Day by day, our heavenly Father provides spiritual food and graces to His beloved children, nourishing us on our earthly pilgrimage. October brings us the grace of the Holy Rosary, a prayer buried deeply in the heart of the Church, as one of its most precious treasures.
The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which takes place Oct. 7, is a commemorative feast established by St. Pius V on the anniversary of the naval victory won by the Christian fleet at Lepanto. The victory was attributed to the help of the Mother of God, whose aid was invoked by praying the Rosary.
This victory revealed the power of the Holy Rosary more than ever. Catholics who were open to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit took with deep resolve the Rosary as their link to God.
Pope St. John Paul II, in his 2002 Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, writes:
“The Church has always attributed particular efficacy to this prayer, entrusting to the Rosary … the most difficult problems. At times when Christianity itself seemed under threat, its deliverance was attributed to the power of this prayer, and Our Lady of the Rosary was acclaimed as the one whose intercession brought salvation” (39).
Thus, not merely through the Rosary, but more significantly, through the woman behind the Rosary – the glorious Mother of our Savior, Christ the Lord – a wellspring of God’s love has been discovered.
Indeed, the Rosary is truly a way to discover Christ’s infinite love by means of the tender heart of His Mother.
“With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 1).
A great number of saints, such as Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who had a special concern for the preservation of the Christian family, sensed that its salvation would be through the Holy Rosary. And as Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “Today I willingly entrust to the power of this prayer … the cause of peace in the world and the cause of the family” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 39). Our Lady of Fatima, who pleaded with families to pray the daily Rosary, would agree with him!
Let us entrust everything to the Rosary along with the saints. As our hearts burn with hope, let us give to the Mother of God every concern that we bear, each cross we carry, piece by piece, worry by worry. She will be there to offer everything to our Heavenly Father, Whose care for each one of His children reaches beyond anything we could ever imagine.
