The Month of the Holy Rosary
1. We should say the Rosary devoutly every day. This beautiful prayer
is very pleasing to Our Lady, and the church is particularly anxious
that we should recite it during the month of October. Families which say
the Holy Rosary together can hope for a special blessing from God and
for the maternal protection of Mary.
If possible, every family should gather
together in the evening and recite the Rosary before an image of our
Blessed Mother. If the parents set an example, their children will join
them. It is consoling to come together after the toil and trouble of the
day in order to confide our cares and hopes to Mary.
Do you
say the Rosary every day? If you have neglected this pious practice,
begin today. Do not plead lack of time. There is time for so many other
things, so surely there is time to pray and to entrust ourselves in a
special way to the protection of our heavenly Mother. The practice of
reciting the Holy Rosary will win for you the blessing of God and the
patronage of the Blessed Virgin.
2. One of the main advantages
of the Rosary is that it enables us to unite with our vocal prayer
meditation on the principal mysteries of our faith. During each decade
we should meditate briefly on one of these mysteries. In this way our
faith will be enlivened and we shall be roused to imitate in our lives
the example of Jesus and Mary.
The Rosary is composed of the
Church’s most beautiful prayers – the Our Father, which Jesus Himself
taught us to say when addressing our heavenly Father, and the Hail Mary,
which consists of the Angel’s greeting to the Blessed Virgin when he
came to announce to her that she was to be the Mother of God, of the
inspired words of St. Elizabeth on the occasion of the Visitation, and
of the moving plea for mercy, both now and at the hour of our death,
which the Church places upon the lips of her sinful children. Each
decade concludes with the short hymn of praise in honour of the Blessed
Trinity: “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without
end. Amen.” This prayer expresses the two principal mysteries of our
faith, namely, the unity and trinity of God, and, in an indirect
fashion, the incarnation of the Second Divine Person.
If we think of all this when we are fervently reciting the Rosary, it will prove to be a treasury of grace.
3. It is untrue to say that the Rosary is a monotonous prayer in that
it necessitates a constant repetition of the same formulae. In the first
place, recitation of these prayers should be accompanied by meditation
on the principal mysteries of our religion. Secondly, if we are inspired
by love, the repetition of the same words can draw from them each time a
new significance. The Christian who loves God and His Divine Mother
will be happy to call his heavenly Father with filial confidence and to
pray to the Blessed Virgin with trust in her maternal protection. An
affectionate son does not find it boring to speak with his own mother.
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