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."



Fra Angelico: Gallery of Paintings

Posted by Jacob

February 18 marks the feast day of the saint of Christian artists, Blessed John of Fiesole (1387-1455), or Fra Angelico as he came to be known.  For my previous post on Fra Angelico, visit here.


In honor of his feast day, below is a gallery of a small portion of the paintings he produced, chronicling the lives of the Saints, Our Blessed Mother, and the Life and Passion of Christ.



The Visitation

Wedding of the Virgin
The Last Judgement

The Annunciation
The Annunciation
Scenes from the Life and Passion of Christ


Saints Peter and Mark Preaching
Saint John the Baptist and Saint Dominic
Saint Anthony shunning the mass of gold

Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
The Naming of Saint John the Baptist
Angel Detail from the Monecarlo Alterpiece
Massacre of the Innocents
Entombment of Christ
Distributing of Alms
Death of the Virgin
Coronation of the Blessed Virgin
Communion of the Apostles
Flight into Egypt
Madonna Surrounded by Angels
Madonna and Child with Angels
The Last Supper
Christ the Judge
Arrest of Christ
Agony in the Garden
Adoration of the Magi
Adoration of the Magi
Adoration of the Magi
Madonna and Child

1 comments:

  1. Anonymous said...

    Thankyou for posting these wonderful images of Fra Angelico - we pray for another renaissance of spiritual life in the world

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment. If you wish to submit a prayer request, however, please do so above, using the "Contact" tab.