Zenon Card. Grocholewski

Introduction to the Concert "Meditation on the Rosary", during the 33rd Pueri Cantores International Congress, Rome, in Saint Mary Major's, 30 December 2005

Your Eminences, Leaders of the International and National Federations of the Pueri Cantores,Dear boys and girls, All present at this concert.

In this stirring roman Basilica, we welcome with great joy this gift of a musical meditation on the "Mysteries of the Rosary" - a gift that the Pueri Cantores of sixteen different nations offer us in this Christmas period.

Their promotion of sacred choral music, as well as their generous participation in the liturgical celebrations of the Church in all parts of the world, praising the Lord "with songs of joy", are impressive and most beneficial.

On behalf of everyone here, I express to the Pueri Cantores our sincere appreciation and deep gratitude, as well as our hope that their singing - which expresses and nourishes one's faith and love of the Lord - may draw them ever closer to God and may prepare them to sing forever with joy in the House of the Father.

The Rosary, which is the theme of today's concert, is a prayer beloved of so many Saints and has always been encouraged by the Magisterium of the Church. Even in this third millennium, it retains its great importance and is destined to bear the fruit of holiness.

Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE of 16 October 2002, admitted: "From my youthful years this prayer has held an important place in my spiritual life. […] The Rosary has accompanied me in moments of joy and in moments of difficulty. To it I have entrusted any number of concerns; in it I have always found comfort" (n. 2b). Scarcely two weeks after his election to the See of Peter, he said: "The Rosary is my favourite prayer. A marvellous prayer! Marvellous in its simplicity and its depth. [...]

MYSTERIES OF JOY

Against the background of the words AVE MARIA the principal events of the life of Jesus Christ pass before the eyes of the soul […] and they put us in living communion with Jesus through - we might say - the heart of his Mother.

At the same time our heart can embrace in the decades of the Rosary all the events that make up the lives of individuals, families, nations, the Church, and all mankind. Our personal concerns and those of our neighbour, especially those who are closest to us, who are dearest to us. Thus the simple prayer of the Rosary marks the rhythm of human life" (ibid., cf. also n. 25).

After twenty-five years of service as the Successor of Peter, Pope John Paul II recalled these statements in his Apostolic Letter ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE, mentioned earlier, and added: "With these words, dear brothers and sisters, I set the first year of my Pontificate within the daily rhythm of the Rosary. Today, […] I wish to do the same." Then, he exclaimed: "How many graces have I received in these years from the Blessed Virgin through the Rosary: MAGNIFICAT ANIMA MEA DOMINUM!"

Pope Leo XIII in the Encyclical SUPREMI APOSTOLATUS OFFICIO, published in 1883, proposed the Rosary as an effective spiritual weapon against the evils afflicting society (cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae, n. 2a).

Sister Lucy of Fatima said "the Rosary is the most powerful weapon with which we can defend ourselves in our fight against evil". Similar affirmations are found in the writings of many Saints and Roman Pontiffs.

John Paul II emphasised the value of praying the Rosary, above all for two intentions of the utmost importance and relevance, that is, for the cause of peace and for the family (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, nn. 6, 39-42). The power of the Rosary lies in the fact - as Pope John Paul II reminded us - that "the Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer" (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, n. 1b, cf. also 2a, 8b).

In fact, "with the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary" to contemplate with her the face of Christ and the depths of his love, to contemplate with her a sort of compendium of the whole Gospel message (cf. n. 1b, as well as 3a, 5a, 9-12, 18).

We can speak of a compendium especially today, when "the Christological depth of the Rosary" has been completed with the mysteries of light, that is "the mysteries of Christ's public ministry between his Baptism and his Passion" (n. 19b): the Baptism in the Jordan, the self-revelation at the Marriage of Cana, the proclamation of the Kingdom of God with the call to conversion, the Transfiguration and, finally, the institution of the Eucharist as the sacramental expression of the Paschal mystery (n. 21a).

MYSTERIES OF LIGHT

Thus, in the Rosary - as the late Pontiff explained - we remember Christ with Mary (n. 13), we learn Christ with Mary (n. 14), we conform ourselves to Christ with Mary (n. 15), we supplicate Christ with Mary (n. 16) and we proclaim Christ with Mary (n. 17).

In this way, the prayer of the Rosary is in harmony with the liturgy: "it sustains it" since it prepares us for the liturgy and re-echoes it (n. 4a, cf. also n. 13).

In his Apostolic Letter ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE, Pope John Paul II indicated the Rosary as "a treasure to be rediscovered" and exhorted us with these words: "Dear brothers and sisters! A prayer so easy and yet so rich truly deserves to be rediscovered by the Christian community" (n. 43a).

I trust that this concert may help us to rediscover in greater depth the power and beauty of the Rosary, that it may help us to love the Rosary and to hold it often in our hands as we contemplate, together with Mary, the Mysteries of Christ the Saviour.

To all of you, I hope that this concert, which is at the same time a prayer, may be not only of cultural enjoyment but also, and above all, a source of true spiritual enrichment for each one of us.