the pope and the rosary

Once again, it is my time to update this once again. My apologies for The View from 232 being offline so long. The camera got knocked off the window sill and I just never got around to at least pointing it outside until just now.
Also, I do realize that most of the links to the left do not link to these great pages that you all expect from me. I’m getting it done- just chill out. I did however update the index to the College Courses section of the site with catalog descriptions. I’ll be updating each page slowly over the next week as well as preparing pages for the Spring 2k3 semester so it won’t be eight weeks into it before those pages are ready.
This week, Pope John Paul II entered into the 25th year of his pontificate at the Vatican. During the celebration, he released Rosarium Virginis Maraie, an Apostolic Letter on the Rosary. In the letter, he called for the year between October 2002 and October 2003 to be the “Year of the Rosary” (no. 3). What really was amazing from this letter was the proclamation of five new mysteries to the Rosary. The luminous mysteries, or mysteries of light, are for suggested mediation on Thursdays. Can Pope JPII do that? Well, he is pope. The mysteries of the Rosary are not part of dogma and is not something that is essential to salvation. That is, whether or not you pray and reflect over the ascension of Christ or his baptism makes no difference. He did not change or add any tenants of faith. With the exception of the Our Father, all prayers have been handed down to us through tradition. Granted, some prayers have been said to have been revealed to us by God but nonetheless, adding a new set of mysteries is not anything close to completely adding new dogmatic teachings. The new mysteries are 1. Christ’s baptism in the Jordan, 2. Christ’s self-manifestation at the wedding at Cana, 3. Christ’s proclamation of the Kingdom of God with his call to conversion, 4. Christ’s Transfiguration and 5. Christ’s institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper as the sacramental expression of the Paschal Mystery. The letter, overall however, is about the Rosary itself and what it really is- what it reflects on and how it reflects upon it. I haven’t read the entire thing yet but what I have is pretty interesting. He knows how to write!
This week, I have so many tests coming up. It is not even funny so don’t laugh. For that reason, I’m ending my Random Musings for this session and bid you all farewell.

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