Revisiting the Rosary Mysteries

The Coronation of the Virgin, El Greco (Prado)

DURING the Covid pandemic, I’ve been giving thought about the positive purpose of trials in life. Here my interests in Christianity and Stoicism coincide. The Stoics, like Christians, placed great emphasis on reconciling what seem to be bad events with an all providential God.

As a psychologist also, I can easily believe that trials and pain are vital for our psychological and spiritual maturation, and for the growth, expansion or development of new forms of consciousness. “Suffer and learn,” as Aeschylus wrote.  This is expressed in the ancient Greek adage, pathe mathe (suffering teaches).  Interpreted psychologically, the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Christ (in addition to whatever metaphysical meanings these may have) seem to relate to this principle. With that in mind, I was recently thinking about the meanings of the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Catholic Rosary; and from there I went on to consider the possible meanings of the three other sets of Rosary Mysteries (Glorious, Joyful and Luminous).

The practice of ‘saying a rosary’ consists basically of praying five sets of 10 (a “decade”) Hail Mary’s; at the beginning of each decade one meditates on one Mystery. On a given day, one would select the Sorrowful, Glorious, Joyful or Luminous Mysteries for meditation. The Mysteries within each set are meditated upon in a precise order, suggesting they may constitute steps in a gradual process of mental and spiritual ascent. (Clearly, mental ascent is a main function of any spiritual exercise).

As an example, we may consider the Glorious Mysteries.  I will leave my comments here only at the level of conjecture, partly because these are things that each person must explore individually. Here, then, is how one might interpret them in a psychological sense.

The Resurrection. Traditional sources associate this Rosary Mystery as the awakening of new Faith. That is, in the state of spiritual sleep that is our usual, fallen state of consciousness (carnal mindedness) something happens to remind us that we *are* fallen, and that a higher state of consciousness is possible.

The Ascension. Again, some traditional sources associate this with the yearning to ascend. That was be a natural second step once one realizes one is indeed mentally fallen.

The Pentecost. But in order to rise, we must avoid making the cardinal mistake of trying to do so by our own efforts alone. Rather we must be attentive to some gift or gifts of the Holy Spirit (like charity, piety, humility, patience, inspired insight, etc.) that prompt, direct and enable our ascent.

The Assumption of the Virgin and Mary is Crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. For now I would propose to consider these, which seem richly laden with psychological meanings, jointly. Official Christian doctrine has a very ‘male’ view of God. Popular devotion to the Virgin serves to express the human need to likewise acknowledge the divine feminine. The Assumption and Coronation could be understood as symbolizing a sort of union between the heavenly divine and material Nature. Psychologically this union would be very important as a means by which we may reconcile our Eternal nature with our life as practical human beings in the here-and-now physical world. If Mary is Queen of Heaven the Earth, it means the natural world is infused with the Divine. This union would also mean our instinctive, emotional love of Nature and our spiritual love of God could coincide.

Admittedly this mere outline leaves many questions unanswered. However my goal is not to come up with definitive answers here, but rather to suggest that praying the Rosary and meditating on the Mysteries is still very much a relevant practice that modern Catholics might consider re-introducing into their spiritual practice.

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