Peggy Noonan: Man of Mystery

Opinion Journal ^ | 10/18/2002 | Peggy Noonan

[Pokey78]

John Paul II marked the start of the 25th year of his papacy, now figured to be the fourth longest in history, with a startling announcement in St Peter's Square: He does not intend to resign but will let the Boss decide when he should leave, and by the way he has decided to change the rosary, the daily devotion Catholics have recited for 900 years. Now the pope has many issues vying for his attention, including his decision Thursday for reject the American bishops' plan for dealing with clergy sex abuse, but it is actually hard to imagine a more dramatic and far-reaching decision than the addition of the "luminous mysteries," for it will literally change how millions of ardent believers pray each day for peace.

[D-fendr]

what Peggy is illustrating here is that, sometime, we lost the foundation of Christian contemplation (called meditation in the East). The lectio divina is being re-born as Centering Prayer, and the Pope is focusing us once again on this almost lost valuable Christian spiritual practice.

I would recommend to Peggy, and every other Christian that they explore The Cloud of Unknowing and Centering Prayer (Fr. Keating) as helpful aids in developing the silence and attention that Peggy talks about her problems with.

She's not alone and we all need simple tools to begin to calm the mental chatter in this noisy modern world.

[D-fendr]

Most, if not all, of your questions are answered better than I can by the pope in his letter.

It's a long read, but if you wish to hear the answers, read it carefully with an open mind; they're here:

Rosarium Virginis Mariae

[Dr. Scarpetta]

bump

[FairWitness]

Very interesting. As a non-Catholic I have never really known what the Rosary and all the Hail Mary's were about. Addition of the ministry and teaching of Christ to the contemplation/meditation seems, as Peggy says, like not a new idea but one that should have been there all along and "was lost to time".

[Teacher317]

Peggy always does a great job of teaching.

[Salvation]

Catholic discussion ping!

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[wideawake]

As a former Catholic, all I ask - as I did at 16 (and got no answer) is where is this in the Bible?

Hmmm . . . praying is quite obviously recommended in the Bible. And the prayers of the Rosary are direct quotations on the Bible. To pray a Hail Mary is to reflect on the Incarnation of Christ. The Incarnation is, along with the Trinity, the central doctrine of Christianity.

And why is the focus of my faith not firmly, 100%, always on the One who the whole book is about?

If you think that the Rosary is not focused on Jesus, then you're not familiar with the Rosary as it was taught to me.

And where dows it say anything about Mary being sinless?

Luke 1:28.

Or not dying?

The Catholic Church does not hold as an article of faith that Mary did not die. Please cite a reference for this assertion.

Or having ANYTHING to do with my fate?

She's the mother of your Savior. I'd say she is inextricably entwined in your eternal salvation.

And why if anything were we not asked to pray to Christ 50 times?

The Church asks us to pray to Christ every day. The Church asks us to call upon His Name every time we are tempted - unless you live in a padded cell, that must be hundreds of times each day for a normal person. The Church asks us to read the Gospels every day. The Church asks us to imitate Him every day. Apparently you've never read any Catholic catechism ever in your entire life, or you'd know that pretty well. I find it hard to believe you've ever been to a Mass.

Some of the same reasons I am no longer a Catholic - I can read the Bible for myself, and belong to a church that meets and governs by the rules I can also read and understand for myself.

Why do you take the Bible as your only source of religious authority? If you can understand the rules so plainly, why does every Protestant denomination interpret the rules differently? Where did you learn to read Hebrew and Greek so well that you are able to so authoritatively read the Bible for yourself, instead of taking some human being's translation for granted?

[Salvation]

What truly amazes me is that the Pope adds a "mystery" to the rosary

Five Mysteries of Light that deal with the life of Jesus Christ.

[Salvation]

Posted on Rosarium

The Mysteries of Light

21. Moving on from the infancy and the hidden life in Nazareth to the public life of Jesus, our contemplation brings us to those mysteries which may be called in a special way "mysteries of light". Certainly the whole mystery of Christ is a mystery of light. He is the "light of the world" (Jn 8:12). Yet this truth emerges in a special way during the years of his public life, when he proclaims the Gospel of the Kingdom. In proposing to the Christian community five significant moments – "luminous" mysteries – during this phase of Christ's life, I think that the following can be fittingly singled out:

(1) his Baptism in the Jordan,
(2) his self-manifestation at the wedding of Cana,
(3) his proclamation of the Kingdom of God, with his call to conversion,
(4) his Transfiguration, and finally,
(5) his institution of the Eucharist, as the sacramental expression of the Paschal Mystery.

