Our People

The Wonderful Works of God

Our Lady of the Rosary Feast Day
Fairfield Parish 2006

By Most Rev. Julian Porteous
Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney
7/10/2006

Commemorations:

• 7th October – Feast of the Holy Rosary – Fairfield Parish is under the patronage of Our Lady of the Rosary
• 75th Anniversary of Sisters of St Joseph in Fairfield
• 15th Anniversary of opening of Mary Mackillop College
• 10th Anniversary of opening of Rosary Village.

Celebrations began with a Procession and saying of the Rosary.

On this occasion I would like to reflect upon the Rosary.

When we begin to say the rosary the first question for us is which set of mysteries will we say: will it be the three traditional joyful, sorrowful or glorious mysteries or will it be the new luminous mysteries proposed to us by Pope John Paul.

We are invited to focus the mysteries surrounding the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ in the joyful mysteries, or to contemplate his passion and death for us in the sorrowful mysteries, or to fix our gaze towards heaven in the glorious mysteries, or to consider moments during the life of our Lord that reveal his nature and mission in the luminous mysteries.

In whichever set of mysteries we chose we are being drawn into the heart of our faith. In choosing a set of mysteries we are bringing ourselves face to face with the wonderful works of God. We are being reminded of what God has done for us and drawn towards the mystery of God himself.

In the rosary it is as though Mary our mother is taking us as her children into the great work of God to save us and all humanity in which she was privileged to participate in a unique way.

Mary, we are told in the Gospels, “pondered these things in her heart”. It is as though now she is inviting us to do likewise – to quietly ponder in our hearts the wonderful works of God.

The Joyful Mysteries draw us to the events surrounding the birth of Christ. What we celebrate each Christmas is brought before us. We consider again the extraordinary fact – Almighty God has chosen to become one of us that we may come to be with Him for eternity. God has come among us in humility and fragility, not with power and majesty. He came as a vulnerable child.

The Luminous Mysteries were proposed to the Church by Pope John Paul II in the Year of the Rosary, 2004. He who had such a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and chose as his motto, Totus Tuus, “all yours” invited the Church to contemplate in the rosary mysteries of light – moments when the Lord revealed aspects of himself and hence of God to us: at his Baptism in the Jordan, in the changing of water into wine, in his proclamation that the Kingdom of God is close at hand, in his transfiguration and finally at the Last Supper as he institutes the Holy Eucharist. We ponder these moments in the earthly life of our Lord. He, the Light of the World, reveals the nature and purposes of God for us.

The sorrowful mysteries, particularly intended to be said on Fridays, take us to the suffering that the Lord endured for us, for our sins. All this he did for me! We recall particular moments in his passion, and we pray with the awareness that this suffering was because of my sins, and done that I might be forgiven. “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” – these words of the Lord from the Cross can be heard by each of us as though Jesus was asking his Father to forgive each one of us.

The Glorious mysteries direct our thoughts to heaven. The Lord Jesus has conquered death – he is truly risen. Death has no final power over us. And as we contemplate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her crowning as Queen in heaven, we know that the Lord longs to glorify all those who are his servants on earth. We are destined for eternal life!

Saying the Rosary either privately or in a group is a simple way in which we are able to be drawn into the mysteries of our faith. This prayer brings us to those truths upon which we are building our lives.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary, lead us all to know her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and walk more surely and confidently in the way of salvation.