Praying the Rosary for Inner Healing - Dwight Longenecker - Second Edition

Mystery of the Magi

The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men

Father Dwight Longenecker

Our Sunday Visitor 

ISBN 9781681924274

eISBN 9781681924281

ASIN B07PS1KBXB

 

I have followed Father Longenecker on social media since I started blogging 20 years ago. I have picked up a few books that he has written, and a few that he has contributed to. I became aware of this volume a while ago, and it was very timely for me to read this second edition of the book when I did. Once I got going, I could hardly put it down, but I forced myself to take my tame and only do a couple of mysteries a day.  The description of this second edition states:

“In a very practical way, Fr. Dwight Longenecker invites you to consider how each of the events in the lives of Jesus and Mary, represented by the mysteries of the Rosary, corresponds to an event or stage in your own life. Through stories, reflections, and prayerful meditations, you will uncover areas where you may need Christ's healing touch, and learn how to take them to him in prayer through Our Lady. Learn to pray the Rosary for inner healing and discover a new life in Christ that is radiant, abundant, and free.”

The chapters in the volume are:

Preface to the French Edition

Preface to the Second Edition

Introduction

How to Pray the Rosary for Healing

I. The Joyful Mysteries

     Annunciation: Conception

     Visitation: Gestation

     Nativity: Birth

     Presentation in the Temple: Childhood

     Finding in the Temple: Adolescence

II. The Luminous Mysteries

     Baptism in the Jordan: Vocation and Early Adulthood

     Wedding at Cana: Love and Marriage

     Preaching the Kingdom: The Prime of Life

     Transfiguration: The Face of Christ

     Institution of the Eucharist: Relationship with the Church

III. The Sorrowful Mysteries

     Agony in the Garden: Facing Despair

     Scourging: Facing Pain

     Crown of Thorns: Facing Humiliation

     Carrying the Cross: Facing Illness and Suffering

     Crucifixion: Facing Death

IV. The Glorious Mysteries

     Resurrection: Claiming Christ’s Victory

     Ascension: Watching and Waiting for Total Fulfillment

     Pentecost: Receiving the Fullness of the Holy Spirit

     Assumption: Dying Peacefully

     Coronation: Being All We Were Created to Be

Appendix: Prayers of the Rosary

I only highlighted a few passages while reading this, because otherwise I would of highlighted several different reflections. Some of my highlights are:

“However, praying the Rosary for inner healing is not magic. Right from the beginning, Father Dwight warns us: the course is a difficult one. The cases he mentions do not witness to 100 percent success. Rather, he calls us not to neglect the regular remedies offered by our Church, such as meditating on the Word of God, reaching for the sacraments, etc. If the world only knew! We would be running on all fours to the sacrament of confession, for it sets us free.”

“Since then the book has helped thousands of people and has continued to be reprinted. Now, some twelve years later, I am pleased that it is going into a second edition with a fresh cover and an updated text. The book has been translated into Polish, Croatian, and French, and we would love to see it published in Spanish, Italian, and other languages.”

“There have always been doctors and wise people who have exercised healing gifts. There have also been shamans and showmen who would “heal” people through the power of suggestion and hypnosis. Others have healed through the power of demons, and their healing has always come at a price.”

“There’s no point trying to deny the fact of sin. Sin is as ancient as the Garden of Eden and as fresh as today’s headlines. Sin is a fact of life. It’s the one Christian belief that no one can deny, because we all experience it firsthand every day.”

“When Mary’s Son died on the cross, he took on the final battle with humanity’s sin. Sin rose up and killed the one who was sinless. In this sacrifice, Jesus Christ took on himself the cancer of sin, and he suffered its result. But the Evil One overestimated himself. He forgot that evil cannot extinguish the good.”

“Mary is like the mother who goes with her injured child as they enter the hospital to be healed. Mary is like the loving sister or aunt who sits by the bedside as we endure a long illness. She is like one of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity who care for the dying until the surgeon can come. She doesn’t heal us. Jesus does. She is there as the vitally important sister, mother, nun, nurse, and friend. Her prayers are those of a mother for her children.”  

“Healing Example

When I was living in London, I was invited, along with some other Christian leaders, to a preview of Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ. It was rumored that Gibson might be present to ask for our comments and reactions. Sure enough, after the film a quiet, unassuming man took the stage as the lights came up. Gibson asked for our views and took notes for the final editing of the film. We also had the chance to ask the famous actor and director about his intentions.

He shared his own witness, of how he was brought up as a Catholic and then went his own way. He fell into the big-time temptations of Hollywood, wealth, and fame. Then he went on retreat and came face-to-face with himself through a deep reflection on the mystery of the crucifixion. He realized that his own sin and death were locked into the death of Jesus Christ. Then he told us that the actor in the close-up shot of a soldier’s hands picking up the hammer and spikes and nailing Jesus’ hands to the cross was him, and that it was his hands crucifying the Lord.

For Mel Gibson, making The Passion of the Christ was a profound meditation on the death of Jesus. His spiritual life was renewed as he knew his sins were forgiven, and his career and priorities in life were straightened out. Sure enough, there were future failures, but we hope and pray that the turning point in Mel Gibson’s life will be the foundation for further turning points.”

A full sample reflection is:

“Scourging - Facing Pain

Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

Matthew 27:26

The scourges that the Romans used were strips of leather with sharp bits of metal or broken pottery tied onto them. They ripped into the flesh and tore strips off the victim’s back. Jesus is sent out to be flogged, not as a punishment, but to appease the crowd. He is innocent of any wrongdoing, but he suffers severe physical torture. He takes not only the physical pain, but the mental and emotional anguish of being punished for something he never did.

