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Devotion to the Holy Rosary:
01 October 2019
“Queen of the Holy Rosary, Pray for us”
The month of October each year is dedicated in the Catholic Church to the devotion of the Most Holy Rosary. This is mainly because of the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary which is celebrated on October 7th. The feast of Our Lady of Victory was instituted in 1571 after a military victory in the Battle of Lepanto. At Lepanto, the Moslems though they were a large army were miraculously defeated by praying the Rosary.
The Battle of Lepanto was at first celebrated liturgically as "Our Lady of Victory." In 1573, the feast of October 7th was renamed "Our Lady of the Rosary" by Pope Gregory XIII and extended throughout the Universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1716.
The Holy Rosary has undoubtedly been the weapon of every Catholic in times of trouble and our Holy Mother has always come to the rescue of her children and prevailed over evil. The merits of praying the rosary has been revealed to us by most of the Holy Saints. Our Lady too has promised 15 benefits to those who pray the Rosary. In most of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, she has asked to pray the Rosary to prevail against evil.
In his Apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Saint Pope John Paul II wrote "As a prayer for peace, the Rosary is also, and always has been, a prayer of and for the family. At one time this prayer was particularly dear to Christian families, and it certainly brought them closer together. It is important not to lose this precious inheritance. We need to return to the practice of family prayer and prayer for families, continuing to use the Rosary. The Rosary is both meditation and supplication. Insistent prayer to the Mother of God is based on the confidence that her maternal intercession can obtain all things from the heart of her Son. To pray the Rosary for children, and even more, with children, training them from their earliest years to experience this daily “pause for prayer” with the family, is admittedly not the solution to every problem, but it is a spiritual aid which should not be underestimated. The family that prays together stays together. The Holy Rosary, by age-old tradition, has shown itself particularly effective as a prayer which brings the family together. Individual family members, in turning their eyes towards Jesus, also regain the ability to look one another in the eye, to communicate, to show solidarity, to forgive one another and to see their covenant of love renewed in the Spirit of God."
In our present times too this message of Pope John Paul II is of utmost importance. According to current practice, Monday and Saturday are dedicated to the “Joyful mysteries”, Tuesday and Friday to the “Sorrowful mysteries”, Wednesday and Sunday to the “Glorious mysteries” and Thursdays to the "Luminuous mysteries".
Let us dedicate this month to praying the Holy Rosary in our homes together with all family members and meditate on the mysteries which are all events from the life of Christ on earth. As we pray together, we also give our prayer intentions to our dear Mother to intercede for us and obtain all our needs from her Beloved Son Jesus. In addition to our personal needs we should also pray for the intentions of the Holy Pope, the Universal Church, its Bishops, clergy and all its members that we may be preserved from the wiles of the devil.