Tag: Rosary

3 min read

Prayer

Want to pray the Rosary with your family? Try starting with a decade a day

Father James Goodwin

September 30, 2022 7:48 am September 30, 2022

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Many have heard the saying by the Servant of God Venerable Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., that “the family that prays together stays together.” The family rosary has been a staple…

Many have heard the saying by the Servant of God Venerable Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., that “the family that prays together stays together.” The family rosary has been a staple of Catholic home devotions for centuries — and for good reason. It teaches us, especially children, the basic prayers of our faith. It covers the essential moments in the life of Christ, encapsulating the Gospel story. It helps us to start to spend time with God in meditative prayer. In short, the rosary is a wonderful way to ask for God’s help and Mary’s intercession.

However, many can find it difficult to pray the rosary. Attention spans seem to be shorter, perhaps due to the multitude of screens that surround us. Commercials every few minutes, video games and smartphones all contribute to problems with concentration. For many, silence can seem unnerving when we are constantly being stimulated. Add to that the noise of younger children, and praying a family rosary especially can be challenging. So how can you, and your family, pray the rosary together?

One way to be successful is to not try to start with a full, five-decade rosary. Instead, perhaps try to pray one rosary over the course of the week. You can pray at a family altar where images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary are enthroned. Keep rosaries there for the children. Begin on Sunday with the opening prayers of the Rosary: the Sign of the Cross, the apostles creed, the Our Father, the three Hail Marys and Glory Be. Then from Monday through Friday, pray one decade a day. On Saturday, pray the concluding prayers: the Hail Holy Queen, final prayer, prayers for the pope’s intention, and the Sign of the Cross. Thus, over the course of the week, the family can pray one full Rosary while spending just a few minutes each day. Over time you can increase the number of decades prayed until you are praying the entire rosary on a daily basis.

This can easily be enhanced. Each family member can be asked for what intention they are offering the decade. You can add Scripture readings or introduce a relevant line from Scripture for each Hail Mary. You can use pictures, coloring books, spiritual meditations or music. In addition, you can add other prayers for morning or night, or other devotions such as a litany or novena. Such devotions are a treasure chest of ancient Christian prayers just waiting to be rediscovered. At a time when many are attracted by “mindfulness,” we seem to ignore the long history of Catholic meditative prayer. There is an added bonus that praying part of the Rosary gains a partial indulgence and a plenary indulgence is granted to those who pray the whole Rosary in a family group. These can be offered for the deceased members of the family.

This manageable method is a great way to learn how to pray the Rosary and to make it a regular part of your family’s spiritual life. It will teach your children how Catholics pray. And it will bring your family together, making Christ the center of your home. It will help your family to truly become a “domestic church,” where your hearts are united, with Mary, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Father James Goodwin writes from North Dakota.

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3 min read

Prayer

What Is A Chaplet?

Father Francis Hoffman

September 1, 2022 7:51 am September 1, 2022

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A chaplet is a personal devotional prayer that can be prayed privately or in a group, out loud or silently, in a church or in an ordinary setting. It could…

A chaplet is a personal devotional prayer that can be prayed privately or in a group, out loud or silently, in a church or in an ordinary setting. It could be prayed on a plane, in a train, on a bike or a hike. It could even be sung with or without musical accompaniment, in Latin, Greek or in the vernacular. There are different types of chaplets, and the two most common are the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Typically, prayer beads (rosaries, chaplet bracelets) of different forms (wood, glass, metal, cloth, rope, nylon, even sea shells!) are used by the faithful to keep track of where they are in the prayer. Often these sacramental items are blessed and people carry them in their pocket or hang them off the rearview mirror over the dashboard in their car.

Rosaries and chaplet bracelets — if they are blessed — should be treated with care, even if they are not technically considered sacred. Sometimes people kiss their beads when they pull them out or put them back in their pocket, purse or pouch. Some rosaries even become galleries of saints over time as their owners attach medals of their favorite saints between each decade.

Children tend to be very fond of rosary beads and chaplet bracelets, and often receive them as gifts for their baptism, first Communion or confirmation. However, they are not toys, and children who use rosary beads as handcuffs on their little brothers should be corrected, gently but clearly.