It is easy to say that we are healed through his suffering, and redeemed by his passion. It is much harder to enter the mystery and experience what this means. As you meditate on his sorrowful mysteries, allow the Holy Spirit to take you into an understanding that is beyond words.

Think It Through

Physical pain will come to most of us at some time in our lives. If that pain is the result of something we’ve done wrong, we might be able to see the reasons and make sense of the pain. If we suffer physical pain as the result of someone else’s wrong actions, we can also see where their pain comes from and begin to understand and make sense of it. If the physical pain is the result of old age, an accident, or an injury, it also has some reason and we can learn to accept the pain.

The problem comes when we are hit with physical suffering that seems absurd. Why do people get cancer? Why do strange diseases hit out of nowhere? Why are we born with physical disabilities, or have to face diseases or crippling illnesses? If we’re not the ones suffering, we share the pain of our loved ones who are caught in the web of illness and pain, or we sympathize with victims of natural disaster, famine, and plague. We can honestly say we didn’t do anything to deserve these physical sorrows. In one sense, we’re innocent victims. That’s why the suffering is more than physical pain — because we can’t make sense of it. It seems absurd and evil.

As we meditate on Jesus enduring the cruel scourging, we are taken into the heart of evil. Evil seeks innocent victims. That is why it is so evil. If only wicked people suffered, we wouldn’t consider suffering to be evil at all. Instead, the wicked seem to get away with it and ordinary good people are hit with terrible suffering. There seems to be no justice. There seems to be no reason except that a horrible force in the world not only inflicts pain and suffering but also chooses innocent victims.

Healing Example

Sister Clare is a nun. She has been a contemplative for more than fifty years, and for most of that time she has been blind. For a time, the doctors were able to restore her sight, but then the shadows descended and she was left in darkness again. Now, as an old woman, she has become a hermit. She is alone in the woods with her God and with her suffering. In addition to the blindness, Sister Clare has curvature of the spine and is in constant pain. I have never heard her complain. Instead, she greets me with a radiant smile, and when I ask about the pain she says, “Oh, it’s not so bad!” When I ask about her eyesight, she says: “You know, I can’t bear to see very much. It is all so real — and besides, because I am blind I can see so much more that other people can’t see!”

Sister Clare doesn’t deserve her pain. On the contrary, she deserves great bliss and happiness. But she hasn’t asked for physical healing. Instead, she is able to enter into the passion of Christ and experience with him the mysterious redemption that comes with sacrifice.

Pray for Healing

Can you glimpse what is going on as Jesus is scourged? Can you sense that something far greater than we can imagine is taking place within his terrible torture? The pain is real. The torture is excruciating, the flesh screams out in agony, but within that innocent suffering a cosmic transaction is taking place. This transaction is the most mysterious and marvelous. It is beyond all words, and it can only be experienced with an inner knowing.

Now reflect on the suffering and pain you have experienced. Did it seem pointless? Maybe there was a reason beyond human reason. Does it seem absurd? Maybe God is doing things through that suffering that we cannot see. If you are in the midst of pain at this time, give it to Jesus as he is scourged. Ask that your pain might be joined with his, and ask for that pain to be used as his was used.

Have you ever caused pain or suffering to another innocent person? Through loss of your temper, violence, or unkindness, have you inflicted pain? In Jesus’ scourging, you can see how the pain hurts not just the body but also the emotions and heart of the innocent victim. If something you have done has caused pain, bring it to confession and allow Christ’s forgiveness and healing to transform your memories.

Thank God for this Gift

Heavenly Father, by the scourging of your Son, Jesus Christ, help me to understand the deeper mystery of suffering. Take my poor suffering and pain and let it be identified with his. Heal me from the bitterness and lack of faith that come with pain, and help me to know that in your eternal plan there is a deeper beauty and truth that I cannot always see. This I pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

I hope those quotes and sample reflection give you a feel for this volume. It is an excellent read. It is one I know I will return to. So many of the prayers at the end of each section were so fitting for my life and our current circumstances. The reflections are excellent. And the examples of people Father Longenecker has encountered and ministered with and to are deeply moving. A few sections I copied and emailed to friends and recommended the book even before I finished reading the whole book. 

This is an excellent read. And one I am certain will bless any reader. I would encourage you to give this a read and see where it leads you.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan!

Books by Father Longenecker:
A Sudden Certainty: Priest Poems 
Adventures in Orthodoxy 
An Answer Not An Argument: Essays on Apologetics 
Catholicism Pure and Simple 
Challenging Catholics: A Catholic Evangelical Dialogue 
Christianity Pure and Simple 
How to be an Ordinary Hero 
Immortal Combat 
Is Anybody There?: The Question of God 
Letters on Liturgy 
Listen My Son: St. Benedict for Fathers 
Mary: A Catholic-Evangelical Debate 
More Christianity: Finding the Fullness of the Faith 
Mystery of the Magi 
Our Lady?: A Catholic-Evangelical Debate 
Praying the Rosary for Inner Healing 

Praying the Rosary for Inner Healing: Second Edition 
Praying the Rosary for Spiritual Warfare 
Saint Benedict for Busy Parents 
Slubgrip Instructs 
St. Benedict and St. Therese: The Little Rule & the Little Way 
The Gargoyle Code 
The Great Battle: Living by Faith 
The Path to Rome 
The Quest for the Creed 
The Romance of Religion 
The Vicar of Great Snoring 
Why Do You Believe That?: A Protestant-Catholic Conversation 
…