The Book of the Holy Rosary: Part III, Chapter I. Introduction to the Glorious Mysteries: The Song of Triumph of the Three Children in the Furnace
6. The rock in the wilderness which yielded a stream of water upon being struck.
The narrative in the Holy Scripture runs as follows:—“And the people wanting water, came together against Moses and Aaron. And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord. Why have you brought out the Church of the Lord into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die? And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them Thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink. Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as He had commanded him. And having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock? And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank” (Numb. xx.)
“On this subject,” writes St Augustine, “we have the clearest and most reliable testimony of the Apostle, who says, ‘And they drank of the Spiritual Rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ’ (1 Cor. x. 4). For as it is the custom with the Divine mysteries, contained in the Sacred Scriptures, that the same person should, according to the thing which is to be signified at one time, wear one character, and at another a different one, Moses, at the present moment, represents the character of the people of the Jews under the law. For as Moses, striking the rock with his rod, doubted the power of God, so the people which was under the law given by Moses, when they nailed Him to the wood of the Cross, did not believe Him to be the Power of God. But, nevertheless, just as the rock when struck yielded a stream of water for those who were athirst, so the wound inflicted upon Jesus in His Passion, became the source of life to all that believe” (Contra Faust., lib. xvi.)
THE SONG OF TRIUMPH FROM THE MIDST OF THE FIERY FURNACE.
“In the evening sorrow shall have place,” says holy David, “but in the morning cometh gladness” (Ps. xxix. 6). “You shall weep and lament,” says Jesus to His disciples, “but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. For you now indeed have sorrow,” He continues, “but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you” (John xvi.)
The Five Sorrowful Mysteries, recording the sufferings and death at the cost of which Jesus has rebuilt the city of God, are now past; and agreeably to the inspired promise, we naturally expect in the Mysteries that are to follow that after “the evening of sorrow, in the morning there will come gladness.” And, indeed, no sooner do these Mysteries present themselves in view, than the expectation gains in strength. The finding again of Jesus at the age of twelve years, by His blessed Mother, after a sorrowing search of three days, throughout sustained by the natural hope of soon discovering Him, is, as we have seen, one of the Five Joyful Mysteries. But what must have been the joy of the first meeting of Mary with Jesus on the morning of His resurrection, after the three days of agonising participation in His Passion, from which the concluding scenes of His death and burial appeared to shut out to all but the supernatural light of faith the last glimmer of the hope of ever meeting Him again! In the Mystery of the Ascension, we are filled with joy at remembering how Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” In the Mystery of the Mission of the Holy Spirit, we learn the coming of One who fills the hearts of the faithful with joy and gladness. In the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, we are invited to rejoice with the holy angels, because Mary, their Queen, is assumed into heaven. And, again, in the Fifth Mystery, we are called upon to rejoice with all the saints in the Coronation of their Queen. “In the evening sorrow has had place, but in the morning cometh gladness.”
Thus, the result of even the most rapid and cursory glance at the Mysteries which follow, suffices to leave us in possession of the conviction that they might with perfect fitness have borne the designation of a second series of Joyful Mysteries. And yet, the universal sense of all the faithful, in the place of “Joyful Mysteries,” has accepted the title of “Glorious Mysteries.” Let us then pause for a moment to try to seize upon the particular import and meaning conveyed in the designation “GLORIOUS.”
The joy of an intelligent creature, in its primary sense, would seem to consist in the response of the intelligent soul to that which is intrinsically beautiful and lovely. Such, for example, we may suppose, to have been the joy which the first sight of Eve must have conveyed to Adam. What words, for example, can easily describe Adam’s sense of delight on first beholding the bright and lovely creature whom God had given to him to be the partner of his life and sovereignty in Paradise? Here must have been a heart simply overflowing with joy at the bounty and goodness of his Maker, in the gift of his beautiful and amiable helpmate.
“Awake!
My fairest, my espoused, my latest found, Heaven’s last, best gift, my ever new delight! Awake! the morning shines, and the fresh fields call us.”
— Milton’s Paradise Lost, Book V.
Here there had been no symptom of anything like previous sorrow or suffering. Here there had been “no evening of lamentation to which gladness had succeeded in the morning.” Adam’s rejoicing was pure joy that had never known so much as the name of grief. Again, when the angels of God were for the first time admitted to see His work of creation, the Book of Job says, “The morning stars praised Him, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody” (Job xxxviii. 7). This universal jubilee of all intelligent creation, in like manner, had been preceded by no previous sorrow or affliction; all was pure rejoicing and overflowing joy. They praised the wise and merciful, the good and glorious Creator of the universe which they surveyed, and sang together—“Praise the Lord of Heaven, praise Him in the highest;
Praise Him, all ye angels; praise Him, all ye hosts of His:
He spoke the word, and all was made; He gave command, and they were created.”
