Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
On October 7th, we celebrate the feast Our Lady of the Rosary, and I'd like to say a few words about the Holy Virgin Mary. The feast was introduced by Pope St. Pius V (1504-1572) in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The pope attributed more to the "arms" of the Rosary than the power of cannons and the valor of the soldiers who fought there.
A few months ago, I was discussing the Rosary with another Franciscan, and lamented that I just don't get around to praying the Rosary, and if I do, I fall asleep doing so. The person I was speaking to was noticeably upset at my statement. In retrospect, after thinking about what was said, I have to agree with her. I should pray the Rosary daily, and if not then certainly more often.
There used to be years that I'd go to daily Mass, too. Now, I sing at funerals (and in that way go to H. Mass) but what about the other days? I know from experience that when we begin to slacken up on all those good intentions to pray, we begin to procrastinate more and more until eventually there is no more prayer. Well, it hasn't gotten to that point yet, and with the help of Our Lady of the Rosary, I will soon resume praying the Rosary, too.
"God is love, and so that we may have some idea of this love, He gives a share of it to mothers. The heart of a mother with her unwearying tenderness, the constancy of her solicitude, the inexhaustible delicacy of her affection is a truly divine creation, although God has placed in her only a spark of His love for us. Yet, however imperfectly a mother's heart reflects the divine love towards us, God gives us our mothers to take His place in some manner with us. He places them at our side, from our cradles, to guide us, guard us, especially in our earliest years when we have so much need of tenderness." From Christ in His Mysteries, Dom Columba Marmion, O.S.B. (Sands & Co., London, 1939)
The love Our Lady had in her heart for Jesus, the infant, the teenager, the redeemer of the world, is the most perfect adoration. Could we even hope to replicate that degree of love when we take an hour to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament? But many of us have experienced similar love from our own mothers when we were infants, and older. Unfortunately, there are many who have not, because there was not family unity or one or both parents followed another agenda. That is so sad; unless an infant experiences this motherly love, will he or she be able to pass on that love to subsequent generations? Often that is not the case.
In Mary, the mother of Jesus and our Mother, we know that special love is there for us. Let us honor her more often, by praying the most perfect prayer of all prayers... the Holy Rosary, consisting of the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary, both prayers that have originated with Jesus and his Mother. That's why these prayers are the most perfect prayers.
The Mysteries of the Rosary are found here, on this website.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His Mother guide us along the way to His heart.
Fred Schaeffer, SFO
9-28-2009
