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."



January 13, 2013: Saint Hilary of Poiters, Doctor of the Church

Posted by Jacob

Today, January 13, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Hilary of Poiters (A.D. 368), Church bishop and doctor. Known as a staunch defender of the faith, Saint Hilary suffered persecution and exile for asserting the truth of the divinity of Jesus. At that time, the early church was undergoing attack from outside, but also from within in the form of heresy. Even church leaders asserted mistruths about the faith in efforts to justify allegiances to powerful governments or lapses in their own lives. Saint Hilary orthodoxy and public defense of the faith led to exile on the coast of then, Phyrgia (now Turkey). While in exile he penned a 12 volume set of books devoted to exploration of the divinity of Christ and the Holy Trinity.

Throughout his life, in the midst of strife, Saint Hilary fought to speak and write the truth. He facilitated meetings and discussions amongst the various rifts in the church at the time, counseling patience and understanding, while never compromising the tenets of the faith. A favorite motto of St. Hilary was, Ministros veritatis decet vera proferre, "Servants of the truth ought speak the truth."

Speaking the truth is rarely easy when it comes to our Christian beliefs. Many would choose not to hear it, which oftentimes makes us reluctant—whether we are afraid of argument, condemntation, mockery, or just seeming foolish. How often do we discount, deny, or modify the truth of Christ to be more accepted in today’s society? Saint Hilary stands as an example to us—he lost his home, his family (he was bishop prior to church doctrine on celibacy of priests and bishops), his freedom because he refused to back down from preaching the truth of the Gospel. Today, I continue to pray for those who are fearful and afraid, as well as the courage to be truthful.



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