cappie Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 OCT. 7: THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY [b]Importance:[/b] The word Rosary means "Crown of Roses" and each prayer in the rosary is considered a flower presented to Mary. In the opening pages of his spiritual classic: The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis de Montfort describes rosary as "a veritable school of Christian life" because of its beauty, power and value. It is a humble, a practical and a powerful means of contemplation, and a great source of blessing for those who pray and for the whole world. It is called the “Breviary of the common people” and the “Psalms of the illiterate.” The prayers we repeat are biblical and hence “inspired” and the mysteries we meditate upon are taken from the lives of Jesus and Mary. As we are saying the Rosary, we are, in fact, in contact with two of the most basic prayers in our Christian tradition: the Lord’s Prayer (the Our Father) and the Angelic Salutation (the Hail Mary). The first is fully rooted in the Scriptures, taught to us by Jesus Himself. The second is largely rooted in the Scriptures, its first half echoing the words of the Archangel Gabriel and of Elizabeth as each addressed Mary. The third prayer — the Glory Be to the Father — ancient in its wording — surely reflects the unceasing prayer of adoration and praise found within the Book of Revelation. The rosary is "a compendium of the life of Jesus and Mary and a summary of the liturgical year." The various events in the lives of Jesus and Mary are differing expressions of the one basic and foundational mystery of the Christian faith: the Paschal Mystery, that is, the dying and rising first lived out by Jesus and then by all His followers, beginning with the first and best: His own mother. Hence by praying the Rosary, we come to live out the Paschal Mystery in our lives, thereby being authentic disciples of Jesus, people who really follow in His footsteps, dying with Him so as to rise with Him. Hence we modern-day Catholic Christians need to pray the Rosary and live the Rosary. [b]History[/b]: Prayer using rosary beads is as old as mankind. The Hindus in India used to recite the thousand names of their gods and their "mantra” prayers using multi-beaded rosaries, and their sages wear it around the neck, constantly rolling the beads in prayer. The Jews used beads to repeat the psalms, the Laws of Moses and the memorized sayings of the prophets. The Muslims use rosaries with a hundred beads for their prayer. In the ninth century, the Christian monks who recited the 150 psalms instructed the illiterate common people to recite 150 “Our Father.” It was in the eleventh century that the Europeans added “Hail Mary” to “Our Father.” In 1214, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Dominic Gusman and instructed him to pray the rosary in a new form as an effective antidote against the Albigensian heresy. The rosary devotion attained its present form by 1500 A.D. Additional boost to rosary devotion was given in 1917, when our Blessed Mother in her sixth apparition to the three visionary children, on the thirteenth of May, demanded, "Say the Rosary every day… Pray, pray a lot and offer sacrifices for sinners... I'm Our Lady of the Rosary,” and advised them to say the rosary rightly, daily and devoutly for holier life and world peace. The Fatima prayer "O, my Jesus" was added in the twentieth century. Recently Pope John Paul VI has enriched the rosary by adding the “Luminous Mysteries” ( Rosarium Virginis Mariae). Fr. Roche and Fr. Paten were mainly responsible for the widespread of this devotion in modern times. [b]Devotion encouraged by the Popes[/b]: Pope Pius V instituted the Feast of the Queen of the Rosary in the sixteenth century in thanksgiving for the Lepanto victory. Pope Leo XIII in 1891 declared October as the month of the Rosary. For Pope Pius VII the rosary is “an antidote against the evils of the day.” “It is the sure means of God’s blessings to families” (Pius XII). “Recite rosary devoutly, you will have peace in your families” (Pius X). In his “Marialis Cultus” Pope Paul VI reminds us that we are praying “bible based prayers” in the rosary. Pope John Paul II describes the rosary as “looking into the mysteries of Christ’s life through the eyes of Mary.” [b]A favorite prayer of eminent Catholics[/b]: Mother Teresa was always seen reciting the rosary. Daniel O’Connor, the “Father of the Nation” of Ireland recited the rosary in his private room before each session of the parliament and no wonder, why Ireland is called “The Land of the Rosary.” The famous proponent of the rosary, Fr. Paten, challenges us; “set apart ten minutes for rosary at home, you will make your home a heaven of peace.” The great scientist William Ampere in his old age inspired and converted Frederick Ozanam (the founder of St. Vincent de Paul Society) by his daily recital of the rosary at a grotto. The last words of Louise Pasteur to his nurse before his death far away from his home were: “tell my wife that I died reciting the rosary.” [b]How to pray the rosary?[/b] The ideal is to recite the rosary daily, at least five decades and if possible, the entire fifteen. We need to say the Rosary slowly enough to make its recitation devout and reverent. Reflect for a minute or two on the mystery and then concentrate on the meaning of the prayers. Besides saying the rosary with others in the family before bed time, let us make it a habit of reciting the rosary during our journey to the work place and during our exercises. If we do so, we shall experience for ourselves the truth of these words: "meditating on the mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise." Amen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StColette Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 oooh Thank you so much for posting this Father The Rosary is such an important part of the prayer life of the Church and the Rosary itself is such a power weapon against evil. I really do advise those who have never read The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis de Monfort to take time out and read it. It's a wonderful book ! There's an online version of it [url="http://www.hismercy.ca/content/ebooks/The.Secret.of.the.rosary.PDF"]The Secret of the Rosary ( pdf file ) [/url] I promise that you will not regret reading it "Give me an army of souls saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world." Pope