He also suggests that because Saturday is already a day associated with Marian devotion, moving the Joyful mysteries to Saturday would be fitting, freeing up Thursday for the Mysteries of Light. That would make the Rosary "calendar" as follows:

Sunday: Glorious
Monday: Joyful
Tuesday: Sorrowful
Wednesday: Glorius
Thursday: Luminous
Friday: Sorrowful
Saturday: Joyful

"According to current practice, Monday and Thursday are dedicated to the "joyful mysteries", Tuesday and Thursday (sic - Friday) to the "sorrowful mysteries", and Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday to the "glorious mysteries". Where might the "mysteries of light" be inserted? If we consider that the "glorious mysteries" are said on both Saturday and Sunday, and that Saturday has always had a special Marian flavour, the second weekly meditation on the "joyful mysteries", mysteries in which Mary's presence is especially pronounced, could be moved to Saturday. Thursday would then be free for meditating on the "mysteries of light".

37 posted on 10/16/02 4:33 PM Pacific by Gophack

BTW, you are always welcome to come home to the Catholic Church.

[pgkdan]

As a former Catholic, all I ask - as I did at 16 (and got no answer) is where is this in the Bible?

Who says everything having to do with our Faith must be found in the pages of the Bible? The Catholic Church sanctioned the Canon of Athanasius some 400 years after the death of our Lord...how did those people justify anything they thought, said or did without the Bible to instruct them?

And as to the mysteries themselves...they are all scriptural with the exception of the Assumption and the Coronation of the BVM as Queen of Heaven. Those events are deeply held and ancient traditions of the Church which predate the Bible by hundreds of years.

Now as for your question about why we're not saying 50 prayers to Christ...I can only tell you that we are. As Peggy says in her article the Rosary is a very Christocentric. All of the mysteries center on Our Lord and we only praise Mary because she was the mother of Our Lord, and by praising her we praise Our Lord. Her great Fiat at the Annunciation allowed the Incarnation to occur. her Fiat was voluntary and of her own free will, she said "Yes, Let it be done unto me as the Lord wills" and in doing so provided the perfect model of a Christian.

[RobbyS]

Yes, Let it be done unto me as the Lord wills"</>

a Perfection expression of being "born again,"no? Msry, though sinless, could not enter the kingdom of heaven unless HE came. The moment she opened to the door to Him, He opened the door to heaven for her. She had only to follow.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

Pokey, please add me to the Peggy Noonan list! Thanks! FS

[Catholicguy]

The third joyful mystery is the birth of Christ in a manger. It's not hard to imagine this. It's hard to control one's imaginings. I imagine the trek to the manger, the disheartened young husband, the sound of the eating area of the inn as they trudge on, hungry and alone. And then a car alarm goes off. And suddenly I'm wondering: Did she have a hard labor? <> Nope. Pain during labor is a consequence of original sin.Mary was preserved from the consequences fo Orioginal sin, ergo....<>Did God want her to know from the beginning that her joy would be ever accompanied by pain? Did she weep him into the world? Maybe it was an easy birth. <> He passed through Mary as He passed through the locked doors of the Upper Room<> God knew she was barely more than a child, with a young husband and no help, just the two of them in the cold in a hut on a hill.

[Catholicguy]

That reminded me of something. In the unofficial but ever-interesting prophecies of St. Malachy, mystic of the Middle Ages, each coming pope is named with a phrase that seems to denote his work.

<> I have that book at home. If I recall correctly, after JPII, there are only two more to follow - including Peter the Second, the Last Pope.<>

[Rushian]

Wonder where your authority would have come from before the Church had the Bible? By the way, the Catholic Church never said Mary did not die. They say she was assuned into Heaven after death which is an ancient tradition of Christ's Church.

[Junior]

Please add me to the Catholic ping list.

[Catholicguy]

I never thought of Peggy Noonan as being a man of mystery, but then I led a sheltered life.

<> "Man" is a synecdoche. Now that you no longer lead a sheletered life, you have an opportunity to acquire some knowledge;)<>

[1rudeboy]

bttt

[Eala]

Beautiful. Thank you for posting this.

[Pokey78]

Done.