To love the rosary is to love the Gospel (October – the month of Rosary)

It was one of the days of the year 1208. in the South France. In the Church of Prouille, St. Dominic was complaining in his prayers to Our Lady about his unsuccessful evangelization results, after being well prepared, full of zeal, dedication and professionalism. Suddenly, the Blessed Virgin said in reply: ‘Wonder not that you have obtained so little fruit by your labours, you have spent them on barren soil, not yet watered with the dew of Divine grace. When God willed to renew the face of the earth, He began by sending down on it the fertilizing rain of the Angelic Salutation. Therefore preach my Psalter composed of 150 Angelic Salutations and 15 Our Fathers, and you will obtain an abundant harvest.

Our Blessed Lady made known to St. Dominic a kind of preaching till then unknown; which she said would be one of the most powerful weapons against future errors and in future difficulties.’ (Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange OP). Since then, St. Dominic preached to heretics the mysteries of salvation – the Incarnation, the Redemption, Eternal Life combined with reciting the Our Father and 10 Hail Marys and found great success which brought conversion of the Albigensians.

The Rosary is the prayer of Our Lady and we imitate her in this way of keeping and reflecting on the mysteries of the Son and Mother. Each one of those events becomes alive in us so that meditating on them, we make contact with these mysteries and they become a channel of grace for us. When we pray the rosary, we are like an image of the Blessed Mother. In a special way we participate in the mysteries, which made up her life and which are central for our salvation as they are the heart of the Gospel. They focus us, without any distraction, on the Lord. St. Francis de Sales said: ‘The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary’ as this prayer ‘shakes the heart of God’ (St. Padre Pio).

Fr. Stan