Catholic Growth

The Rosary may be commonly recognized, but how many people actually pray it? How many heed the words of the Virgin Mary, to pray the Rosary every day? The unfortunate truth is that, although the Rosary is a clear sign of a Catholic, so many of us either have a Rosary on our person or in our homes, but many Catholics do not pray it very often, or at all. Hopefully, by the end of this post, you will have realized why it is important to pray the Rosary and why it is such a gift to us.

But, why should we start a devotion to the Rosary?

Simply put, because both God and Our Lady want us to. The Rosary was given to us by the Virgin Mary Herself, she presented it to St. Dominic as a gift from the Holy Trinity to fight both heresies and evil. She has appeared to us on numerous occasions to ask us to pray, the most famous of which was her apparition at Fatima. This can only lead us to believe that she holds this devotion with very high esteem and importance. The Rosary is a strong devotion to Mary, the Mother of God, who is the mother of us all. It is also a strong devotion to Our Lord Jesus, because we are reflecting on his mysteries. Mary loves all of us as her own children, even the most hardened sinner, and when we ask for her prayers and intercession, she wants to and will help. This is such a gift that I could never begin to describe, and I don’t think I could ever fully fathom how blessed we are to have it. When you say the Rosary, you bring yourself into the presence of Mary and Jesus, imagine the strength and growth in virtue you will find. Imagine the beautiful graces you will receive when you have an audience with the King and Queen of Heaven!

Mary herself also gave 15 promises to those who have a devotion to the Rosary:

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve Me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces.

2. I promise My special protection and the greatest graces to all who shall recite the Rosary.

3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.

4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.

5. The soul which recommends itself to Me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.

6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an un-provided death;  if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.

7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.

8. Those who are faithful in reciting the  Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.

9. I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to Rosary.

10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.

11. You shall obtain all you ask of Me by the recitation of the Rosary.

12. All those who propagate the holy Rosary shall be aided by Me in their necessities.

13. I have obtained from My Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court, during their life and at the hour of death.

14. All who recite the Rosary are My sons, and brothers of My only Son, Jesus Christ.

15. Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.

What do these promises mean?

These promises show us the desire of Our Holy Mother to intercede for us in all things, and especially death. Death can be such a scary thing to face, and as Catholics we know there is a possibility of Hell. But Mary makes it clear, if we have a real devotion to the Rosary, we will have her protection, we will have armor against Hell, we will not perish, we will remain in the grace of God, we will not die without the sacraments, we will share in the merits of the saints,  we will be delivered from purgatory to a high degree of glory in Heaven, we will have the entire celestial court as intercessors for us at the hour of our death, and a devotion is a sign of predestination! It could not be clearer, a strong devotion to the Rosary will bring us to Heaven. How could we not give up 30 minutes a day, for an assurance of eternity with Our Lord God in Paradise? What is 30 minutes a day for the rest of your earthly life, compared to an eternity?

Protection of the Rosary

The protection from the forces of evil is well known, and many of the saints have spoken so much about this. Satan and his demons are diabolical and tricky. They are relentless in exposing and attacking our weak points. Those vices you think you have a handle on, those venial sins you think are not a big deal, will turn into the destruction of your soul if you do not fight back and if you are not careful. The immense intelligence and cunning the lowest demon has, compared to the most intelligent person, shows that we are laughably outmatched on our own. We would be destroyed if we tried to fight our sins, habits, and vices on our own. All the diabolical demons, however, fear the Blessed Virgin so much, and will not hesitate to flee from her presence. This is why I call the Rosary “Our Lady’s Sword,” a weapon to fight our spiritual battles, in the humble shape of beads, and in which we humbly admit we cannot fight on our own. Humility is why Mary is so feared by the demons. She is so full of humility, and they are so full of pride, they cannot bear the sight of her, who triumphed for humanity when she humbly agreed to God’s will. It is because of her incredible humility that she was raised up, by God, from a simple person to the Queen of Heaven and Angels. So to have a real and powerful devotion to the Rosary, we need to pursue the humility that Our Holy Mother showed us. Through humility, combined with the promise of protection in the Rosary, we can be protected from evil. The Rosary has such incredible power to cast out pride and give us humble hearts.

Healing and Comfort

The Rosary will also heal us. When we have gone through a stressful day, or are experiencing profound grief, we often are wounded spiritually. Guilt, despair, doubt, and sadness all seep into our soul like a disease. But Our Mother’s embrace is so comforting, and so healing. When we form a devotion to the Rosary, we have our Spiritual Mother to turn to whenever we cannot handle the diseases of the soul that so often infect us. The comforting embrace of Our Loving Mother found in the Rosary is so healing.

But what if you don’t have time?!

Trust me, you can find time. All too often we claim we don’t have time, when our time is filled with recreation and worldly pleasures. Turn off the TV, record that episode you really want to watch or stream it later. Go home an hour earlier from that party, say the Rosary on your lunch break, or wake up earlier. We all can find 30 minutes in the day. The truth is we don’t want to devote that much time, because we live in such a fast paced world. We feel that sitting in one spot for 30 minutes and contemplating and praying is such a waste of time. Well, it isn’t. You are spending that time with a queen, The Queen! Imagine if the queen of England, or royalty of any country, invited us for a chat. I think most of us would carve out 30 minutes to an hour to make that happen. The Virgin Mary is the Queen of Heaven, the Queen of Our Destined Home, how could we possibly show her less respect than a queen of a measly country? Respond to the call, she wants you in her presence. She wants to bring you to Christ.

Going Deeper

So let’s say you already have a devotion to the Rosary, but you want to make it deeper and more beneficial. After you have fallen in love with a devotion to the daily Rosary, you just want more, and the next logical step is to ask how to make it more meaningful. I do have a few suggestions on how to accomplish this.

My first suggestion would be to take 5-10 minutes to clear you mind and settle down your thoughts before you start. We get so many distractions throughout the day, and those distractions don’t stop until we take a breather. If we let those distractions find their way into the Rosary we are saying, we could be missing out on an incredible prayer experience.

My second suggestion would be to pray longer, meditate more on the mysteries. There’s a reason I keep saying 30 minutes. So many people say that the Rosary can be said in 15-20 minutes. I get why they say this, to get people started and to get people praying. The problem so many people have when starting the Rosary is the investment of time. But 20 minutes is not enough. How could you possibly meditate on all five of the mysteries, meditate on what you want help with, say all the prayers, and let yourself be in the presence of your Holy Mother in just 20 minutes? At that point you are rushing through, you are not meditating on anything. We need to think things through, we need to feel what Our Lord Jesus felt when we contemplate those mysteries, we need to ask the Holy Spirit what those mysteries mean to us, and we need to spend time with Our Mother. So make your Rosary longer, try for 45-60 minutes, and you will be amazed at how much deeper you can take your devotion. Forcing ourselves to take longer will help us say each Our Father and each Hail Mary with more meaning, drawing us closer to Jesus through Mary.

My third suggestion would be to pray the entire Rosary. Either all 15 or all 20 mysteries, and the decades to go with them (St John Paul II himself said that the Luminous Mysteries are not a required part of a devotion to the Rosary, but they are a great addition). This can be a difficult thing to start, considering praying 15 or 20 decades will take much longer than 30 minutes, however those that do say the entire Rosary often feel a flood of graces and peace. If saying the whole Rosary every day is too much, try starting out by saying this more advanced devotion on Saturdays.

Take Action!

So take up your sword, and slay dragons. Slay the dragons causing you fear in your life, keeping you from soaring to the great heights Our God has in store for you. Grab your weapon, and show the world what you are made of!