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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