A chaplet is a vocal prayer and can be prayed as a petition, or in adoration, or for motives of thanksgiving, or in reparation for personal sins or the sins of the nation. Typically, a chaplet follows a set sequence of prayers and then repeats those sequences, commonly known as “decades” of ten or seven repetitions. Typically, there are three, five, seven or nine “decades,” and again the most common is the Rosary, which consists of five decades of one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and the Glory Be.

By nature a chaplet is based on repetition, but if the person prays it with attention and devotion it does not have to be repetitious. Repetition does not suggest lack of originality, any more than Beethoven’s Fifth — which states, repeats, inverts and varies the theme — is considered to be repetitious or unoriginal.

Sometimes you hear people criticize devotions such as the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet for being simplistic and boring because the prayers are very common and repeated frequently. But there is nothing boring about a rose in full bloom, even though every petal in the blossom is just like the next.

Down through the ages popes have recommended that the faithful pray the Rosary — every day if possible. That’s what St. John Paul II did, as well as Mother Teresa and Padre Pio.

Since a Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet is a personal devotional, it can always be accommodated to fit the need and the circumstances of the situation. Many have discovered that, while the Rosary is made up of simple prayers — the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be — these prayers are very powerful. After all, the Our Father (the Lord’s Prayer) was given to us by Jesus Christ himself; the Hail Mary by an archangel, St. Elizabeth and the Church; and the Glory Be is rooted in the Old Testament angelic praises from the Book of Daniel. It would be difficult to improve on those prayers!

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3 min read

Saints

5 ways in which St. John Paul II embodied the Rosary’s fruits

By Gretchen R. Crowe

August 1, 2022 7:34 pm August 1, 2022

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It wasn’t long after his Oct. 16, 1978 election that the new Pope John Paul II — the former Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla — began promoting Mary and the Rosary…

It wasn’t long after his Oct. 16, 1978 election that the new Pope John Paul II — the former Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla — began promoting Mary and the Rosary as one of the best ways to proclaim Christ to the world. In a General Audience on Oct. 28, less than two weeks after his election, Pope John Paul II declared the Rosary to be “my favorite prayer.” He also called it a “marvelous prayer — marvelous in its simplicity and in its depth.”

Throughout his pontificate, Pope John Paul II remained close to the Blessed Mother, signaled in his motto — an adaptation of St. Louis de Montfort’s phrase “Totus Tuus” (“Totally Yours”)— describing his complete devotion to Mary and desire to be closer to her and her Son. He also had a deep love for the spiritual fruits of the mysteries of the Rosary as outlined by St. Louis de Montfort and promoted them in his 2003 apostolic letter on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae. He wrote: “… it is worthwhile to note that the contemplation of the mysteries could better express their full spiritual fruitfulness if an effort were made to conclude each mystery with a prayer for the fruits specific to that particular mystery. In this way the Rosary would better express its connection with the Christian life” (No. 35, emphasis in original).

Like all saints, we can turn to the example of Pope St. John Paul II, who incorporated vividly the spiritual fruits of each mystery of the Rosary into his life. Here are 5 ways in which Pope St. John Paul II lived these out.

Pope St. John Paul II was humble. From the beginning of his papacy, Pope St. John Paul II habitually kissed the ground upon arriving in every country to which he traveled. This gesture, learned from St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests, was a sign of great humility, and it was an action that conveyed respect, affection, and that showed him to be at the faithful service of those he was visiting.
Pope St. John Paul II had a great, lifelong love for the Eucharist. His encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia was dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament, and he directed the Church to dedicate an entire year — October 2004 to October 2005 — to deeper reflection on, and growth in, love of the Eucharist.
Pope St. John Paul II sought conformity to God’s will. When John Paul II was elected pope in 1978, he responded with the greatest obedience, wholeheartedly accepting God’s will for his life. Upon accepting the papal responsibility, he simply stated: “In the obedience of faith before Christ my Lord, abandoning myself to the Mother of Christ and the Church, and conscious of the great difficulties, accepto.”
Pope St. John Paul II showed patience in carrying his cross. Suffering was a significant part of John Paul II’s life, particularly in his final years as he battled Parkinson’s disease. But through infirmity and illness, John Paul II displayed a beautiful perseverance and humility, and he offered a witness to what it looks like to bear one’s cross with patience and purpose.
Pope St. John Paul II had a lively faith. John Paul II was a gifted teacher, and he was especially gifted when it came to teaching on matters of doctrine. His arguments were clear and compelling, and always rooted in Scripture and Tradition. Through his clarity and consistency, despite facing much resistance at times, he helped all who encountered him better know and understand the teachings of Christ and his Church.