— Ps. cxlviii.
Next in degree to the joy of intelligent creation on beholding the wonders of the works of God, and on seeing the good gifts with which their Creator has surrounded their own life, would seem to be the joy of those who have fallen into ruin and misery, and who hail with delight the approach of a Deliverer, and gladly welcome the advent of a Saviour. If the first is the joy which renders its glad homage to the beauties and wonders of the work of God the Creator, this, on the other hand, is the joy which greets the coming of God the Redeemer, and overflows with gladness at the drawing near of His redemption. It is this latter joy which is the subject of the Five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, and it is a joy, as we have seen, which the depth of the fall of man only heightens instead of impairs; and which it is not in the power of any present misery or wretchedness, however great, to obliterate or even to diminish. As the prophet says, “Though the fig-tree blossom not, and the vine put not forth her shoots; though the fruit of the olive fail, and the land yield not her increase; though the sheep be cut off from the fold, and no herd be found in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in God my Saviour” (Habacuc iii.)
Even the very angels in Heaven who had never fallen, when they beheld the joyful salvation of God for fallen men, in the Infant Saviour lying in the arms of Mary in Bethlehem, so far partook of the joys of men, that by permission of God they came to this earth to testify their joy in hymns of praise, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.”
But as God the Redeemer Himself came into the world to suffer, and as He has said to all whom He intends to save, “Take up your Cross and follow Me;” there is yet a further and third form of joy to be noticed, which is that of the Deliverer and His ransomed ones who have themselves passed through the fire of great tribulations, and now enjoy either the possession or else the near prospect of the glory and triumph of their victory; according to David’s words, “In the evening sorrow shall have place, but in the morning gladness.” Here it is to be observed, that there is more than one entirely new element which enters into this joy of the redeemed. There is not only joy and thanksgiving for the mercy of their redemption and deliverance; there is not only the most joyful thought that “tears are now wiped away from every eye, and that mourning, crying, and sorrow shall be no more;” but there is also what is more than all, the exultation over an enemy that is laid low—there is the glory and triumph of the conqueror over a fierce and merciless adversary who is confounded for ever. Such is the Christian joy of the “Glorious Mysteries.”
And we may see this exemplified in the way of figure in many striking events of the old law. Thus in the delivery of Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians, by the closing in of the waters of the Red Sea over the Egyptian host, the song of triumph which Moses sang on the shores of the sea, brings out in the strongest relief this feeling of a conqueror’s exultation over the fallen foe, and the triumph and jubilee of the victor over the defeated pride of the adversary.
The enemy said: “I will pursue after and overtake, I will divide the spoils, and my soul shall have its fill. I will draw my sword, and my hand shall slay them.
“Thy breath went forth, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
“Lord, who is like unto Thee among the strong? who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness, doing wondrous things?” (Exod. xv. 9).
Exactly the same character of exultation marks the song of Debbora the prophetess, on the occasion of the defeat of Sisara. The prophetess glories and rejoices over the fallen Sisara, and says:
“At her feet he fell, he fainted and he died, he rolled before her feet, and he lay lifeless and wretched.
“His mother looked out of a window and howled, she spoke from her inner chamber, and said, Why is his chariot so long in coming back? why are the feet of his horses so slow? So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord, but let them that love Thee shine as the sun shineth in his rising” (Judges v. 27).
Judith’s inspired song of victory runs in quite a similar strain of exultation over the fallen adversary:
“The Assyrian came out of the mountains of the north in the multitude of his strength, his multitudes stopped up the torrents, and their horses covered the valleys.
“He boasted that he would set my borders on fire, and kill my young men with the sword; that he would make my infants a prey and my virgins captives.
“But the Almighty hath struck him, and hath delivered him into the hands of a woman, and hath slain him” (Judith xvi.)
The prophet Isaias, under the figure of the fallen empire of Babylon, describes a kind of forlorn jubilee of exultation, extending even to the lost themselves, who take up their parable to rejoice over the fall of the prince of pride that sought to exalt himself above God: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, thou son of the morning! how art thou fallen to the earth that didst wound the nations! And thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like unto the Most High. Is this then he that troubled the earth, that shook kingdoms, that made the world a wilderness and destroyed the cities? How art thou fallen!” (Isa. xiv.)
But if the fall of defeated pride is a just cause of such a forlorn kind of congratulation as, at the best, that must be which can be supposed possible to those who have fallen into the same condemnation, with how much more of truth and justice is the same fall of the adversary not a cause of joy and triumph to those who were marked out to be the very victims of his pride and malice, and who are now delivered from the cruel gripe that sought to seize them! “He boasted,” sings Judith, “that he would set my borders on fire, and kill my young men with the sword; that he would make my infants a prey, and lead my virgins captive. But the Almighty hath slain him, and hath delivered him into the hand of a woman.”
