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, August 2, we celebrate the feast day of
Saint Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868), “Apostle of the Eucharist,” and founder of the Blessed Sacrament Congregation, a new society dedicated to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. A prolific writer, Saint Peter Julian paraphrased the Our Father, as an extended prayer and teaching tool for those preparing for their First Holy Eucharist.
Our Father Who art in Heaven
In the heaven of the Eucharist, to You Who are seated on the throne of grace and love, be benediction, and honor, and power and glory for ever and ever!
Hallowed be Your Name
first in myself, through the spirit of Your humility, obedience, and charity. May I in all humility and zeal make You known, loved and adored by all men in the Holy Eucharist.
Thy Kingdom come
Thy Eucharistic kingdom. Rule forever over us for Your greater glory through the power of Your love, the triumph of Your virtues and the grace of a Eucharistic vocation in my state as a layman. Grant me the grace of Your love so that I may be able to effectively extend Your Eucharistic kingdom everywhere and realize the desire You expressed: 'I have come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled!' O that I might be the incendiaries of this heavenly fire!
Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven
Grant me the grace to find all my joy in wanting You alone, in desiring You alone and in thinking of You alone. Grant that by denying myself, I may find light and life in obeying Your good, acceptable and perfect Will. I will what You will. I will it because You will it. I will it as You will it. I will it as long as You will it. Keep my thoughts and desires purely from You, for You and in You.
Give us this day our daily bread
You are our Eucharistic Lord and You alone will be my food and clothing, my riches and glory, my remedy in illness and my protection against all evil. You will be all things to me.
And forgive us our trespasses
Forgive me Jesus, for I am sorry for all my sins just as they stand in Your eyes.
As we forgive those who trespass against us
For anyone who has offended me in any way, with my whole heart I forgive them and desire for them the gifts of Your love.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
Deliver me Jesus, from the demon of pride, impurity, discord and complacency. Deliver me from the cares and worries of life so that with a pure heart and a free mind I may joyfully spend my life and devote all that I am and all that I have in the service of You my Eucharistic Lord.
Amen
In You, O Lord Jesus, have I hoped; let me not be confounded forever. You alone are good. You alone are powerful. You alone are eternal. To You alone be honor and glory, love and thanksgiving forever and ever.
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