we Catholics do when we say the Hail Mary: “Blessed are you among women!”.
The root problem is that Protestants do not understand something that Mary already understood at that time about what we Catholics do when we venerate her: All honour given to her first honours God, who has done great things in her:
“From now on all generations will call me blessed, because THE MIGHTY ONE HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR ME, and holy is his name.” (Luke 1:48-49)
It is God who has done GREAT THINGS for her; it is God who has made her blessed, blessed among all women. There are Protestants who think she is just any woman. The Bible does not teach the same.
We do not take glory away from God in order to give it to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We give glory to God for what he has done in her.
Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
Author: José Miguel Arráiz
