Do you want peace in your heart? Do you want peace in your family? Do you want peace in your relationship with your spouse? Do you want peace in your relationship with your children? Do you want peace in your parish? Do you want peace in your nation? Do you want peace in the Church? Do you want peace throughout the world? Then we need to be praying the Rosary every day for this peace.
The Rosary comes from the Latin word “Rosarium” which means rose garden. Our Lady has revealed that each time we say a Hail Mary we are giving her a beautiful rose and that each complete Rosary makes her a crown of roses. The rose is the queen of flowers, and so the Rosary is the rose of all devotions and it is therefore the most important one. The Holy Rosary is considered a perfect prayer because within it lies the awesome story of our salvation. With the Rosary we meditate the mysteries of joy, of sorrow, of glory and of light of Jesus and Mary. It’s a simple prayer, humble so much like Mary.
In every apparition, our heavenly Mother has invited us to pray the Rosary as a powerful weapon against evil, to bring us to true peace. With your prayer made together with Your heavenly Mother, you can obtain the great gift of bringing about a change of hearts and conversion of sinners.
In the 11th through 13th centuries, a heretical doctrine developed in Europe. This teaching, called Albigensianism, taught that only the spiritual is good, and that everything material is bad. Therefore, the body in and of itself is evil, and every person’s soul is imprisoned in that evil body. The only way in which a person could experience salvation was to be freed from the imprisonment of their flesh.
Dominic Guzman, a Spanish priest, travelled into France preaching against the Albigensian heresy, but his efforts gained few conversions and even fewer followers. In 1208, he went into a forest near Toulouse, France to pray, asking God to provide what he needed in order to overcome the Albigensian heresy. Ancient accounts tell us that, after three days of prayer and fasting, three angels appeared in the sky along with a ball of fire. When they disappeared, the Virgin Mary spoke, telling the priest that he must preach her Psalter in order to succeed in his struggle to overcome the Albigensian.
The message to the children of Fatima, our Blessed Mother specifically asked the children and the world to pray the Rosary every day. On June 13, 1917, she said: “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war”.
Pope Saint John Paul II invited Christians who had never prayed the Rosary to consider taking it up and invited those who had set it aside to rediscover it. In doing so he reminded everyone that the Rosary possesses a number of powerful spiritual benefits:
The Rosary is a Christ-centered prayer,
The Rosary is a powerful way to contemplate the Face of Christ,
The Rosary is a memorial by which Mary constantly sets before us the mysteries of her Son,
The Rosary is an invaluable source of self-discovery and integration,
The Rosary is a sublime encounter of Friendship,
The Rosary unites us to the bond between Jesus and Mary,
The Rosary is a supreme source of comfort and solace,
The Rosary is a condensed version of the Gospels.
Today, we live in a world torn apart by wars and conflicts, peaceful measures have just been overlooked and mocked by egoistic attitude. We need to pray the Rosary for a change of heart and mind. Peace within oneself, peace in our families, amongst neighbours and communities, and between countries.
Mary queen of peace. Pray for us!
-Fr. Josely