Five Reasons to Pray the Rosary
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I have been reflecting on the power of the Rosary in my life since 1991. Mary the Mother of God came to St. Dominic and taught Him the Rosary, but not exactly the way most people think of it. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, one of the greatest Dominican theologians explained Dominic’s method: At the end of the 12th century southern France was ravaged by the Albigensian heresy – a heresy which denied the infinite goodness and power of God by admitting a principle of evil which was often victorious…It was at that moment that Our Blessed Lady made known to St. Dominic a kind of preaching till then unknown, which she said would be one of the most powerful weapons against future errors and in future difficulties. Under her inspiration, St Dominic went into the villages of the Albigensians, gathered the people, and preached to them the truths of salvation — the Incarnation, the redemption, eternal life. As Mary had taught him to do, he distinguished the different kinds of mysteries, and after each short instruction, he had ten Hail Mary’s recited… And what the word of the preacher was unable to do, the sweet prayer of the Hail Mary did for hearts. As Mary promised, it proved to be a most fruitful form of preaching., p. 255
We pray the Rosary in a new way that is an old way introduced by St. Dominic
o a short teaching from the Word of God,
o and then we pray one decade of the Rosary
§ and we do this five times.
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The traditional mysteries of the Rosary were meant to serve as an outline for the life and teachings of Jesus. They were never meant to limit us to those scenes. Imagine reading the table of contents of a book over and over and never reading the book. Sooner or later you will lose interest in the table of contents because you want to know more, you desire to go deeper.
During the Rosary we can meditate upon all that Jesus, the Word of God revealed through His life and His teachings. The full Word of God comes to us through Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium. We can meditate on all of this during the Rosary: Scripture, the writings of Augustine, Aquinas, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux or St. Faustina; and the teachings of the Magisterium. In fact the best synthesis of the Word of God is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is great to meditate upon during the Rosary.
Most importantly the Rosary is meant to be a meditation on the Word of God. Meditation is to read or listen to something from the Word of God, then to reflect on it during the Our Father and Hail Mary’s so that we can grow in our knowledge and love of God and finally to draw a practical resolution we put into practice.
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Mary has come from Heaven asking us to Pray the Rosary every day
At Fatima in 1917 Our Lady requested: “Pray the Rosary every day, in order to obtain peace for the world, and the end of the war”.
At Akita, Japan, in 1973, Mary said to Sr. Sasagawa: "Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamites which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved."
On October 6, 2019, a new message was given to Sr. Sasagawa who was told to tell everyone, put on ashes and pray a Rosary of reparation every day.
At Medjugorje where it is reported that Mary has been appearing since 1981, she urgently pleads with her children to pray the Rosary every day, especially in the family and to invite friends to pray the Rosary with you: Dear Children! Today I invite you to begin to pray the Rosary with a living faith. Only in that way will I be able to help you. You wish to receive graces, but you do not pray. I am not able to help you if you do not decide to begin. I invite you dear children, to pray the Rosary in such a way that it will be a commitment for you, achieved in joy…I want to teach you to pray.
On April 10, 1986 Mary said in the Approved apparition of San Nicolas Argentina:
You see this crown because this is what I want you to do, create a real crown of rosaries. Pray my daughter pray. How many mouths remain silent, still without even knowing a single prayer which may bring them close to the Lord! The Holy Rosary is the weapon which the enemy fears. It is also the refuge of those who look for relief for their sufferings, and it is the door to enter into my heart. Glory to the Lord for the Light which He gives the world.
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Praying the Rosary can change world events.
In the Philippines in 1986, Mary and the Rosary overcame the oppressive dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos. On the Sunday before the collapse of the Marcos regime, 100’s of Thousands of Filipinos rose up in protest against the dictator by lining up and kneeling in front of armed tanks to pray the rosary. At the front of the lines were devout nuns who ceaselessly led the people in the recitation of the sacred mysteries. Risking their lives, thousands and thousands of people joined in with the sisters and prayed the rosary on their knees before the tanks. When they were ordered to move or be run over, the large group prayed the rosary even louder. Miraculously, there was never a shot fired, the tanks never touched the people, and President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, fled the country. Cardinal Sin, the archbishop of Manila, later recounted to the media what he had been told by many of the soldiers who were there that day. They said that they were about to run over the people with the tanks when they saw an extremely beautiful lady who instructed them that they were to stop their tanks and do no harm to the people because she was the Queen of the island.
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The Rosary is one of the best things you can do to help other people
Many people are suffering, and many people are not interested in Jesus. There is only so much you can say or do to change their situation. But Jesus said by faith and by prayer we can move mountains. Next to offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for people, praying the Rosary for them is the most powerful thing you can do. There is a fantastic true account in a book entitled In the Shadow of His Wings, that a German Franciscan seminarian was conscripted into Hitler's dreaded SS at the onset of World War II. At one point during the war, after his squad, exhausted from marching laid down to sleep, a voice urged him to get up and dig, which he initially ignored, but the voice would not desist. Finally he gave in to the voice, and began to dig a fox hole. As soon as he finished artillery began to drop and every soldier in the squad was killed but him. After the war he went to see a nun who taught him in grade school at which time she revealed that she had prayed the Rosary for him every night without fail and was prompted by God on that very night the artillery fell and she could verify the date. Pray the Rosary for your family and friends. You may only know in the next life just how much good you did for them. Pray the Rosary for your enemies and those who cause you difficulties – I have witnessed the Rosary change hearts. If you don’t believe me – test it yourself!