Rosaries
First Communion Rosary
First Communion Rosary
Rosary made of white heart shaped beads. The center depicts a double picture, the Virgin Mary known as Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt (MTA) and the picture of the Founder of the Schoenstatt Movement, Father Joseph Kentenich. The cross is Schoenstatt's Unity Cross.
The rosary is a devotion in honor of the Virgin Mary. It consists of a set number of specific prayers. First are the introductory prayers: one Apostles’ Creed (Credo), one Our Father (the Pater Noster or the Lord’s Prayer), three Hail Mary’s (Ave’s), one Glory Be (Gloria Patri). The word rosary comes from Latin and means a garland of roses, the rose being one of the flowers used to symbolize the Virgin Mary.
“Mary is endlessly great. The saints tell us that when God was about to create Mary and to design a plan for her, he create her in an ecstasy. That is why Mary became a unique masterpiece of his power, wisdom, and kindness. Mary is endlessly great like the ocean. We stand at the shore. Before us lies the immense expanse of the ocean. We can see the other shore when we look across a river, for example, the Rhine. We can see the other shore. But we cannot look across the seas. They, too, have a shore far beyond, but the surging and swelling waves stretch endlessly; we cannot look across. Similarly, so the saints tell us, Mary is not infinitely great like God, but endlessly great like the ocean. God lavished his power, wisdom, and love on Mary. She is a whole world to herself, very close to the Triune God.
Through the Rosary we grow in likeness to Mary. In our soul is the urge for greatness. Through the Rosary we become apparitions of Mary. If we have remained noble and have retained a sense of purity, then we begin to pray before the sun image of Marian greatness and glory: Mary, I would like to become like you. Oh, if only I were like you. Oh, if only I were you.
Mary is the sun-image of human, of womanly, in fact of creaturely dignity. When we see her, we must feel the urge awaken in us: “Mother if only I were like you.” No one of us is foolhardy enough to think that we will come to resemble Mary completely when we pray the Rosary often with devotion. True, the Rosary makes us apparitions of Mary, but apparitions of Mary on a small scale. The Rosary makes us a shadowy reflection of Mary’s glory… Let us never forget that the Rosary wants to and can make us a wonder of wonders on a small scale…”
Father Joseph Kentenich, May 1945.