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The Secret of the Rosary

Tree; devout souls fly to them like wise bees, so as to gather their nectar and make the honey of a
solid devotion.

Twenty-Second Rose

Likens to Christ

THE CHIEF CONCERN of a Christian soul should be to tend to perfection. Saint Paul tells us "Be ye
followers of God, as most dear children."1This obligation is included in the eternal decree of our
predestination, as the one and only means prescribed by God to attain everlasting glory.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa makes a delightful comparison when
be says that we are all artists and that our souls are blank canvases which we have to fill in. The
colors which we must use are the Christian virtues, and our Model is Jesus Christ, the perfect
Living Image of God the Father. Just as a portrait painter who wants to do a good job places
himself before his model and glances at him before making each stroke, so the
Christian must always have the life and virtues of Jesus Christ before his eyes so that he may
never say, think or do the least thing which is not in harmony with his Model.
It was because Our Lady wanted to help us in the great task of working out our salvation that she
ordered Saint Dominic to teach the faithful to meditate upon the sacred mysteries
of the life of Jesus Christ. She did this, not only that they might adore and glorify Him, but
chiefly that they might pattern their lives and actions upon His virtues.
Children copy their parents through watching them and talking to them and they learn their own
language through hearing them speak. An apprentice learns his trade through watching his master at
work; in the very same way the faithful members of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary can become
like their divine Master if they reverently study and imitate the virtues of Jesus Christ which are
shown in the fifteen mysteries of His life. They can do this with the help of His grace and through
the intercession of His Blessed Mother
  Long ago Moses was inspired by God to command the Jewish people never to forget the graces which
had been showered upon them. The Son of God, then, has all the more rea8on to tell us to engrave
the mysteries of His life, passion
1Eph. 5:1.

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