Gretchen R. Crowe is editorial director for periodicals at OSV and author of “Praying the Rosary with Pope St. John Paul II.”

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1 min read

Prayer

The Rosary and the Battle of Lepanto

D.D. Emmons

August 1, 2022 4:12 am August 1, 2022

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On Oct. 7, 1571, two years after the Vatican urged the Rosary for universal use, an event took place that caused the devotion to gain widespread popularity. One of the…

On Oct. 7, 1571, two years after the Vatican urged the Rosary for universal use, an event took place that caused the devotion to gain widespread popularity. One of the most famous (and bloodiest) naval battles in history took place that day on the Bay of Lepanto, off the coast of Greece. The opposing forces were Christians, made up of an alliance of fleets from Spain and Italy, against a far superior Turkish navy. The Muslim force was threatening to take over the Mediterranean Sea and hence be in a position to attack European countries. Pope Pius V asked the Christian faithful to pray the Rosary and seek the intercession of the Blessed Mother to defeat the Muslim navy. Despite being outnumbered, the Christian fleet prevailed. Accordingly, Pope Pius established Oct. 7 as a feast day of Our Lady of Victory, thus perpetually bringing honor to the Blessed Mother for her assistance. In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII (r. 1572-85) changed the name of the feast to Our Lady of the Rosary, a feast the Church continues to celebrate.

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9 min read

Prayer

Where Did the Rosary Originate?

D.D. Emmons

July 30, 2022 1:32 pm July 30, 2022

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9 min read

Except for the Our Father, no Catholic prayer or devotion may be more revered than the Rosary. Many say the Rosary daily, reciting this prayer not only in church but…

Except for the Our Father, no Catholic prayer or devotion may be more revered than the Rosary.

Many say the Rosary daily, reciting this prayer not only in church but during special times and places we set aside. Many keep the beads in their pocket, hang them in cars, put them on bedposts. They may be part of the essentials carried every day, such as keys, wallets or purses. When lost or misplaced, many may feel incomplete until the beads are found or a new set is in their possession. But when did this whole idea of counting beads while praying begin? Where did the Rosary originate?

For centuries long before Christ, the faithful said prayers in a repetitive manner and found different methods of keeping count, often by using rocks or pebbles. By at least the ninth century, monks were reciting all 150 psalms, at first every day, but later every week as part of their prayers and devotions. One way they kept track was to count out 150 pebbles and then place one pebble in a container or pouch as they said each psalm. People living near the monks wanted to mimic this devotion, but due to lack of education couldn’t memorize all the psalms. Printed copies, even if individuals could read, were not available as the printing press was centuries away. So Christians began to pray 50 or 150 Our Fathers (or Paternosters) each week instead of the psalms. In order to keep count of the Our Fathers, they often used string with knots in it instead of counting on rocks. Later the knots gave way to small pieces of wood and eventually to the use of beads.

St. Dominic

There has long been a tradition in the Church that St. Dominic de Guzman (1170-1221) is the source of the Rosary. In the 12th century, the Albigenses heresy was widespread in Europe, especially in southern France and Italy. The Albigenses denied the mystery of the Incarnation, rejected Church sacraments and condoned many secular activities considered evil by the Catholic faith. Among the efforts by the Church to combat this heresy was the organization of the mendicant orders, including one led by St. Dominic. The Dominicans, as they became known, tried to reverse the vile teachings of the Albigenses by roaming the countryside preaching against the heresy, trying to influence the fallen away back into the Church. Tradition has it that St. Dominic’s efforts were most effective following a visit from the Blessed Virgin Mary in the year 1214. Neither Dominic nor his order ever made this claim.

The legend spread from an alleged dream of Blessed Alan de la Roche in the 15th century, more than 250 years after Dominic died. De la Roche was a respected writer and theologian of his time (c. 1428-1478) and instrumental in spreading the Rosary devotion throughout the Western Church. In his dream, Mary gave Dominic the Rosary and instructed the saint to preach the Rosary as part of his effort to thwart heresy. According to de la Roche, Mary said to Dominic, “If you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.” The Psalter refers to the Angelic Prayer, the Hail Mary. Among those who related this beautiful story is St. Louis Marie de Montfort in the book “God Alone: The Collected Writings of Saint Louis Marie de Montfort.”

