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."
After some time of prayerful reflection, I have decided to "relaunch"
365 Rosaries: a year of prayer on the feast day of
Our Lady of Lourdes. Given that my piligrimage and subsequent call led to the creation of this blog, it only seems fitting that my continued committment honor Our Blessed Mother on her feast day!
With the decision made, only the "details" remain to be figured out: How often will I post? What will the content be? What will change, what will stay the same? I imagine that some of these answers may be a work in progress, that the blog will evolve in its own time, as all things do. I welcome any thoughts regarding the future, and again extend my gratitude for the countless emails, notes, prayer requests, and prayers that I have been offered over the past month of discernment.
May the Lord bless each of you.
jacob
Requested Intentions: For those courageously fighting cancer (M); Physical healing and financial security (C); For a family to serve the Lord, for physical healing, financial security (R); For a return to the faith of a family (D); Financial security, health, and peace for a family (N); End to debt, peace and health (E); For a young boy facing medical challenges (M); Permanent employment for a son (R); For inmates facing illness (M); For the renewal of a marriage (A); For the blessing of a union (C); Peaceful resolution to work difficulties, end to health challenges (R); For private intentions (J); For the faith of a prayer group (A); For healing and conversion of the injured (C); Healing of a family following the death of a loved one, resolution of legal matters (J); Employment and security for a mother and children (A); Healing and peace (J); Healing and peace in a family (D); Successful employment (M); Healing of a relationship (B)
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