When I was growing up in the 1970s, the Rosary was seen in many church circles as a relic of a bygone era, a pious prayer more fitting for the old folks who remembered the Latin Mass.
Today, by God’s grace, the Rosary has made a comeback among young people who watch EWTN, think Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI are great spiritual leaders, and attend World Youth Day and Youth 2000 retreats. In these circles, the Rosary is cool.
Many young parents also make the family Rosary with their children a regular evening prayer.
The Blessed Mother is ever young, always calling her children to herself.
The Knights of Columbus has always held high devotion to Mary, even when so many were wrongly saying that her place in the Church had been lowered by Vatican II. To this day, when a man becomes a Knight, he receives a set of Rosary beads with the admonition to carry the beads always on his person and to pray the Rosary regularly.
I “sing of Mary” the day before we observe the great feast, Our Lady of the Rosary tomorrow, Oct. 7. Anyone who thinks that devotion to Mary is outdated should pay attention to this feast. Pope (St.) Pius V instituted the feast in thanksgiving for the victory of the Christian fleet over the Muslim Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1570.
The Blessed Mother had been invoked by the Holy Father, the sailors were bid to pray the Rosary as a shield, and the Christians won a stunning victory over the larger Turkish fleet.
We’re not always comfortable with asking God for victory in war, and with good reason. But sometimes the stakes are so high for the future of Christianity that we must trust that God will fight with us for truth and right. We must also make sure we are on God’s side, through sacramental Confession and worthy reception of Holy Communion.
The Rosary also is a “weapon” (as St. Padre Pio called it) for all the battles in our life, against sin, temptation, and all our weaknesses.
Pray the Rosary regularly, each day if possible, for yourself, your loved ones and your country.
Read G.K. Chesterton's exciting ballad about the victory at Lepanto.
I'm glad to see your devotion to and encouragement of the Holy Rosary. If you don't already belong to the Confraternity of the Rosary I hope you will join and encourage others to also. The only commitment is to pray the full Rosary once a week and there are no dues. The Confraternity was entrusted to the Dominican Order over 500 years ago. Among the benefits, "As Pope Leo XIII said in his encyclical on the Confraternity, "whenever a person fulfills his obligation of reciting the Rosary according to the rule of the Confraternity, he includes in his intentions all its members, and they in turn render him the same service many times over."
Each member includes deceased fellow members as well; and thus he knows that in turn he will be included in the prayers of hundreds of thousands both now and hereafter. This led the Cure of Ars to say: "If anyone has the happiness of being in the Confraternity of the Rosary, he has in all corners of the world brothers and sisters who pray for him." The deceased cannot be enrolled in the Confraternity.
Their link is http://www.rosary-center.org/ and you can enroll online.
Posted by: John | October 24, 2008 at 07:18 PM