Tag: Our Lady of the Rosary

Our Lady of the Rosary

Today the Church commemorates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, a celebration that has its origin not, as it would seem, in simply a prayer, but in a battle.

On October 7th, 1571 a fleet of ships assembled by the combined forces of Naples, Sardinia, Venice, the Papacy, Genoa, Savoy and the Knights Hospitallers fought an intense battle with the fleet of the Ottoman Empire. The battle took place in the Gulf of Patras located in western Greece. Though outnumbered by the Ottoman forces, the so-called “Holy League” possessed of superior firepower would win the day. This victory would severely curtail attempts by the Ottoman Empire to control the Mediterranean, causing a seismic shift in international relations from East to West. In some respects, and I do not want this claim to be overstated, the world that we know came into being with this victory. This event is known to history as the “Battle of Lepanto.”

Pope Pius V, whose treasury bankrolled part of this military endeavor, ordered the churches of Rome opened for prayer day and night, encouraging the faithful to petition the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through the recitation of the Rosary. When word reached the Pope Pius of the victory of the Holy League, he added a new feast day to the Roman Liturgical Calendar- October 7th would henceforth be the feast of Our Lady of Victory. Pope Pius’ successor, Gregory XIII would change the name of this day to the feast of the Holy Rosary.

Our Lady of Victories, pray for us.
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Source: Fr. Steve Grunow

Rosary Pilgrimage 2024 at the Dominican Monastery

On October 6, at 3pm, the Monastery of Our Lady of Grace (the Dominican Nuns) will host the annual Rosary Pilgrimage. The Pilgriimage will be preached by Father Gabriel Torretta, OP.

The Pilgrimage includes Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, and the presentation of the Rosary to our Blessed Mother at our Fatima Shrine.

Father Gabriel was recently assigned to teach at Providence College following doctoral studies at the University of Chicago.

Our Lady of Grace Monastery, 11 Race Hill Road, North Guilford.
https://www.dominicannuns.org

Our Lady of the Rosary

October 7th brings us to moment when we realize that Our Lady, through the gift of the gift of the Rosary opens a new vista for meditating on Life of Christ and the gift of salvation.

From a sermon of St Bernard of Clairvaux

We should meditate on the mysteries of salvation

The child to be born of you will be called holy, the Son of God, the fountain of wisdom, the Word of the Father on high. Through you, blessed Virgin, this Word will become flesh, so that even though, as he says: I am in the Father and the Father is in me, it is still true for him to say: “I came forth from God and am here.”

In the beginning was the Word. The spring was gushing forth, yet still within himself. Indeed, the Word was with God, truly dwelling in inaccessible light. And the Lord said from the beginning: I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. Yet your thought was locked within you, and whatever you thought, we did not know; for who knew the mind of the Lord, or who was his counsellor?

And so the idea of peace came down to do the work of peace: The Word was made flesh and even now dwells among us. It is by faith that he dwells in our hearts, in our memory, our intellect and penetrates even into our imagination. What concept could man have of God if he did not first fashion an image of him in his heart? By nature incomprehensible and inaccessible, he was invisible and unthinkable, but now he wished to be understood, to be seen and thought of.

But how, you ask, was this done? He lay in a manger and rested on a virgin’s breast, preached on a mountain, and spent the night in prayer. He hung on a cross, grew pale in death, and roamed free among the dead and ruled over those in hell. He rose again on the third day, and showed the apostles the wounds of the nails, the signs of victory; and finally in their presence he ascended to the sanctuary of heaven.

How can we not contemplate this story in truth, piety and holiness? Whatever of all this I consider, it is God I am considering; in all this he is my God. I have said it is wise to meditate on these truths, and I have thought it right to recall the abundant sweetness, given by the fruits of this priestly root; and Mary, drawing abundantly from heaven, has caused this sweetness to overflow for us.

On the Rosary

bvm-and-st-dominic-and-rosaryOctober is devoted to the Rosary. Yesterday was the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (Oct. 7th). So, to continue our thinking on the importance of the rosary in spiritual discipline, Pope Leo XIII writes the following to see the mind of the popes on this subject:

“Since, therefore, it is clearly evident that this form of prayer is particularly pleasing to the Blessed Virgin, and that it is especially suitable as a means of defense for the Church and all Christians, it is in no way wonderful that several others of Our Predecessors have made it their aim to favor and increase its spread by their high recommendations. Thus Urban IV testified that “every day the Rosary obtained fresh boon for Christianity.” Sixtus IV declared that this method of prayer “redounded to the honor of God and the Blessed Virgin, and was well suited to obviate impending dangers;” Leo X that “it was instituted to oppose pernicious heresiarchs and heresies;” while Julius III called it “the glory of the Church.” So also St. Pius V, that “with the spread of this devotion the meditations of the faithful have begun to be more inflamed, their prayers more fervent, and they have suddenly become different men; the darkness of heresy has been dissipated, and the light of Catholic faith has broken forth again.” Lastly Gregory XIII in his turn pronounced that “the Rosary had been instituted by St. Dominic to appease the anger of God and to implore the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.””

