October is the Month of the Rosary
October 17th, 2021
We live in an age unlike any other in the 2000 year history of Christianity. A spiritual “Dark Age” that has seen the loss of faith in Christ and His Church by family members and the world at large; the breakdown of the Church, marriage, family, and society; as well as a steep climb in the rate of addictions to all things: impurity, screens, internet, video games, alcohol, drugs, overeating, sports, gambling, news, and every other vice. We need supernatural help – a way to powerfully pray anytime and anywhere for consolation, hope, and miracles. To that end, God has given us a gift from heaven: the rosary – a light in the darkness when all other lights have gone out.
While the Church dedicates the month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Church dedicates the month of October to the rosary. There are various historical reasons for this, which I won’t go into here, yet, suffice it to say, God, the Church, and I want you to learn how to pray the rosary, pray it regularly, and grow in holiness. Most Catholics don’t know how to pray the rosary – most don’t know where to begin. Don’t be embarrassed, I know priests who can’t say a whole rosary from memory either [pray for priests!]. Fortunately my parents prayed the rosary with my siblings and I throughout our childhoods, even when we didn’t want to. For that I am eternally grateful. Yet, in spite of that experience, it wasn’t until my conversion at the age of 26 that I deliberately set out to memorize the various prayers and mysteries of the rosary, for I had never quite nailed it as a kid.
The rosary is a prayer to the Holy Trinity through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through it prayers are answered, people healed, relationships strengthened, virtue fostered, consolation found, wisdom and understanding gained, battles won, disaster averted, protection granted, and hardened souls converted. The miracles brought about by praying the rosary are countless. Yet, just as important as having our prayers answered, is the relationship the rosary fosters. In a way it is like spending time with someone we love – the more time we invest with someone, the more we bond. Jesus, who is God, wants all of us to love His Mother as He does. He wants us to adopt her as our beloved mother too, for she has already adopted us. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the greatest of all of God’s creation and the greatest intercessor before God in heaven; and, like a good mother, she desires a personal relationship with each one of us. To these ends, the rosary cannot be beaten.
This is a picture of me and some altar boys praying the rosary before the start of the Saturday morning Mass. We only get to pray the last five or ten minutes of the rosary before that Mass begins, but just look at all the good it is doing for their faith; following along with their rosaries and “how to” guides, and doing so with their priest!
At Holy Redeemer, we start praying the rosary 20 minutes before every weekend Mass, right up to the start of Mass. It’s been heartening to see so many of you who don’t pray the rosary begin to pray at least a little bit of it in the final minutes before Mass begins. It has been even more heartening to see so many coming to Mass early enough to pray the whole rosary. It is doing great good for so many.
By praying the rosary before Mass begins, we learn it by hearing and participating in it, over time becoming more comfortable with it and inspired to pray it on our own (which for most of us isn’t happening often enough). If you don’t know how to pray the rosary please take a “how to” brochure from the pews home with you, they’re free. We also have a rosary board in the narthex with free rosaries on it for you to either keep or borrow. Like me at age 26, make a point of learning the rosary and strive to pray it daily for the rest of your life: for you, your family, the Church, and the whole world.
Our Lady’s 15 Promises to Those Who Pray the Rosary
From Saint Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche
Whosoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.
I promise my special protection and the greatest Graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against Hell; it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
It will cause good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant Mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for Eternal Things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
Whosoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the Grace of God, and become worthy of Eternal Life.
Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the Light of God and the plenitude of His Graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the Merits of the Saints in Paradise.
I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of Glory in Heaven.
You shall obtain all you ask of me by recitation of the Rosary.
All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire Celestial Court during their life and at the hour of death.
All who recite the Rosary are my sons, and brothers of my only Son, Jesus Christ.
Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
May Our Lord and His Blessed Mother Bless You,
Fr. Thomas Nathe
