I continue to receive e-mails about the so-called New-Age rosary hoax and how people persist in burying and discarding these important Catholic sacramentals because they believe that somehow the rosary crucifix has become cursed. Here is what St. John of the Cross has to say about the whole obsession with the materiality of the rosary (meaning the actual string of beads) and the preeminence of the prayers:
“…the imperfection commonly found in the use of rosaries. You will hardly meet anyone who does not have some weakness in this matter. They want the rosary to be made in one style rather than another, or that it be of this color or that metal rather than another, or of this or that particular design. One rosary is no more influential with God than another. His answer to the rosary prayer is not dependent on the kind of rosary used. The prayer he hears is that of a simple and pure heart that is concerned only about pleasing God and does not bother about the kind of rosary used…”
“…the imperfection commonly found in the use of rosaries. You will hardly meet anyone who does not have some weakness in this matter. They want the rosary to be made in one style rather than another, or that it be of this color or that metal rather than another, or of this or that particular design. One rosary is no more influential with God than another. His answer to the rosary prayer is not dependent on the kind of rosary used. The prayer he hears is that of a simple and pure heart that is concerned only about pleasing God and does not bother about the kind of rosary used…”