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."
Today, May 20, we celebrate the feast day of
Saint Bernadine of Siena, a preacher and writer of inspired eloquence. Saint Bernadine is one of the most renowned Franciscan preachers and reformers, a prolific writer who graced the Church with countless sermons and writings, and is largely responsible for increasing the popular devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. He wrote, regarding the Adorable Name of Jesus:
The Name of Jesus is the refuge of the penitent sinner, a refuge full of meekness in which majesty effaces itself, tenderness becomes sweeter, Divine mercy appears in Its grandeur. The Name of God is awesome; in it is found the ardor of the flame which consumes, the wrath which chastises, the weight which crushes; but all these things have been tempered in the wellspring of mercy by Jesus Christ Who was smitten with love for us in the womb of the Virgin Mary. There, that ardor has lost its violence, that wrath has become forbearance, that overwhelming weight has become light . . . "O my God," exclaims the Prophet, "say to my soul: I am thy salvation." [Psalm 34: 3] May Thy Name be heard by my ears; Thy voice is full of sweetness and Thy face full of beauty.
The Name of Jesus is the torch of the word of God. Saint Bernard says, "How can you believe that a light so great, so sudden, so bright, would have shone in the whole world, if not by the preaching of the Name of Jesus ?" When wheat is taken from a field and the fire is lit, dry grass, useless brambles and thorns are soon consumed; when the sun casts its bright rays upon rising and the darkness has disappeared, thieves and nighttime prowlers go and hide. Thus when the tongue of Paul, like a thunderclap, like the sun at its brightest, made itself heard by the nations, infidelity was consumed, falsehood vanished, the truth cast forth its splendor, the world was like wax exposed to the heat of a violent fire. Then the Apostle, by his writings, words, miracles and examples, made the Name of Jesus penetrate everywhere; he bore it in the presence of kings, of nations and of the children of Israel as a torch, and with it he lit up all the lands of the world . . .
The Name of Jesus is the glory of the blessed in Heaven. Those who have loved that Name will enjoy in their mind, as the reward of their faith, the perfect vision of the truth manifested in all its splendor; in their memory, as a fruit of their hope, they will have the eternal possession of the Supreme Majesty, and in their will as a reward for their love, the enjoyment of the most ineffable good. "Thou art the joy of those who love Thy Name." [Psalm 5: 12] Because of that Name of Jesus, the soul entirely shall live, entirely shall be endowed, entirely happy, entirely in its three powers made like unto God, Trinity and Unity, entirely united to Him, entirely enlightened, entirely plunged in peace. . .
O Name of Jesus lifted up above every name, triumphal Name, joy of the Angels, joy of the just, dread of Hell, in Thee lies all hope of forgiveness, all hope of grace, all hope of glory.
O most meek Name, from Thee we received forgiveness of sin, renewal of life; Thou fillest our souls with Divine delights, Thou takest away their vain imaginings.
O Name full of grace, by Thee the depths of miracles are disclosed to our sight; our hearts burn with Heavenly love, become strong in combat, escape every danger.
O glorious Name, delectable Name, admirable Name, Name worthy of our veneration, Name full of sweetness of Jesus our King, Thou doth transports above this earth by the abundance of grace, Thou ravisheth, in a way, the souls of Thy faithful even to Divine heights; may all who are devoted to Thee find salvation and glory in Thy virtue . . .
Whenever you hear His Holy Name pronounced, bow your head; do so likewise every time you say His Sacred Name.
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