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."



May 1: Saint Joseph the Worker

Posted by Jacob

Today, May 1, is the beginning of the Month of Our Blessed Mother, Mary. It is also the feast day of Saint Joseph the Worker, Our Mother’s husband, and foster-father to Our Lord and Savior, Jesus. This second feast day of Saint Joseph was instituted in 1955 by Pope Pius XII. Celebrated on May 1—a day in which labor and those who labor are celebrated in many countries across the world—the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker reminds us of why in the Gospels of our Lord, Jesus was referred to as “the son of the carpenter.” We are reminded, much as we were on the feast of Saint Zita, that honest work, no matter how seemingly trivial, unimportant, unglamorous, or menial, can be sanctified. That is, hard work is the Lord’s work. Hard work is holy. Through work we can sanctify ourselves and others, making each of us participants in the work of redemption!


Saint Joseph was a model of tireless work, providing for his family and our Lord. Pius XII emphasized this, proclaiming, “The spirit flows to you and to all men from the heart of the God-man, Savior of the world. But certainly, no worker was ever more completely and profoundly penetrated by it than the foster father of Jesus, who lived with Him in closest intimacy and community of family life and work. Thus, if you wish to be close to Christ, we again today repeat, ‘Go to Joseph.’”

Many saints and popes have spoken at great length of the sanctity of Saint Joseph and his work. Pope John Paul II said, “Saint Joseph was a just man, a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten families.”

Blessed Josemaria Escriva declared, “St. Joseph was an ordinary sort of man on whom God relied to do great things. He did exactly what the Lord wanted him to do, in each and every event that went to make up his life.”

Lastly, just a few days ago in his weekly address, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the feast day of Saint Joseph the Worker, proclaiming, "May this day be an opportunity for deeper reflection on the meaning of work and its proper place in family life. I entrust those of you present here, and all workers, to the protection of St. Joseph."

The feast of Saint Joseph is celebrated on March 19. Visit here for more on the life of the holy foster-father of Jesus.

God, our Father,
Creator and ruler of the universe,
in every age You call man
to develop and use his gifts for the good of others.
With Saint Joseph as our example and guide,
help us to do the work you have asked
and come to the rewards you have promised.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.




Prayer to Saint Joseph the Worker (Written by Pope Saint Pius IX)

Glorious St. Joseph, model of all who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in the spirit of penance in expiation of my many sins; to work conscientiously by placing love of duty above my inclinations; to gratefully and joyously deem it an honor to employ and to develop by labor the gifts I have received from God, to work methodically, peacefully, and in moderation and patience, without ever shrinking from it through weariness or difficulty to work; above all, with purity of intention and unselfishness, having unceasingly before my eyes death and the account I have to render of time lost, talents unused, good not done, and vain complacency in success, so baneful to the work of God. All for Jesus, all for Mary, all to imitate thee, O patriarch St. Joseph! This shall be my motto for life and eternity. Amen.


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