Such, to the Christian, is the joy of the Glorious Mysteries. The devil, who boasted that he would lead the whole race of Adam captive, has been slain by Jesus through the Cross of Calvary, and the Almighty has delivered his spoils into the hand of a woman, the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, whom Jesus her Son has assumed into heaven and whom He has crowned Queen over the whole blessed company of angels and saints. As heirs of redemption, then, in the Glorious Mysteries we glory over the fall of our great adversary, we take up the parable of the partners of his condemnation, and we re-echo their cry—“O Lucifer, thou son of the morning! how art thou fallen! thou that saidst I will be like unto the Most High, how art thou fallen to the depths of hell!”
As redeemed by the blood of Jesus, we say to our Lord and Deliverer, “How hast Thou humbled Thyself for us, and hast become obedient to death, even the death of the Cross! and how hath God highly exalted Thee, and given Thee a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things on earth and things under the earth!” (Phil. ii. 8). Children of Mary, by the deed of gift spoken from the Cross in the gracious words, “Lady, behold thy son,” we say to our Mother, in these Glorious Mysteries, “How hath God had respect unto the lowliness of His handmaiden, and hath exalted thee above angels and archangels, above thrones and dominions, and above all the host of heaven, and hath set upon thy head the royal diadem, as Queen of all creation!”
For these things we will indeed rejoice; but we have nevertheless to remember that the Christian’s joy must still be the joy of those who have yet to pass through the fire of the tribulations of this present life. Jesus, from the throne of His glory, bids us who are upon earth take up His Cross and so follow Him to His glory. “Ought not Christ to suffer,” He says, “and so to enter into His glory?” and “Is it not sufficient,” He says, “for the disciple to be as His Master?” In the midst of our joy, therefore, we take up our Cross and follow Him, for we bear in mind His glory; “and for this cause,” as says St Paul, “we faint not at that which is at present momentary and light in our tribulation, which worketh for us above measure an eternal weight of glory; for we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. iv. 17).
This joy in the glorious Mysteries of the Rosary of the soldier of the Christian army, who glories in the victory of the Captain of his salvation, and in the fall of his merciless adversary, and who is, notwithstanding, in his own person, being still tried and proved in the furnace of affliction, “as gold is tried seven times in the fire,” is prefigured in the old law in a beautiful manner by the song of triumph of the three children from the midst of the fiery furnace in Babylon.
Nabuchodonosor, who is a figure of the devil, had set up a golden image in the plains of Deura, in the province of Babylon, and had issued a royal decree by a herald, “To you it is commanded, O nations, tribes, and languages, that what hour soever you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, of the flute, the harp, the sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and adore the golden statue that Nabuchodonosor the king hath set up; but if any man shall not fall down and adore, he shall be cast the same hour into a furnace of burning fire.” Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago refused to fall down and adore, and by the king’s command they were cast into the furnace, which, to satisfy the king’s rage, was heated seven times more than it was accustomed to be heated. Then these three men, that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, fell down bound in the midst of the furnace of burning fire. And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord. For the angel of the Lord went down with Sidrach and his companions into the furnace, and drove away the flame, and made the midst of the furnace like the blowing of a wind bringing dew, and the fire touched them not at all, nor troubled them, nor did them any harm. Then the three, with one mouth, praised, glorified, and blessed God in the furnace, saying:
(the song of praise of the three CHILDREN IN THE MIDST OF THE FURNACE.)
“Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers, worthy to be praised and glorified and exalted above all for ever; and blessed is the holy name of Thy glory, and worthy to be praised and exalted above all in all ages. Blessed art Thou in the holy temple of Thy glory, and exceedingly to be praised, and exceeding glorious for ever. Blessed art Thou on the throne of Thy kingdom, and exceedingly to be praised, and exalted above all for ever. Blessed art Thou, that beholdest the depths, and sittest upon the cherubims, and worthy to be praised and exalted above all for ever. Blessed art Thou in the firmament of heaven, and worthy of praise, and glorious for ever” (Dan. iii.)
Such was the joy and exultation of the three children over the defeated pride of the king of Babylon, in the very midst of the fiery furnace, and such is also the joy of the Christian in the glorious Mysteries of the Rosary in which, from the midst of the fiery furnace of the afflictions and sorrows of this present life, he glories over the fallen pride of his adversary the devil, and rejoices in walking in the midst of the flames, praising and giving thanks to God, who is blessed for ever, and who by His death and resurrection has opened the way for him, notwithstanding his fall, to a more exceeding weight of glory in the heavens.‸