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."



February 2: Our Lady of Good Success

Posted by Jacob

Today, February 2, marks the feast day of Our Lady of Good Success, a devotion to Our Blessed Mother. May, Our Lady of Good Success, appeared to missionaries in Spain in the form of a beautiful statue discovered in a cave. Officially recognized in Spain, this devotion later took root in Quito, Ecuador, where Our Blessed Mother appeared in a series of visions to Mother Mariana, abbotess of the convent there.
On February 2, 1594, as Mother Mariana was praying to the Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Good Success, she received an apparition. Our Lady of Good Success, smiling, dressed in gold, stated:
“I am Mary of Good Success, whom you have invoked with such tender affection. Your prayer has pleased me very much. Your faith has brought me here. Your love has invited me to visit you.”

The Blessed Mother, accompanied by saints and angels, went on to deliver powerful messages of crises in the world and Church, encouraging all to pray and turn from sin. Mother Mariana was blessed with a vision of Hell, which left her unconscious for several days. She recorded many of her visions and the communications of Our Blessed Mother, which I have previously summarized here and here.

In her last will and testament, Mother Mariana encouraged us to look to Mary, Our Lady of Good Success, as a model for love, charity, and mercy. She wrote of the deep connection between the Blessed Mother and the Infant Christ, as well as the advocate that Mary is for all of mankind. Mother Mariana encouraged us to turn to the Blessed Mother during the difficult times of our life, saying:

"Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven."

Today, we look to Mother Mariana and her willingness to suffer and offer penance for others. We pray in a special way for the intercessions of Our Lady of Good Success, that we may be willing to suffer, offer penance, and keep the faith of Christ in times that are challenging. We pray, too, for the Church and the leaders of the Church, and for heavenly guidance.

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