While many Church scholars do not give credence to de la Roche’s story, numerous popes have advocated Dominic as indeed the source of the Rosary. In the 18th century, the Bollandists, a religious community that researches and verifies Church facts and historical allegations, questioned the role of Dominic in the Rosary story. The future Pope Benedict XIV (r. 1740-58), at the time a member of the Vatican Sacred Congregation of Rites, responded to the Bollandists: “You ask whether St. Dominic was really the illustrator of the Rosary, you declare yourselves perplexed and full of doubt upon the subject. But what account do you make of the decisions of so many sovereign pontiffs — of Leo X, of St. Pius V, of Gregory XIII, of Sixtus V, of Clement VIII, of Alexander VII, of Innocent XI, of Clement XI, of Innocent XIII, of Benedict XIII, and of many others who are all unanimous in declaring the Rosary to have been instituted by St. Dominic himself?” (Augusta T. Drane, “The History of St Dominic, Founder of the Friars Preachers,” Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1891, p. 136, and other sources.)

Rosary Evolution

Notwithstanding papal advocacy for Dominic’s role, there are divergent views regarding the evolution of this most beautiful of Marian devotions. Many scholars and theologians conclude that it is the outgrowth from the early monks saying the psalms, but some differ in regard to the identity of individuals contributing to the growth throughout the centuries. Despite the different views, there is widespread agreement on certain facts.

The Rosary includes six of Catholicism’s most familiar prayers: the Apostles’ Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, the Fátima Prayer (“O My Jesus”) and the Hail Holy Queen. The inclusion of these prayers in the Rosary did not happen overnight but was a lengthy evolution down through the centuries. Originally, the Our Father was said 150 times as a replacement for the psalms, saying the prayer on each bead of the Rosary string. A Glory Be was normally part of the prayer. During the 11th century, St. Peter Damian (d. 1072) suggested praying 150 Angelic Salutations, the Hail Mary, as an alternative prayer to the Our Father. The Hail Mary at that time consisted of Gabriel’s angelic salutation to Mary, “Hail Mary full of Grace the Lord is with you” (see Lk 1:28-31), and the exchange between Mary and Elizabeth during the visitation, “Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Lk 1:39-45). The name of Jesus (“blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus”) was included sometime later. In 1365, a Carthusian monk named Henry of Kalkar (1328-1408) divided the 150 Hail Marys into 15 groups of 10 beads each. He placed an Our Father between each group or decade (10 beads); the prayer was thus made up of 10 Hail Marys, repeated 15 times with an Our Father in between each set.

In the mid-15th century, another Carthusian monk, Dominic of Prussia (1382-1461), introduced a similar devotion that included 50 Hail Marys with 50 individual thoughts or phrases about Jesus and Mary. A different thought or phrase would accompany each Hail Mary.

Around 1480, the evolution continued when “an anonymous Dominican priest … retained the pattern of the decades that Henry of Kalkar suggested but focused them on fifteen episodes in the life and work of Mary and Jesus, not on fifty or one hundred and fifty of them. Instead of meditating on a Mystery for the space of a single Hail Mary, people could meditate more deeply for the time it took to recite ten Hail Marys devoutly; and instead of circling the Mystery by meditating on a myriad of details, they would approach the details by focusing on the heart of the Mystery itself.” (Kevin O. Johnson, “Rosary: Mysteries, Meditations and the Telling of the Beads,” Pangaeus Press, Dallas, 1997, p. 199). By now there were 15 groups of 10 beads, 15 decades. Each decade, instead of each bead, was accompanied by a meditation on the life of Christ and Mary.

Completion of the Hail Mary

By the first part of the 15th century the Hail Mary consisted of: “Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” The third part, known as the petition (“Pray for us Holy Mother of God…”) is traced back to the Council of Ephesus in 431. At that council, Church leaders officially defined Mary as not only the Mother of Jesus but as Theotokos (God-bearer, the Mother of God).

