No. 971:
“All generations will call me blessed”: “The Church’s
devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.” The
Church rightly honours “the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From
the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honoured with the title
of ‘Mother of God’, to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers
and needs... This very special devotion ... differs essentially from the
adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father
and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration.” The liturgical feasts
dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an
“epitome of the whole Gospel,” express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.
No. 2678:
Medieval piety in the West developed the prayer of the
rosary as a popular substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours. In the East, the
litany called the Akathistos and the Paraclesis remained closer to the choral
office in the Byzantine churches, while the Armenian, Coptic and Syriac
traditions preferred popular hymns and songs to the Mother of God. But in
the Ave Maria, the theotokia, the hymns of St. Ephrem or St. Gregory of
Narek, the tradition of prayer is basically the same.
No. 2708:
“Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and
desire. This mobilisation of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our
convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our
will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the
mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the Rosary. This form of prayerful
reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the
knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.”
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