Pius IX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cappie Posted October 7, 2004 Author Share Posted October 7, 2004 From St Anthony's Messenger: Why Pray the Rosary? Q: Some of my Baptist friends have asked me questions about prayer. I replied as best I could but would be grateful for your help in this matter. Matthew 6:7-8 says: "In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." Why do Catholics pray the rosary? Why not keep the prayers short and direct? When I said that repetition can assist in meditation, they responded that meditation is not a Christian practice. They see it as a custom of non-Christian religions from the Middle East and the Far East. A: Meditation is only for non-Christian religions founded in the East? Not so! St. Luke was clearly describing meditation when he wrote in his Gospel that Mary "kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart" (2:19) and that Mary "kept all these things in her heart" (2:51). Certainly your friends realize that Christianity itself began in the Near East. Meditation is not geographically based but is humanly based. Faith in Jesus requires moments of prayerful reflection, moments to ponder what God is doing when God's ways might seem very strange. The length of prayers is not as important as the purity of intention. Even though the Canticle of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) is longer than the prayer of the Pharisee in the Temple (Luke 18:11-12), Mary's prayer is genuine because it is totally honest while the Pharisee's prayer is short but not totally honest. The phrase "as the pagans do" may be the key to interpreting Matthew 6:7-8. The pagan prayer that Jesus condemns is an attempt to control God, a way of placing God in debt to the person praying. The prayer that Jesus recommends does the reverse; it acknowledges an enormous debt toward God on the part of the person praying. Although this debt cannot be repaid, acknowledging it in prayer helps a person live honestly before God and in relation to all God's people. The longer Canticle of Mary reflected that honesty; the shorter prayer of the Pharisee in the Temple did not. Immediately after the passage your friends cited, Jesus teaches the apostles to pray the Our Father. Is that prayer to be criticized for being too long? Neither the rosary nor the Our Father seeks to give instructions to God. Both prayers arise from the same desire: to accept God's grace into one's life and cooperate generously with it. Over the centuries, many Catholics have found the rosary an ideal prayer, partly because it reminds them of Mary's response to the Archangel Gabriel, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). That response became Mary's characteristic response to God throughout her life. At www.vatican.va, if you click "English" and then search for "rosary," you will link to Pope John Paul II's October 16, 2002, apostolic letter on the rosary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifeteenchick527 Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 yayayay the rosary!! its such an awesome prayer! theres an ongoing rosary on phatmass....if anyone doesnt know about it....heres a link [url="http://phorum.phatmass.com/index.php?showtopic=16493&st=975"]Phatmass Ongoing Rosary[/url] Mother Mary, Pray for us!! ~Pray the Rosary~ God Bless ~LTC~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mateo el Feo Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 Also from NewAdvent.org: [url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13189a.htm"]Feast of the Holy Rosary (link)[/url] God bless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.R.D Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 Intresting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StColette Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 [img]http://home.golden.net/~amc/amc/f112621.jpg[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piccoli Fiori JMJ Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 I love OUr Lady and her most wonderous gift of the Holy Rosary! My friend makes me sad that he doesn't like it and when he prayed it tonight for our faith groups class, he didn't care that he messed up... I'm sending him a Miraculous medal with a few words from his Mother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StColette Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifeteenchick527 Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 [quote name='FutureNunJMJ' date='Oct 7 2004, 12:18 AM'] I love OUr Lady and her most wonderous gift of the Holy Rosary! My friend makes me sad that he doesn't like it and when he prayed it tonight for our faith groups class, he didn't care that he messed up... I'm sending him a Miraculous medal with a few words from his Mother [/quote] awesome!! i hope all goes well once again....ongoing pm rosary lol [url="http://phorum.phatmass.com/index.php?showtopic=16493&st=975entry378118"]ROSARY[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FutureSoror Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 Ohhhh pretty pretty picture. I just finished reading The Secret of the Rosary less than a week ago. I would really recommend reading it, it gives you an extremely great respect for the prayers of the Rosary and makes you want to say it all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifeteenchick527 Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 yepyepyepyep!!! (hence the reason i started the rosary thread lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StColette Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 I agree completely FutureSoror "The Secret of the Rosary" is completely awesome and it will make you want to have devotion to the Rosary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seven77 Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 i was reading the story in Secret of the Rosary of the Franciscan friar who was prayin the rosary....had roses coming out of his mouth every Ave which an angel took and placed on the Blessed Virgin's head. and then the quote from St. Bonaventure struck me: "He who neglects her will die in his sins." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StColette Posted October 8, 2004 Share Posted October 8, 2004 that has always been one of my fave parts Seven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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