Our Lady of the Rosary

our-lady-of-the-rosary

“The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety , of which it can be said to be a compendium. It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 1).

 

St. Josemaria Escriva said, “The Rosary is a prayer very pleasing to our Lady, which has been part of the life of Catholics for many centuries. At the same time, it is a meditation on the mysteries of the life of our Lord and his Mother.

“Therefore, I recommend it with all my heart, also as a prayer that can be done as a family, although you shouldn’t force your young children to pray it . . . if they want to join the others, fine; if not, let them be, and eventually they will come. It has to be something voluntary” (Notes, November 17, 1972).

Our Lady of the Rosary

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Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our heart, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son was made known by the message of an Angel, may, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by his Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of his Resurrection.
Those who pray the Angelus will recognize this opening Collect for Mass for this feast. It keys us into the Mystery of the Word made flesh, of God entering into our history.
I once was working with a youth group for a summer and the leader told me that his colleagues in this particular diocese gave him grief that he prayed the rosary with his 60 teens at the weekly meeting. They couldn’t believe that anyone would do this, and they were more surprised that teenagers would agree to pray the Rosary. I was appalled that any Catholic youth minister would dismiss praying with sacred Scripture. The experience was golden: sitting in a circle, someone introduced the mystery of the Rosary, and everyone in the room announced the intention(s) that they needed Mary’s help on. Each teen took a Hail Mary. No gimmick, just prayer. Following the prayer, then there was “the program.” To me, the Rosary was enough.
It seems to me that if you want to experience the habit of prayer, to know the biblical narrative of Love, and be faithful in what the Mother of God asked us to do to decapitate sin, then praying the Rosary is the prayer form to do. Saints and sinners, popes and common people have all recommended the Holy Rosary taking up what the collect indicates, to the Incarnation of the Lord made known by the Angel.
Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, pray for us.

Our Lady of the Rosary

OLR and St Dominic.jpgThe rosary is essential to the spiritual life of Christians. We ought to live the rosary.

The rosary is a practical study of sacred Scripture in the we remain faithful to the call to be close to Christ through constant a memory of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord. Theologically, we call this the Paschal Mystery.

The rosary, popularly seen as a Marian prayer (i.e., connected to the Blessed Virgin Mary), but really it is a Christological prayer.

The supreme victory promised by God through the intercession of Mary is none other than being generated by love and the grace of conversion. Praying the rosary keeps us in touch with Christ, the Savior, the Good Shepherd.

Read more in the John Paul II teaching found in his apostolic letter, Rosary of the Virgin Mary, and a more of the feast today given by CNA.

Our Lady of the Rosary

 

Madonna of the Rosary LLotto.jpgI once told a youth director who was getting “heat” from his colleagues for having his parish youth group pray the rosary that that prayer is really Scripture study. What else could you call the each of the mysteries, the Hail Mary and the Lord’s Prayer? On the simplest level praying the rosary is not only a tool of spiritual education in the School of Mary, but also uniting oneself more and more closely to the Lord.

It is often said that if you want to end sin in your life, evil in the world, that is, to slice the head off evil, then pray the Rosary. I see more rosaries around the rear view mirror or around the neck but so rarely in those same hands fingering the beads of the Mysteries of the Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. In the rosary we trace the lines of salvation history and the beautiful mission of Jesus.

Pope, saints, good priests and religious and grandmothers recommend wholeheartedly our attachment to this divine gift of love.

The previous year’s post for this feast is here.

The infant church in prayer was gathered round

Th’apostles and the Mother of the Lord;

In faithfulness to Christ’s farewell command,

They prayed and waited, trusting in the Word.

With joy we think on incarnation’s grace;

With light we meditate upon Christ’s life;

With sorrow, all his passion keep in mind;

And in his glory, hope beyond all strife.

For Mary’s faithfulness we praise you, Lord,

who heard and trusted in your promise strong;

To you we sing, O Trinity most blessed,

In praise that through the ages echoes long.

10 10 10 10

SURSUM CORDA

Our Lady of the Rosary

OL Rosary with Sts Dominic & Francis.jpgO God, Whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and resurrection hath purchased for us the rewards of eternal salvation, grant we beseech Thee, that meditating on these mysteries in the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.

I want to recommend Ruth Rees’s The Rosary in Space and Time which is an accessible and exceptional look into the most important devotional prayers we have: the Rosary. She explores the biblical, liturgical, and practical dimensions of the rosary. A convert from Judaism and a professional actress and writer, Rees brings us (me) to a deeper appreciation of this compendium of the Gospels.