In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy spirit. Amen. In 1976, Cardinal Ottia, that's my approximation of that pronunciation, gave a retreat for Pope Paul VI. And I do not think that this sort of a thing has happened often in the history of the papacy. That a retreat master who gave the retreat to the reigning pontiff became pope himself.
And that's what happened. So, hundred and seventy six, our present holy father gave a retreat to Paul the sixth and to his co operators, the men associated with him in the Vatican. But that retreat was put together under the title of a sign of contradiction. That's, of course, taken from the words of Simeon when our blessed lady presented Jesus in the temple. And Simeon predicted that this baby would be a sign of contradiction.
Then, the cardinal wove his retreat talks around the rosary. The joyful mysteries, the sorrowful mysteries, and the glorious mysteries. And that book is worth reading. Period of contradiction, but translated into a number of languages. I don't know what language he delivered it in.
This is one thing I wish translators would tell us. But the point I want to make is this, that Cardinal Crow, also a Polish ancestor, In his introduction to the American edition, says this about this retreat, which the holy father, the cardinal at that time, wove around the rosary and the mysteries. Joyful, the sorrowful, and the glorious mysteries of the rosary. Cardinal Crow said, and Cardinal Crowell is not an imaginative man. He is not given to hyperbole.
He's a canon lawyer. Cardinal Crowley Philadelphia said that these talks could be a blueprint of the complete and active Christian life. Now, I read the book, going back and re reread it in response. And all I can say is no words could have been more simply and accurately said. One of the strangest phenomenon, and we have a lot of strange phenomena these days in the holy roman catholic church, is the way we have neglected, ignored, forgotten, and thrown out.
Literally thrown out the rosary. Who would try to buy one? Go out and try to buy a leather case to carry your rosary in. Go ahead and try it. I'll save you some time, but it's not You can't just go to any old store and find it.
It used to be that you could go to any decent jewelry shop and see the rosary is there for sale. Try it today. What's happened? What's happened? Was there something very wrong about the rosary that we want to get rid of it?
You know, these things just puzzle me. That here is a devotion that seemed to be so much part of Catholic life for centuries, and then within a few years it evaporates. Por quoi, barum, why? Why in the world does this happen? And especially when you can point to a man like Cardinal Gutier in 1976, who was certainly a man who knew what was going on in the world, addressing a retreat to the holy father, Paul the sixth, could take it upon himself to weave his retreat around the mysteries of the rosary.
Isn't there something she blamed about all this? I can't understand it. I can understand, you know, how these great liturgists made literally, and I shouldn't say this, but they did make fun of people sitting in the pews using their rosary during the mass. See, they saw that this was a this was just an awful way of assisting at mass. And I agree, it's not the perfect way of assisting at mass.
I'll be the first one to agree to that. But there's nothing wrong about it. Between the good, the better, and the best, you have all kinds of predations. And furthermore, well, there's news going into it. I have no explanation of how these things, so many of these things have happened in such a short space of time.
That devotions, practices, that had the treasure and the richness of tradition and of ages, we've thrown them all out, including of course the Latin language, of which we are going to be very sorry. We're already beginning to be. And so, today the church still has the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The church hasn't given it up. And if you see, if you The rosary is a devotion that appeals to everybody.
The most ignorant, the most illiterate person can use it as a storehouse, as a rich well of devotion. And the most learned theologian or scripture scholar can use it. That is It's It's the lowest common it's not that they're using it in the same way, but there it's still the rosary. And so, you see, there's a big difference between having a devotion to the rosary. It isn't that you have to say it every day.
We used to do it, but somehow we find that difficult today. But the point is there is one thing in saying, well, I'm not as faithful as I ought to be to the rosary. Well, I can say that about the 10 commandments. I'm not as faithful to them as they ought to be, but I don't throw them out. And so today, on this feast of the holy rosary, let us restore our conviction about this.
It is not something trivial. Go and read the article on the rosary in the New Catholic Encyclopedia. It's a very mysterious thing that we have, this devotion called the rosary. Its beginnings are shrouded in mystery, and lack of information. But it's been with us a long time.
It has been the nourishment of many and many a human being who knew no other form of devotion than the rosary. And reading the stained glass windows in the church. We are not so sophisticated. We are not so advanced that we cannot use the rosary profitably. If a man like Cardinal Probe, and if you knew him, you'd feel the more the weight of his words.
If he can say that these meditations Cardinal Wotelian made on the three series of mysteries of the holy rosary, when he can say that this is a blueprint for the complete active life of a Christian, He's not just foaming. He's not just giving a lot of thought. He is giving us a truth. And this is a devotion that is so handy that we can carry the rosary with us so inconspicuously. It can be used.
So, probably without anyone knowing that we're doing it. It's not an obvious devotion. It I mean, it doesn't have to be. It can be something very much in the secret of our chamber, where Christ said is where you ought to go to pray sometimes. And so today on this feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, notice these these 12 15 mysteries all have something to do with Mary.
And there's practically no homily or statement that the Holy Father makes that he doesn't bring Mary into it. You know, Mary has been downgraded. Everything's been downgraded. God, I don't know where we're going to land. But there's not that with our present holy father, there's scarcely a and I get the Observatory Romano.
There is scarcely a homily or a speech he gives, and he gives plenty of them, that he doesn't bring Mary into it. And so the church today, in asking us, and bringing before us Our Lady of the Rosary, let us remember what she's doing. She's bringing before us the entire economy of salvation. You heard the first reading today from Genesis. The incarnation of Christ is the response to it.
Mary is the second Eve. Do you believe it? And if so, do you love her for what she is, the mother of God? And certainly one way that we can celebrate her, that love, and at the same time stimulate our faith and bring down the grace of God, is having a devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.