Wherever the Divine Word Missionaries are at work you will find what we call ‘the Biblical Apostolate’. Its aim is to make Scripture known and loved as the Second Vatican Council wanted it to be: “food for the soul and a pure and unfailing fount of spiritual life”.

It tries to take on board what the Council said about venerating Scripture “just as it does the Lord’s body itself”. The Biblical Apostolate for us is not an optional extra. It is one of our ‘characteristic dimensions’ or ‘signs of presence’; and it is to inform whatever other apostolates we may be engaged in.

In some places the Biblical Apostolate has taken responsibility for publishing Catholic Bibles in the vernacular, producing Bible reading guides, promoting basic communities around the Word. The Jesus Prayer Rosary (JPR) is just one little work within that great Divine Word Missionaries apostolate; thus the subtitle ‘Bible meditations for praying with beads’.

Take reflection on Scripture out of the JPR, because it is quicker that way, or you don’t have time, and you have changed it altogether. And, anyway, as the Introduction to the book points out, that is one reason for praying with beads. They make us make time for prayer. They are spirituality’s equivalent to the ‘sleeping policemen’ on the road. They are to punctuate our lives, make us ‘slow down’ and, incidentally, breathe more easily.

So many people have commented on the cover which shows the icon of ‘Le Christ et le l’abbé Ména’. Discovered in 1900, it is the oldest-known Coptic icon. The image comes from the monastery of Bawit in Middle Egypt and it was created in the late 6th or 7th century. It depicts Christ and the Abbot Ména, a one-time Superior of the Monastery.

For me, the image expresses friendship and protection. We don’t find many ancient icons with such an affectionate Christ. His right hand is placed on the right shoulder of Ména. This is someone he loves and protects. The Saviour holds the Book of the Gospels, because it is through their fourfold witness that Ména will always come to find his friend.

You can always tell a good icon by the eyes. They are meant to draw you into it. That is the purpose of the Jesus Prayer Rosary, to draw us, with eyes ever more wide open, deeper into Christ. Ména’s eyes are also wide open, inviting us into the friendship. He blesses us as Jesus’ friend; and he holds the monastic rule. What does it say? Who knows? But perhaps somewhere in it will be written “And use your prayer rope!” – the forerunner of our prayer beads.

Praying with beads of course is not for everyone. But nowadays a surprising number of people of various Christian traditions are turning to them. There are websites displaying Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist methods of reciting the rosary. There are books authored by non-Catholics recommending it. The reasons for this trend are no doubt many and various. It certainly has something to do with our getting to know people of other faiths who treasure bead prayer: Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims.

We begin to think there must be something in it; and we do have our own, tried and tested over centuries. In the Catholic tradition there has been an upsurge of rosary prayer, thanks to the late John Paul II’s sometimes movingly personal apostolic letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae.

But I definitely think that the growth of interest in this form of prayer has a lot to do with a reaction to the somewhat overly cerebral approach to prayer that many of us have had in the past. Quite frankly, sometimes we need something to hold on to. The whole point of beads is the necessity of touch because we are more than thinking beings.

In the words of the Anglican writer, Tony Price, in his 1991 book, 'A Telling of Beads: Discovering the Rosary', “the sense of touch … is enlisted to focus the prayer of body, mind and spirit on a single point. Once we are ‘in focus’ by this means, we direct that single-pointed attention towards God, or rather we may find that our attention is taken up into God”.

It was something in John Paul II’s rosary letter that gave me the idea of using the Jesus prayer: “The Rosary”, he wrote, “belongs among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation. Developed in the West, it is a typically meditative prayer, corresponding in some way to the ‘prayer of the heart’ or ‘Jesus prayer’ which took root in the soil of the Christian East.” Well, why not bring the two together?

And so the idea came about of a rosary with which people of whatever Christian tradition could feel comfortable, in so far as it was centred on Scripture, unequivocally focussed on Christ in its readings, in its leitmotiv, the Jesus prayer, and in the concluding prayer for each meditation. All I can say is that I have prayed it quite frequently in ecumenical contexts and have heard no complaints.

The Jesus Prayer Rosary by Michael Cleary, SVD, comprises four sets of meditations that focus on the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke, scenes from the ministry of Jesus, his passion and death. Readings from the various Gospel writers are used. Finally, we are given insight into our experience of Jesus as the Risen One who gradually transforms our lives. Each meditation concludes with a prayer normally taken from the liturgy.

Biblical canticles, such as the Magnificat, are provided to bring the rosary to its conclusion. The ‘Jesus Prayer’, that has its roots in Eastern Orthodoxy, is the rosary’s leitmotiv and has given it its name. A complete resource for praying privately or in groups, this will open up the riches of Eastern and Catholic spirituality for all. The Jesus Prayer Rosary (ISBN 978-1853118111) is published by Canterbury Press in hardback.



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