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, November 23, we celebrate the feast day of
Blessed Miguel Augustin Pro (1891-1927), modern-day martyr of Mexico. Father Pro was executed by firing squad on November 23, 1927, for defending the faith and serving his community at a time when Catholicism was forbidden in Mexico. Devoted to the Lord until his final breath, Father Pro’s last words were “Viva Cristo Rey!” (Long live Christ the King!). Devoted to suffering and the Heart of Jesus, Father Pro penned these prayers.
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin of Sorrows
Let me live my life at your side, my Mother, and be the companion of your bitter
solitude and your profound pain. Let my soul feel your eyes’ sad weeping and the
abandonment of your heart.
On the road of my life I do not wish to savor the happiness of Bethlehem, adoring
the Child Jesus in your virginal arms. I do not wish to enjoy the amiable presence
of Jesus Christ in the humble little house of Nazareth. I do not care to accompany
you on your glorious Assumption to the angels’ choir.
For my life, I covet the jeers and mockery of Calvary; the slow agony of your Son,
the contempt, the ignominy, the infamy of His Cross. I wish to stand at your side,
most sorrowful Virgin, strengthening my spirit with your tears, consummating my
sacrifice with your martyrdom, sustaining my heart with your solitude, loving my
God and your God with the immolation of my being.
Prayer to the Heart of Jesus
Let me live my life at your side, my Mother, and be the companion of your bitter
solitude and your profound pain. Let my soul feel your eyes’ sad weeping and the
abandonment of your heart.
On the road of my life I do not wish to savor the happiness of Bethlehem, adoring
the Child Jesus in your virginal arms. I do not wish to enjoy the amiable presence
of Jesus Christ in the humble little house of Nazareth. I do not care to accompany
you on your glorious Assumption to the angels’ choir.
For my life, I covet the jeers and mockery of Calvary; the slow agony of your Son,
the contempt, the ignominy, the infamy of His Cross. I wish to stand at your side,
most sorrowful Virgin, strengthening my spirit with your tears, consummating my
sacrifice with your martyrdom, sustaining my heart with your solitude, loving my
God and your God with the immolation of my being.
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