The Neon Mysteries

In another post I wrote that Pope John Paul II had "screwed around with the Rosary".

To understand my statement, one must view from a scholarly standpoint what the Rosary actually is. There are those who rightly say that the Rosary is a part of the small "t" tradition of the Church, and therefore can be changed. That doesn't mean to say that it should be changed.

What I mean by this is that while I feel smoking my pipe and wearing my kilt and having picnics are all fine to do, I shouldn't do these things in Church because they are wildly inappropriate. The same goes for changing the Rosary.

If JPII wanted the faithful to meditate on the public ministry of Jesus Christ, there are better ways to do so rather than changing traditions. But as has been poined out by a regular reader, the Pope is well within his rights to do so.

But.

The Pope is also the defender of the Catholic Church and its Traditions and traditions. He also has the duty to hand down the unadulterated Faith to others.

So now let's look at the Rosary's history a bit.

Way back in the day, the faithful prayed all 150 psalms. (Try getting some Catholics today to pray one decade of the Rosary...!) As we move into the Middle Ages, people had trouble learning all the psalms, and they longed for a way to do it, so at some point to help these folks, the tradition began of saying 150 Pater Nosters, and in time it eventually became 150 Ave Maria's.

This tradition of saying 150 Ave Maria's was already well under way for hundreds of years by the time Saint Dominic Gusman came along and was told by the Blessed Mother at the church at Prouille "Wonder not that you have obtained so little fruit by your labors, you have spent them on barren soil, not yet watered with the dew of Divine Grace. When GOD willed to renew the face of the earth, He began by sending down on it the fertilizing rain of the Angelic Salutation. Therefore preach my Psalter composed of 150 Angelic Salutations and 15 Our Fathers, and you will obtain an abundant harvest".

It was thereafter known as Our Lady's Psalter. "Psalter" because as I explained, the Rosary is modeled off of the Breviary, with it's 150 Ave Maria's in place of the 150 Psalms. But when John Paul the Innovator decided to add mysteries to the Rosary, by adding 50 Ave's, the whole structure of the traditional Rosary is screwed up.

Hence, JPII screwed with the Rosary. If you don't like my choice of words, remember it could have been much worse.

So we can see that now with the new mysteries suggested by JPII, we have 200 Ave's instead of the traditional 150. But this is no great surprise, for in this great time of Catholic awakening since Vatican II, priests and religious don't even say the 150 psalms anymore because the VII genuises omitted some of the psalms in the newer form of the Breviary.

So, let's get back to small "t" traditions in the post Vatican II era and changing the Rosary. History has shown that whenever the Novus Ordites want to attack capital "T" Tradition, they always go after the small "t" traditions, and during our post Vatican II springtime we have seen it time and again. They went after Latin, Chant, the Mass (!), the Eucharistic fast, Communion on the tongue, Communion kneeling, they removed Prime from the Breviary for whatever reason, they instituted altar girls and EMHC's, they allowed women in the Sanctuary, and they threw out saints because they claimed there wasn't enough proof they existed.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

When you attack traditions, you attack the Traditions handed down by the Apostles themselves, and you breakdown traditional devotion and piety. When you change traditions you change the religion. If you don't think that is the case, have a look around at the havoc that has been wrought in the Church the last forty years.

And that true believers, is why changing the Rosary is a bad idea.

Ok?