House of Mary Shrine, Yankton, SD. Marge Fenelon, copyright 2018
Pope Benedict XVI once referred to the Rosary as Mary’s “mystic crown.” He said, “The Rosary is the mystic crown which Christian people place every day on the queenly head of the Mother of God. It is certainly the most beautiful flower of human piety and the most beautiful source of heavenly graces. This prayer is perfect because of the praise it offers, because of the lessons it imparts, because of the graces it obtains and because of the triumphs it achieves.”
The Rosary is indeed a perfect prayer, highlighting the lives of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and reminding us of the truths of our Catholic faith. Some, sadly, think of it as tedious and therefore say the Rosary only on special occasions or not at all. I believe that it’s only as tedious as you make it to be. There are so many ways to pray the rosary that you’re almost certain to find a way that works for you on any given day. There are a host of apps available that offer virtual rosaries making it possible to pray the rosary as you walk, drive, or tend to menial tasks. Of course, it’s possible to pray just a decade of the Rosary when you’re in a pinch for time or split up the decades of a full rosary throughout your day. The benefits and graces you’ll receive far outweigh the minor “inconvenience” of having made time to pray the beads!
To further motivate you, here are Three Great Reasons to Pray the Rosary every day.
- Educative: When we pray the Mysteries of the Rosary, we study the lives of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
- Formative: Praying the Rosary molds us into becoming more and more like Christ and his Mother.
- Contemplative: Praying the Rosary quiets our minds and hearts and opens them to God.
There are other benefits as well.
St. Louis de Montfort taught that “If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory. Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul, if – and mark well what I say – if you say the Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins.”
Sister Lucia, seer of Fatima insisted that “there is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot solve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.”
Pope St. Pius X said, “The Rosary is the most beautiful and richest of all prayers to the Mediatrix of all grace; it is the prayer that touches most the heart of the Mother of God. Say it each day.”
And finally, one of the best explanations I’ve read of the Rosary comes from Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen.”The Rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the rosary is beyond description.”
The Rosary is so much more than a bunch of beads and repetitive prayers! It’s part of our Catholic heritage which Our Lady presented to St. Dominic in 1214. She appeared to him and asked him a question that we all should be asking ourselves at this moment in time. “Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?” Dominic responded that he did not know but that he was sure the Blessed Mother did. “I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter** which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. Therefore if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter,” she told him. From then on, St. Dominic made it his mission to teach and preach the Rosary. Mary stands beside her Son in the plan of salvation and it’s her wish that we should make daily use of the Rosary and encourage others to do the same.
* The “Angelic Salutation” is the “Hail Mary” prayer and the Psalter is the 150 Psalms. Thus, she wanted 150 Hail Mary’s – which is what the Holy Rosary is – 15 decades of Hail Mary’s with 15 corresponding mysteries to contemplate.
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