On the night this proclamation was made, the citizens of Ephesus marched through the town joyfully chanting, “Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners.” This petition, including the words “now and at the hour of our death” would become part of the prayer by the time Pope St. Pius V (r. 1566-72) issued the papal bull Consueverunt Romani Pontifices in 1569 encouraging the universal use of the Rosary.

Since Pope Pius V issued that document, only the Fátima Prayer has been added to the Rosary. The Fátima prayer, given to the Portuguese children during the Fátima apparition in 1908, is widely used, but it is not universal. The Rosary made up of 150 beads, promoted by Pope Pius V, is still subscribed to by the Church but is, of course, different than the popular Rosary with 50 beads that many of us carry in our pockets.

From the 16th century until the 21st century there were three sets of mysteries: the Joyful, the Glorious and the Sorrowful. But in 2001 Pope St. John Paul II added the Mysteries of Light. The intent was to include meditations on the time in Jesus’ life between His incarnation (a Joyful Mystery) and His passion (a Sorrowful Mystery).

We Catholics instinctively turn to the Rosary in times of crises and life’s sorrows, in the midst of personal and even public tragedies.

How many soldiers have repeated the Hail Mary over and over on the battlefield? In our darkest hour, even the hour of our death, we plead for the intercession, the blessing and comfort of the Blessed Mother using this 700-year-old devotion which ends, in part, “Turn then most gracious advocate thine eyes of mercy toward us …”

D.D. Emmons writes from Mount Joy, Pennsylvania.

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14 min read

Prayer

Why the Rosary, Why Now?

Gretchen R. Crowe

March 31, 2022 10:12 am March 31, 2022

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14 min read

It’s easy for Catholics to take the Rosary for granted. We tend to purchase them as souvenirs, or carry them around with us, or even wear them — but we…

It’s easy for Catholics to take the Rosary for granted. We tend to purchase them as souvenirs, or carry them around with us, or even wear them — but we forget the immense power that they have when we actually pray them. And that’s really too bad, because a devotion to the Rosary can be the answer to so many struggles in our 21st-century world.

Our society today faces growing secularism and the disappearance of faith from the public square. We find ourselves confronting a world awash in the spread of evil and terrorism, war and violence. We are plagued by broken families, abounding distractions and a general lack of drive for holiness.

But the Rosary can help. And we know this because Mary herself told us this 100 years ago in Fátima, Portugal, when she appeared six times to three shepherd children once a month from May to October 1917. She told them repeatedly: “Recite the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.”

We also know the great value of the Rosary because it has manifested its power time and time again in the lives of men and women of faith throughout history. This, of course, isn’t because the Rosary is magical; it’s because it brings us to Jesus. As the late Cardinal Francis E. George, archbishop of Chicago, said at the conclusion of the Year of the Rosary in 2003: The Rosary “brings us to the heart of the Gospel.” Here’s how.

Break through the Noise

In today’s typical lifestyle, it is easy to become distracted and overwhelmed by all of the “noise.” Technology is constantly demanding our attention. We sit in front of screens and, at the same time, look at smaller screens. We are drawn in by the lure of social-media alerts and use texting as a primary form of communication. We have developed an “always on” or “always available” mentality, and noise no longer knows any boundaries. A Nielson report issued in June 2016 said that Americans, on average, spend more than 10 hours a day looking at some type of screen. It’s easy for us to tell ourselves we’re being productive and that this abundance of “screen time” is necessary, but the reality is that all that noise is damaging to our relationship with God.

This is not just a 21st-century problem, although it has become more pronounced in recent decades. In 1973, Cardinal Albino Luciani — then-archbishop of Venice who would go on to become Pope John Paul I — gave a homily that identified a “crisis of prayer” in the world — adding that part of the reason was due to the fact that “noise has invaded our existence.”

If he thought that life was noisy in 1973, what would Papa Luciani think of 2017?

We also face an abundance of internal noise. We are distracted by interior barriers to prayer that often manifest themselves in the form of pride and self-centeredness. In all of these moments of difficulty, we can turn to the Rosary. The meditative quality of the devotion can help focus us and break through the external noise. At the same time, by praying this simple prayer frequently, faithfully and with humility, we can break down our internal barriers.

In his homily recounted in the book “Why the Rosary, Why Now?”, Cardinal Luciani gives a beautiful and passionate defense of the Rosary — one that is just as relevant in 2017 as it was in 1973.

