Please be sure your trays are in their upright position...

Those are words that have been repeated to me every time I've ever set out on a journey by plane.

They are repeated to remind us of basic observances that are required in order to be safely on our way.

The Sign of the Cross, The Creed, and the "mini-chaplet" that begins the Rosary prepares us for a journey. They are familiar prayers recited outside of the context of the mysteries. They are the "on ramp", the stretching before a marathon, the vocal warm up before an oratorio, the glorious cacophany of an orchestra tuning before the conductor's upbeat .

The order of the prayers teaches us as much as the individual prayers themselves do. It is a lesson that attempts to describe the all-embracing Love that is offered to us each moment that we exist.

The sign of the Cross. The symbol speaks. The crucifix grounds our contemplation to the harsh realilty of what the symbolic gesture recalls, so that the thoughts that arise might have balance. The cross is a burden. The cross is the promise of death. The cross is the victory over death. The cross is our only passage from mortality to immortality. The cross is remembrance. The cross is redemption. The cross is the ironic carpenter's handiwork, on which was hung the carpenter. The cross is an ultimate exercise of free will (fiat voluntas tua). The cross is the forge and the anvil on which our souls are tempered.

Then there is the "Our Father". We pray in union with the Son a perfect prayer to the Father. He who was without sin, prays as our High Priest for the forgiveness of "our" sins. Through Christ are we made acceptable to the Father. In his words we learn of the Father. What is Christ, if not the Word? In the Eucharist, "in communion", what do we feed on, if not the Word of God?

We follow the Pater Noster with three repetitions of the Hail Mary. The tale of the Incarnation of the word is recounted to us. It is for us to continually rediscover, re-experience the wonder of that single miraculous moment in history, when a single "yes" saved the world in it's entirety.

The Glory Be (Gloria Patri) is a song of great joy which places our praise where it is due, before the majesty of the triune God.

When we have gotten to this point, we will have carved out a "sacred space" within which we can have the calm, the peace, the collection, the centeredness, the disposition to spend time in contemplation of the mysteries of the life of our Saviour.