The Crown Rosary
Begin the Rosary with your Intentions
Omit Creed
Start with the FIRST DECADE of the Seven Joys of Mary.
End with 2 Hail Marys
Say for the intentions of Holy Father: 1 Our Father, Hail Mary & 1 Glory Be.
FIRST JOY - THE ANNUNCIATION
MEDITATION
Mary, just before she conceived Christ, was preparing her soul for union with God, although unaware of what form this union would take. A brief conversation with an angel, and she found herself one with God in a unique and ineffable way. Before
Communion we too prepare the Portiuncula at our heart for this entry; afterward, though the material accidents conceal the fact, our Lord is no less really present in us than he was in his Immaculate Mother.
SECOND JOY - THE VISITATION
MEDITATION
Framed between two lovely songs, the Magnificat and the Benedictus, the birth of John the Baptist set aglow, as a flame lights a candle, the thought of a Redeemer in each citizen of the hill country who came to the precursor's christening. Before and after this holy nativity, the gentle presence of Mary blessed the home of Zachary as we too bless the places to which we bring the Christ united to us in the Eucharist and pledged to remain in our heart as long as grace continues there.
THIRD JOY - THE NATIVITY AND THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
MEDITATION
Outside the city of self, in the darkness of trust in God, the Blessed Virgin bore her Child. Although his incarnate life was now separate from her body, the Word remained within her like a King on his throne. So does he reign within each of us, possessing and possessed, when as a result of his birth in that first House of Bread, Bethlehem, he comes to us in the Eucharist. Each of us becomes, morning after morning, a Greccio, a home for the infant God.
Just as Mary's eager desire to share her Son led to the Visitation and to the adoration of the shepherds, so did she, brighter than any star, draw these Magi to the feet of their Redeemer. After their arrival, with joy she gave him to each in turn, even as she docs to us who receive him in Holy Communion. The gold of abandonment, the myrrh of Franciscan penitence, and the frankincense of complete love are little to return for such a Gift. ''
FOURTH JOY - THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE
MEDITATION
As Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to the elders of the Temple, they once again displayed their love and faithfulness towards God.
FIFTH JOY - THE FINDING OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE
MEDITATION
None know so well as our dear Mother, sorrowful in this faint reflection of the three-day separation after Calvary, how heavy a burden life can be when Christ is absent. Just as he embraced Mary tenderly when she discovered him in the Temple, so does he greet each of us who find him anew in the Eucharist; as he went down to Nazareth with her, so does he accompany us wherever our Franciscan work for him may lead.
SIXTH JOY - THE RESURRECTION
MEDITATION
Joyful beyond any words, the meeting of Mary and her Son on the morning of his resurrection represents in heightened splendor what happens in every Communion. With no language but tenderness, the risen Christ gives himself to the soul who receives him in the Mass. Calvary all over again and climaxed as that was by the glory of a more perfect union than a world without suffering could ever have known.
SEVENTH JOY - THE ASSUMPTION AND THE CORONATION OF MARY
MEDITATION
"Where I am, you also shall be." The love of Christ for his Mother, body and soul, made him long for her entrance into eternity. In the greatest of her festivals he welcomed her to Heaven. Mary's assumption is a dazzling transfiguration of that union Christ affects in us all through the Eucharist; her coronation is the symbol of the "greater things" in store for us according to the exhortation of our holy father Saint Francis.