Deeply Ordered, Deeply Catholic
Fr. Robert I. Bradley, S.J.’s
Our Lady’s Psalter:
Reflections on the Traditional Rosary
Brought to us by Angelico Press,
Our Lady’s Psalter is the work of Jesuit Fr. Robert I. Bradley, S.J.
– it was published in 2025.
The rosary is a deeply Catholic prayer and a deeply organized prayer. To say so is not an insult. Disparagements of “organized religion” let loose in our culture today—sloppy spitballs of prejudice, easy to shoot, inaccurate in aim—tend to ignore this insight: new growth and times of abundance, great leaps of genius and delicate attention to detail are all made possible by order.
In a new book of meditations on the rosary, published posthumously, Father Robert I. Bradley, SJ (⸶2013) shows just how attractive the order of the rosary can be. Our Lady’s Psalter: Reflections on the Mysteries of the Traditional Rosary (Angelico Press, 2025) brings together 153 page-length essays originally jotted down by Father Bradley in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Father Bradley’s writing is at once self-effacing—content as he is to present the life of Our Lord through the teachings of Scripture and tradition—and replete with the most poetic, the most tender insights of his particular soul, as a Jesuit priest trained in history and theology, a life-long teacher, a man of deep prayer, as well as a friend of the Latin Mass and contemplative nuns. It is no wonder that his book has been both prepared and welcomed by his friends. But these meditations can also be welcomed and enjoyed by those who are, as yet, strangers to Father Bradley.
The particular genius of Our Lady’s Psalter lies in the fact that it assigns a topic of meditation to each rosary bead. For example, the opening chapter on the Annunciation comprises ten unique essays that gain momentum as they go: an opening meditation on the Immaculate Conception moves into essays on the birth of Our Lady, her presentation in the Temple, espousal to Saint Joseph, and hidden life in Nazareth, all leading into the wonder of the Angel’s message and the Incarnation itself.
As the reader grows accustomed to this sort of organization, its power—and perhaps some curiosity—takes hold. Which ten reflections will Father Bradley present under the mystery of Our Lord’s Agony? What about the Scourging? Or Pentecost? How will they mutually inform, illumine, and surprise?
One thing that should not surprise readers of Our Lady’s Psalter, however, is that these meditations are strongly narrative driven. After all, the rosary itself tells a story, from Our Lord’s entrance into this world at the Annunciation to Our Lady’s entrance and coronation in the next. In keeping with a robust love of order, Father Bradley also employs strong, recurring patterns within this storytelling, some of which are worth noting here.
First, there are typological connections all over the place. For example, in a meditation titled “The First Fall of Jesus Under the Cross,” Father Bradley draws the reader’s attention to the Old Testament story of Elijah: exhausted by the persecution of King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel, that prophet throws himself under a bush asking for death; God twice sends an angel to touch him and exhort him with these words: “Rise and eat, for you have yet a long way to go” (1 Kgs 19:7). Father Bradley links the story of Elijah to the rosary by saying that Our Lord rises from his first fall in order to eat “the food of his Father’s will” and continue on the long way to Calvary. In other words, Christ in his passion becomes a fulfillment of Elijah in his.
Alongside typology, Our Lady’s Psalter also deals in unexpected reversals. For example, in a meditation titled “The Death Sentence,” Father Bradley outlines the story of Pontius Pilate, remarking that the notoriety of this one, Roman man—“Pontius Pilate…is the one person who effectively decided that Our Lord should die”—has forever won him a place by name in the Christian Creed. Taking this sobering fact in hand, Father Bradley then pivots on it: there is, he points out, one other human name in the Creed that belongs to “the one person who effectively decided that [Our Lord] should live.” This is the name of the Virgin Mary, the foil to all human cowardice and injustice.
Besides uncovering connections like these between persons and Scripture, Father Bradley’s writing also includes many of his own theological insights, characteristically ordered and elegantly juxtaposed. For example, under the third sorrowful mystery, The Crowning with Thorns, a sequence of four meditations searches out the identity of Our Lord under the following titles: “Ecce Homo”, “Ecce Magister”, “Ecce Rex”, and “Ecce Sacerdos.” These four “offices” of Christ—Christ as Everyman, Christ as Teacher, Christ as King and Priest—allow Father Bradley to give scope not only to the meaning of Christ’s mission in this world but also to the tragedy of Christ’s rejection by its rulers. The effect is stunning.
To complement Father Bradley’s rosary meditations, a few thoughtful touches have also been added to Our Lady’s Psalter: Tasteful, black-and-white illustrations head the title page of each mystery; well-chosen scripture passages introduce each meditation. The entire book opens with an essay (also written by Father Bradley) outlining papal teaching on the rosary in the modern world from Leo XIII to Pope Francis.
If there is a possible drawback to Our Lady’s Psalter it may be that the book includes neither page numbers nor an opening table of contents listing the titles of the meditations in their order. This can make it hard for readers to revisit things they would like to find again. Meanwhile, the order of the contents is not always intuitive; for example, that a meditation titled “Our Lady and the Blessed Trinity” is included under the chapter on her Assumption, while “Our Lady and the Roman Church” falls under her Coronation, may not be self-evident.
Secondly, there is the inevitable question of how actually to use this book during prayer. The idea of reading one, page-length meditation before each Hail Mary while reciting the rosary is intimidating. Besides the time required, the glut of material to meditate on in a single sitting is laughable. So, how best to use Our Lady’s Psalter?
One solution might be to sit down to read five or ten of the meditations for a single mystery (for example, the Resurrection) before praying that set of mysteries in full (in this case, the glorious mysteries). A second approach could be to use entire sections of the book as spiritual reading during a specific liturgical season, for example, to read the pages on the sorrowful mysteries during Lent while continuing to pray the other mysteries daily. In fact, Father Bradley’s fifty-one meditations on the Passion have a power and coherence all their own. For this reason, the middle of the book may be a good place for any reader to begin.
Both for those readers who are devoted to the Traditional Mass and those less familiar, it should also be said that references to “the Traditional Rosary” and to Father Bradley’s association with the Extraordinary Form are unessential to the book’s content. The luminous mysteries have not been excluded for reasons of tradition; instead, as Dr. Betty B. Bosarge, OSF explains in the Forward, Father Bradley’s advanced age made it impossible for him to write meditations on the luminous mysteries when these were declared in 2002. Although this is a certainly a loss for readers, it is also true that each one of the luminous mysteries—the Baptism, Cana, the Preaching of the Kingdom, Transfiguration, and Eucharist—appears at some point in Our Lady’s Psalter within the other mysteries, even if they are not developed at great length. And that, of course, is a gain for readers.
It is heartening, yes, heartening, that Father Bradley works so deftly with the tools of Scripture and theology without running short of interesting things to say. For anyone whose thoughts run and re-run the same tracks while praying the rosary, the methodical variety he has placed at the heart of Our Lady’s Psalter will be a great tool. At the same time, the faint of heart can be assured that his language is not heavy, but rather visceral and poetic. Clearly, his is a soul alive to the deepest organization of redemption, with no need to reinvent it.
If you like what you’ve been reading, please don’t forget to share it with others!
Help us build the DNS Publications community.
Joins us at The Nuns’ Nook!
Never miss a post from The Nuns’ Nook -
book reviews, contemplative literary reflections,
and more!
The Nuns’ Nook is the official blog for DNS Publications, and will feature considered & prayerful content -
book reviews, contemplative literary reflections and some promotional material.
If you are looking for news, updates, special offers, and more, sign up for our DNS Newsletter below.
More like this…