A Deeper Devotion to the Church

One of the intellectual, spiritual and even media giants of the 20th century was Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. Archbishop Sheen also had a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother, and he dedicated a book to her called “The World’s First Love, Mary, Mother of God.”

He also spoke much about her in public. In a talk titled “The Woman I Love,” Archbishop Sheen indicated how Mary and the Church were intertwined because “as we discontinue our devotion to the Blessed Mother, there is always a decline in the love of the Church.” Fascinating, isn’t it? The less we pray to and venerate Mary, the less we are connected to the Church. It would follow, then, that the opposite also is true. The more we honor and pray to Mary, especially in her signature prayer of the Rosary, the more our love for and devotion to the Church will increase.

And this is a devotion that we desperately need today. Catholics in the 21st century are experiencing a massive decline of love of the Church. The country is experiencing a massive decline of love of the Church. The country is experiencing a rise in the religiously unaffiliated, or “nones.” It also is facing a large — and growing — gap between the moral teachings of the Church and the evolution of our secular society, which can be seen in recent developments such as the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015, the growing acceptance of abortion and the growing support for physician-assisted suicide. All are at odds with Church teaching, which means that Church teaching is increasingly at odds with the laws of the land. Part of the problem is widespread lack of faith formation, particularly for many adult, cradle Catholics.

Again, the Rosary can play a huge role in helping individuals grow in their love of and appreciation for the Church. Through developing a greater love of Mary through the Rosary, we come also to a deeper appreciation for her son — and through Him, the Church.

Strengthens Families

Many of you are probably familiar with Father Patrick Peyton, known also as “the Rosary Priest.” He’s the one who coined the phrase, “The family that prays together, stays together.”

But he didn’t just make up the phrase one day; he had been educated and formed on the immense value of the Rosary from birth.

Father Patrick Peyton. CNS photo/Family Theater Productions

Father Peyton was so used to praying the family Rosary every night, for example, that when he left home for the first time to work and was staying with another Catholic family, he was shocked and distressed when they all went to bed without gathering to pray first.

“While I pretended to sleep, I prayed my own Rosary and felt the pangs of homesickness, the bitterness of being among people whose ways were different from my own, whose sense of values failed to measure up to what all my training and experience had told me was normal,” he wrote.

This was clearly a pivotal experience for Father Peyton — one in which he realized he couldn’t take the faith given to him by his family for granted. And this is why, when tragedy struck later in his life, as he was preparing for priesthood, Father Peyton was able to turn to Mary. Through his devotion to her, Father Peyton was miraculously healed from a debilitating disease. And in response, he dedicated his life to spreading devotion to Mary. As he said, “The merit and the glory of every action I would ever perform would be hers and hers alone.”

Father Peyton went on to form the Family Rosary Crusade, making use of radio, film, outdoor signage and more than 260 rallies on six continents to promote family prayer to millions of people.

The excerpt describing this chapter in Father Peyton’s life included in “Why the Rosary, Why Now?” comes from Father Peyton’s biography and chronicles his life-threatening illness and his remarkable recovery — as well as the devotion to Mary and the Rosary that did not forsake him.

An Increase in Christian Discipleship

I think it’s safe to say that each of us, somewhere along the path of life, has come across someone of deep prayer or faith whom we greatly admire and perhaps even envy. I know that I have. This kind of witness is a gift, and it’s a reminder to each of us that we are called to establish our own close, loving relationships with Jesus.

To do this, we must encounter — a word that, in the Pope Francis era, has become a bit of a buzzword, but which is no less vital — Him Encountering Christ means getting to know him intimately, fully and without reservation. It means emptying one’s self so that we may be filled instead with the Holy Spirit.

There are many ways to encounter Christ in our daily lives: through prayer, the sacraments and, of course, the Eucharist. But a less-trod path to encountering Jesus is by developing a relationship first with His mother. After all, it was she who knew Him best, having carried Him in her womb. Mary lived with her eyes fixed on her son, watching over Him and learning from Him. She treasured each moment she had with Him and, as St. Luke’s Gospel says, pondered each in her heart.

