Theres nothing wrong with meditating on the “mysteries” of Christ’s life. I believe that praying the Rosary is strange for many non- catholic christians because:
- They may believe that they are hidden in Christ, who is the only intercessor, so it wouldn’t make any sense to even mention anyone else’ name, when they are “having a moment” with Christ, meditating on aspects of His life.
2.** The Rosary is a **
Marian devotion. Its thinking about the mysteries, with mary and asking her to pray for whatever the intention of the rosary is. if someone seriously believes that they can boldly enter the throne of grace and confidently run and jump onto their heavenly father’s knee, through Jesus, alone, they not only have no confidence in their own personal level of holiness, they dont have any confidence in anyone else’s- they live in Christ’s worthiness and trust in Him alone. Its not by observance of the law that they are reconciled to God, its by grace, so they dont look at how holy they are to believe they can be with God, they look at how Holy Jesus is and trust in the accepted sacrifice Jesus made for the whole world. Their personal growth in holiness is evidence “works” that show their salvation through Christ.
Being devoted to anyone else’s intercession, but Jesus’, wouldnt make any sense at all, since its Jesus alone who offered his life and rose from the dead to give us eternal life. so the rosary wouldnt have any real purpose, apart from meditating on Christ, but there would be constant prayers to mary, whilst they are trying to meditate on Christ, which would be seen more of a distraction from Christ, than an aid to look at Christ. Asking mary to pray for us, or anyone, may be considered as nice, but pointless, as Jesus is the
only one who is able to bridge humanity with God- The God-Man. If Jesus is constantly accessible as the personification of mercy, then, trusting in the prayers, even of a mother, however lovely and pure… she is, is nothing compared to trusting in Jesus, whose life is now seen as “mine”… " I am part of the body of Christ… its as though when God looks at me, He sees Jesus."
i think that to non- catholic christians, trusting in the prayers of saints and praising mary because she is the holiest of saints seems like plan b, if you can’t get to Jesus… but they see that they can always get to Jesus and want to trust in Him alone.
- **Jesus never speaks **of trusting or devoting our attention to the intercession of saints. He always spoke of Himself. So, the non- catholic christian, because they dont see Jesus telling them to do it, they don’t want to, especially when He is always right there to adore, thank and ask.
- a non- catholic christian may not agree with all the mysteries that are meditated on in the rosary, therefore seeing it as a distortion of the message of Christ.
eg- the coronation of mary “queen of heaven”. if anyone is seen as the queen of heaven, it is the bride of Christ. mary may have been the davidic queen of israel, on earth, because of their blood relation to David and the way Israel’s monarchy likened themselevs to the world by allowing a king to have more than one wife, making his mother the co-ruler, but God didnt intend to give Israel a monarchy. God wanted to be their King and he warned them that their earthly king would treat them badly. God’s judgement against Israel was to give them what they wanted. but there would be a new King who would reign over Israel forever, which is pretty much, God talking about Himself- God would be their King, not like any king on earth, not by flesh, blood and force, but by the Spirit, because he reigns as King of Heaven and israel and all the nations would be given to Him as His inheritance. Mary being the queen of heaven would only make sense if God’s definition of marriage also changed and Jesus’ bride is lessened in worth because she could be one of many wives, like the kings of Israel and the kings of the world at the time, in that region.
Jesus has only one bride, the church, and the coronation of Mary… is seen to distort the image of God- The perfect Husband, and His bride, the Church. (Revelation 12 cannot be seen as evidence of Mary reigning as queen of heaven in the literal sense, as Herod’s dynasty wasn’t literally a creature and satan isnt literally a beast, or Jesus a Lamb, a door or bread, it is figurative.)
- The Rosary is entering the school of Mary. Non catholic christians may see devotion to mary as putting aside The Holy Spirit as our comforter, guide, friend, leader, teacher…If meditating on the mysteries of Christ have any affect, its by the mercy and presence of God, the Holy Spirit, but doing it in the name of mary, to plead for her intercession… seems like setting Him aside. He is the help of Christians.
6.
To devote oneself to the intercession of mary is like agreeing with the dogmas about her. Even though catholics are not the only type of christians who pray the rosary, its the dogma of the catholic church about mary, i believe, that are what come to mind when most non-catholic christians think about the rosary. It may feel like one is agreeing with all the dogmas, if they pray the rosary.
- It seems superstitious. Like a bride who, traditionally, carries flowers in order to ward away evil spirits, the format of prayers seem to be of the same spirit. “Say three hail marys, then one our father, a glory be, pray the fatima prayer, say ten hail marys…” why? a non- catholic christian may feel like " why are you telling me how to speak, as though i’m typing in a code, rather than speaking to a person?
I cant speak for all non- catholic christians, but this is the impression i get from my friends and myself. Some also say that it is vein repetition… but i believe that a repeated prayer with a sincere heart is a genuine prayer.
