In this month of the Holy Rosary, it is good to recommit to saying it with the family each night (if we haven’t been doing that), saying it with more devotion if we have been saying it. Adding in a second and third rosary instead of scrolling is always a good thing too! That has been one of the best decisions I have made…saying the extra decades each day!
How to Be Happy, How to Be Holy, Fr. Paul O’Sullivan, 1950’s
After morning and evening prayers, the next great duty of the good Christian is to say his daily Rosary. No words can sufficiently explain the importance of this duty. It obtains countless blessings for those who perform it faithfully; it delivers them from innumerable dangers and evils of all kinds.
During life it guarantees them a large measure of happiness and will most certainly insure them a most holy and happy death. The reason why some lax and indifferent Catholics neglect the Rosary is simply because they have no idea of its value, what it is and how to say it.
We will explain some of the leading features of this wonderful prayer in the hope of convincing our readers not only to say the Rosary daily, but to say it with pleasure and devotion. They must, however, weigh well the facts that we adduce.
If these are read with care, they will convince any sane and enlightened Catholic that he must say his Rosary. If perused in a hasty and superficial way, they will produce no good effect whatever.
THE ROSARY, THE GREAT PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
Wherever a church is built, wherever Mass is said, wherever a missionary preaches the Gospel, there the Rosary is said. Millions and millions of men and women all over the world say the Rosary. In every great city, town and village, in every Catholic home, in the cabin of the peasant, in the palaces of the rich, in the chapel of the Pope himself the Rosary is said.
Every day, every hour, in all the languages of the world, English, Irish, Americans, Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, Germans, Poles, Chinese, Japanese, and the wild tribes of Africa and Asia are sending up their Ave Marias, in a worldwide chorus, to their Heavenly Mother.
For the past 700 years since St. Dominic received the Rosary from the hands of Mary, Popes, Bishops, Saints, apostles, missionaries, priests in the pulpit and confessors in the confessionals have been and are constantly urging the people to say the Rosary.
And remark that not only the great masses of the faithful, but men most eminent in science, art and letters, lawyers, doctors and professors are saying their Rosary every day.
Why? Simply because they feel and know that it is the infallible source of all blessings and a sure safeguard against sin and evil.
Dear reader, we ask you frankly and clearly, will you dare to take up a stand against these millions and millions of magnificent, intelligent, and virile Christians? Are you so careless of your welfare on earth, of your eternal salvation, hereafter, have you so little love and respect for God’s Blessed Mother that you will refuse to say the prayer that she herself gave you and begs you to say?
Will you turn your back on her and despise her help? Or, do you prefer to ally yourself with those unhappy, lax, indifferent Catholics who do not say the Rosary?
The Rosary is so easy, it can be said in five to six minutes! Dare you say that you cannot and will not give these minutes in exchange for inestimable blessings and happiness? Far from losing time, the Rosary will enable you to do very much more and better work, there will be peace in your home and your business will prosper.
ARE WE BOUND TO SAY THE ROSARY?
No, we are not bound by any special law or commandment but, as we have just said, and it is well to engrave it clearly on our hearts, the Popes, the Bishops of the whole world, the Saints, apostles, priests and missionaries, God’s own Mother herself beg us to say it.
The Christian man or woman who knowingly and deliberately refuses to accept such counsel and advice is foolhardy in the extreme. No sane man is so foolish as to discard a fortune offered to him, no man with the use of his senses will throw his money into the sea.
Now the Rosary is the greatest gift, the greatest blessing, the greatest treasure that God’s Mother could give us. She promises her most special love, friendship and protection to all who say the Rosary! She is so powerful with God that He never refuses her what she asks. She loves us so much that she can refuse us nothing we ask her through the Rosary.
There was never a sinner so hardened in crime, there was never a heart so broken with sorrow, never anyone so weak that Mary did not help and save and comfort if they only asked her.
IS THE ROSARY A TEDIOUS PRAYER?
1) Far from it, it is such a lovely, consoling, infallible prayer that even enlightened Protestants confess that the author of the Rosary must have been a profound student of human nature, for this prayer answers so admirably all human needs. Only those who have never learned to say the Rosary properly can think the Rosary tedious.
2) Every Rosary we say with simple faith and devotion obtains for us such immense graces that only in Heaven shall we understand them. What abundance of grace, then, will not the Rosaries we have been saying all our lifetime obtain for us?
3) The Rosary well said is quite enough to make a man a saint and to obtain plenary pardon for all his sins. How many Christians are ignorant of this wonderful truth? It is only necessary to think on what we have already said of the Our Father and the Hail Mary to form an idea of what these graces are. Say your Rosary and say it well.
4) Which of us should not wish to have stood by the side of St. Bernadette in Lourdes or near Sr. Lucia in Fatima when they saw and conversed with Our Lady? But when saying the Rosary, we are truly and really speaking to Mary. She is truly and really listening to us and ready to grant us all her favors.
This is the way, the only true way of saying the Rosary, to know and feel that we are speaking to God’s own Mother. If we say it in this way there will be no monotony, no weariness.
“The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.” — St. Padre Pio
Penal Rosaries!
Penal rosaries and crucifixes have a wonderful story behind them. They were used during the times when religious objects were forbidden and it was illegal to be Catholic. Being caught with a rosary could mean imprisonment or worse. A penal rosary is a single decade with the crucifix on one end and, oftentimes, a ring on the other. When praying the penal rosary you would start with the ring on your thumb and the beads and crucifix of the rosary in your sleeve, as you moved on to the next decade you moved the ring to your next finger and so on and so forth. This allowed people to pray the rosary without the fear of being detected. Available here.
This is designed for the young child through kindergarten age to learn a little of their Faith through the alphabet. Its an ABC book that includes Catholic holy images to learn the alphabet, along with the short and long sound for the five vowels. Available here.
This is a unique book of Catholic devotions for young children. There is nothing routine and formal about these stories. They are interesting, full of warmth and dipped right out of life. These anecdotes will help children know about God, as each one unfolds a truth about the saints, the Church, the virtues, etc. These are short faith-filled stories, with a few questions and a prayer following each one, enabling the moral of each story to sink into the minds of your little ones. The stories are only a page long so tired mothers, who still want to give that “tucking in” time a special touch, or pause a brief moment during their busy day to gather her children around her, can feel good about bringing the realities of our faith to the minds of her children in a childlike way. Available here.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
Recent Comments