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."



January 1: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Posted by Jacob

God our Father,

may we always profit by the prayers
of the Virgin Mother Mary,
for You bring us life and salvation
through Jesus Christ her Son
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen


Today, New Year’s Day—the Octave of Christmas-- we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. In this, the first and most important of the Marian feast days, we recognize as a Catholic people, the divine and virginal motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a singular salvific event—the event which has the power and intent to redeem and save us! For Our Blessed Mother, the Incarnation and delivery of Christ was the foretaste and cause of her extraordinary glory. For us, as believers, it is, was, and will be a source of grace and salvation because "through her we have received the Author of life.”

Today, we recognize Mary as the Theotokos—the Mother of God. Our celebration of the Blessed Virgin—our mother as well—is based upon the source of her privileges: her blessed maternity. As the Mother of God, Mary helped bring the message of Christ to the world. As Christ was the Lord’s first thought in regards to the salvation of mankind, Mary must be the second thought, as the vessel of the Incarnation, the first tabernacle, the flesh of His flesh, and the blood of His blood. In delivering Christ, Our Blessed Mother delivered all her children from sin, bringing the Light of the World into our midst.

As recorded in the Lumen Gentium, Mary is: "truly the Mother of God and of the Redeemer...not merely passively engaged by God, but freely cooperating in the work of our salvation through faith and obedience." As Pope John Paul II wrote in the Redemptoris Mater, Mary manifests: "a new kind of motherhood according to the spirit and not just according to the flesh, that is to say Mary's solicitude for human beings, her coming to them in the wide variety of their wants and needs. At Cana in Galilee there is shown only one concrete aspect of human need, apparently a small one and of little importance ("They have no wine"). But it has a symbolic value, this coming to the aid of human beings means, at the same time, bringing those needs within the radius of Christ's messianic mission and salvific power."

As we celebrate and honor Our Blessed Mother today, we also honor Our Lord—who is inseparable from His mother, both fully divine and fully human. We reflect on the wisdom of the Lord in selecting the Blessed Virgin as the Mother of God, and we look to her—who constantly intercedes for us in heaven and mediates the grace of God—for assistance and intercession. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!



Salve Regína, Mater Misericórdiae: Vita, dulcédo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamámus, éxsules, fílii Hevae. Ad te suspirámus, geméntes et flentes in hac lacrimárum valle. Eia ergo, Advocáta nostra, illos tuos misericórdes óculos ad nos convérte. Et Jesum, benedíctum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsílium osténde. O clemens; O pia; O dulcis Virgo María.



Father,
Source of light in every age,
the virgin conceived and bore Your Son
who is called Wonderful God, Prince of Peace.
May her prayer, the gift of a mother's love,
be Your people's joy through all ages.
May her response, born of a humble heart,
draw our Spirit to rest on Your people.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen




Year 2: Day 1 of 365
Prayer Intentions: Lives of grace and sacrifice

Requested Intentions: For family intentions (I); Reconciliation of a marriage (S); For blessings upon a family (R); Permanent employment (N); Successful employment (M); Successful completion of nursing exam (M); For a daughter in an abusive relationships (J); For the consecration of a granddaughter to Our Blessed Mother (A); For a successful marriage (S); Restoration of a teaching job (L); Health and spirituality of family members (R); For a return to health for a friend (C); Healing from cancer of a brother-in-law (C); Healthy relationship; Joy in everyday life (J); Successful employment and financial assistance for education (M); For the return home of father and husband suffering from mental illness (C); Successful passing of examination; Employment for Son (J); Healing of a family and son (S); Successful marriage (G); End to husband’s addictions; Son’s employment (M); Freedom from financial burdens (M); Healing after a miscarriage (E); For healing of friend; successful resolution of legal matter (A); Complete healing of a friend with pancreatic cancer (J); Healing of a father following stroke (S).

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