Why pray the Rosary every day for a year?
Each time the Blessed Virgin has appeared-- whether it be to Saint Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes; to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco at Fatima; or to Mariette Beco at Banneux-- she has asserted the importance, saving grace, and power of praying the Holy Rosary on a daily basis. Based upon her words, the Rosary is penance and conversion for sinners, a pathway to peace, an end to war, and a powerful act of faith in Jesus Christ. Pope Paul VI presented the Rosary as a powerful means to reach Christ "not merely with Mary but indeed, insofar as this is possible to us, in the same way as Mary, who is certainly the one who thought about Him more than anyone else has ever done."
To show us how this is done, perhaps no one has been more eloquent than the great Cardinal Newman, who wrote: "The great power of the Rosary consists in the fact that it translates the Creed into Prayer. Of course, the Creed is already in a certain sense a prayer and a great act of homage towards God, but the Rosary brings us to meditate again on the great truth of His life and death, and brings this truth close to our hearts. Even Christians, although they know God, usually fear rather than love Him. The strength of the Rosary lies in the particular manner in which it considers these mysteries, since all our thinking about Christ is intertwined with the thought of His Mother, in the relations between Mother and Son; the Holy Family is presented to us, the home in which God lived His infinite love."
As Mary said at Fatima, "Jesus wants to use you to make Me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to My Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God, like flowers put by Me to adorn his throne."
We continue our celebration of
Mary’s month of May with a poem written by Peter Heintz, in his book entitled, “
A Guide to Apparitions, Part I.” We are reminded in reading this poem of the many times that Our Blessed Mother has appeared on earth, encouraging our daily prayers, teaching the Holy Rosary, advocating for us, inspiring us to grace.
Oh, Holy Mother: Draw us closer to your divine Son, that we may become holy and our hearts become one!
Ode to Mary
O Blessed Mary
Immaculate Virgin
Most holy and pure
free of all sin
Mother of God
and all mankind
Loving and gentle
sweet and kind
Full of grace
and merciful
Perpetual help
and prayerful
Our Lady of Sorrows
so sorrowful
Soul eternally spotless
so beautiful
Messenger of God
our intercessor
Perfect human
our protector
To save mankind
reveal Your faces
at Knock, Tre-Fontane
and other places
At La Salette
and at
Pontmain
At Rue du Bac
and at
Beauraing
Lady of
Carmel
and Guadalupe
Lady of Fatima
and Medjugorje
Lady of the Rosary
and of
Lourdes' Shrine
Lily of the Valley
Torch of Love sublime
Cape of Juan Diego
Song of
Bernadette
Miracle at
Fatima
the world dare not forget
Queen of Peace
and of Heaven above
Queen of Earth
And Queen of Love
You gave us the grace
of First Saturday
And specially taught us
the rosary to pray
Please help us convert
and help us to pray
To open our hearts
to do penance each day
To love one another
and do every good deed
To respond from our hearts
Your teachings to heed
Draw us ever closer
to Your Divine Son
That we may become holy
and our hearts become one
For you are the Handmaid
of the Lord
You live eternally
according to His Word.
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