OCTOBER – The Month of the HOLY ROSARY

OCTOBER – The Month of the HOLY ROSARY

The Feast of the Rosary is celebrated on 7 October and the month of October is traditionally the month of the rosary.  Without having to say, this is the month to commit to praying the rosary more regularly and if you can, every day.

Why did our Mother Mary ask us to pray the rosary at many of her approved apparitions such as at Fatima?   Why should we pray at all?

The rosary is a powerful prayer and weapon and can affect and benefit us significantly each time we pray it.  The most important reason for strongly encouraging the practice of the Rosary according to Pope John Paul II is that it represents a most effective means of fostering among the faithful that commitment to the contemplation of the Christian mystery;  the life of Jesus and Mary’s role in Salvation. Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus.

The rosary is not only a vocal prayer but also a meditative prayer.

The Devotion:

Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. Pope Leo XIII personally started the practice of devoting October to the Rosary devotion. In a letter of 1 September 1883, mindful of the Rosary’s power to strengthen faith and foster a life of virtue, he outlined the triumphs of the Rosary in past times and admonished the faithful to dedicate the month of October to the Blessed Virgin through the daily recitation of her Rosary in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, in order to obtain through her intercession the grace that God would console and defend His Church in her sufferings.

Never mind if you’re a bit rusty, or if it’s been ages since you last prayed your rosary.   It’s never too late to begin again and everyone deserves to experience the power of the rosary.

Pope Benedict XVI in an address at the Basilica of St Mary Major where he prayed the rosary with the faithful said:

Today, together we confirm that the Holy Rosary is not a pious practice banished to the past, like prayers of other times thought of with nostalgia. Instead, the Rosary is experiencing a new Springtime.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and his Mother, Mary.

In the current world, so dispersive, this prayer helps to put Christ at the centre, as the Virgin did, who meditated within all that was said about her Son and also what he did and said.  When reciting the Rosary, the important and meaningful moments of salvation history are relived.   The various steps of Christ’s mission are traced.   With Mary the heart is oriented toward the mystery of Jesus.   Christ is put at the centre of our life, of our time, of our city, through the contemplation and meditation of his holy mysteries of joy, light, sorrow and glory.

May Mary help us to welcome within ourselves the grace emanating from these mysteries, so that through us we can “water” society, beginning with our daily relationships and purifying them from so many negative forces, thus opening them to the newness of God.

The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation.  It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the centre of each “Hail Mary”.