The beloved St. John Paul II wrote in Rosarium Virginis Mariae, an apostolic letter on the Rosary, that the devotion is “one of the traditional paths of Christian prayer directed to the contemplation of Christ’s face.” When we pray the Rosary, we meditate on different moments of Jesus’ life, all through the lens of His holy mother. This contemplation leads to a personal encounter, which sets us on the path to Christian discipleship.

There is a startling dearth of Christian discipleship in the world today, mostly because it is not easy to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him, as we are instructed to do. As Christian disciples, however, we are called to set aside ego, selfishness and pride, and to instead prioritize others. It’s a countercultural life, but one which Mary and the Rosary can help to achieve.

Brings Peace to the World

One of my favorite Scripture verses comes from St. Paul’s letter to the Christian community at Philippi in which he counsels them on everyday living: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).

Toward the end of 2014, Bishop Doeme had a vision in which Jesus appeared to him and handed him a sword. But when he reached out to take it, the sword turned into a Rosary. Jesus then spoke saying “Boko Haram is gone” three times.

St. Padre Pio

“It was clear that with the Rosary we would be able to expel them,” the bishop said. While this is a remarkable testimony to the power of the Rosary when it comes to fighting evil, it’s not unique.

Many other stories and holy people outline the protections that the Rosary can give, from the Battle of Lepanto, which saved the Christian West from Ottoman invasion, to St. Padre Pio, who called the Rosary “the weapon against the evils of the world today.”

In the included text, written in September 1951, Venerable Pope Pius XII put forth that the Rosary is an antidote to the evils facing the world at the time, such as the nuclear age, communism and the Korean War.

We find ourselves in different, but no less difficult, situations today with almost perpetual war in the Middle East, terrorism at home and abroad, and the persecution of Christians around the globe.

Pope Pius’ words about evil are just as applicable now as they were almost 70 years ago, and the Rosary continues to be the weapon we have to fight it.

Combats Secularism

A recent study performed by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., indicated that 13 was the typical age at which people were leaving the Faith. When asked if they would ever consider returning to the Church, that number raised its ugly head again — with, this time, only 13 percent of young people responding in the affirmative.

Both statistics are disturbing, but they unfortunately present an accurate picture of where we stand today in terms of widespread faith in our culture. We are losing it. In its place, our society is facing a rapid spread of secularism. In an address to U.S. bishops in January 2012, Pope Benedict XVI warned of the pervasiveness of secularism in American society saying, “It is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and culture spheres.”

But Pope Benedict was hardly the first pope to speak out against secularism. Pope Leo XIII, who reigned from 1878 to 1903, was plagued by politics and the drama of atheist humanism during his time as successor of Peter. In several portions of an astounding 11 encyclicals on the Rosary (Pope Leo was known as the “pope of the Rosary”) — one of which is included in “Why the Rosary, Why Now?” — Pope Leo spoke out about the dangers of a world without belief. His words were strong and prophetic and are just as relatable now as they were then. Pope Leo believed strongly in the power of the Rosary to fight these growing troubles — and he was right. Praying the Rosary can help our world rediscover faith.

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Helps Us Become Saints

Each of us is called to sainthood, but this life, as we all know well, is not easy. It requires sacrifice, dedication, heroic virtue and, above all, a close relationship with Christ and a determination to follow his will, come what may. Yet even though it’s not easy, sanctity is what each of us is called to.

This universal call to holiness is expressed in the Second Vatican Council’s Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) — which reminds us that we are called to “be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” When wanting to achieve holiness, where else is it better to look than to those men and women who have already done so — that is, the saints themselves.“The saints and blesseds of paradise remind us, as pilgrims on Earth, that prayer, above all, is our sustenance for each day so that we never lose sight of our eternal destiny,” St. John Paul said. “For many of them the Rosary … was the privileged instrument for their daily discourse with the Lord. The Rosary led them to an ever more profound intimacy with Christ and with the Blessed Virgin.”

Among the many saints with a devotion to the Rosary were Pope St. John XXIII, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Zelie Martin, Blessed John Henry Newman, Pope St. John Paul II and St. Louis de Montfort. Through their example, we find inspiration for ourselves to pray the Rosary more often to draw closer in holiness through Mary and her Son.

Gretchen R. Crowe is editor-in-chief of Our Sunday Visitor and author/editor of “Why the Rosary, Why Now?” (OSV, $14.95).

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