Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: The powerful intercession of Our Lady through the rosary

Friday, October 7, 2022

The powerful intercession of Our Lady through the rosary

Today the Church gives us the beautiful feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

This feast was instituted by Pope Pius V in thanksgiving for the victory at the battle of Lepanto against the Ottomans, through the intercession of Our Lady through the rosary.

For many of us the rosary can be a struggle to pray, it can be too long, feels boring or monotonous - but it is a prayer that has captured the hearts of Catholics throughout the centuries and been promoted by many many Popes.

Any prayer can be a battle or struggle as the Catechism tells us, and the rosary definitely brings this out in us. But through the repetition of the prayers and meditating on the mysteries of each decade, we slowly enter into the deeper contemplative dimension of the rosary. The rosary is a weapon in spiritual warfare as many saints have attested, but why is this? It is because through the Hail Mary (formerly known as the Angelic Salutation) we are re-announcing, we are proclaiming the words of our salvation. The greeting to Mary recalls the moment when she consented to be the Mother of God and so began our salvation. But it also fulfills the prophecy of Mary that all generations will call her blessed.

For me, I have found it helps my focus to bow/nod my head at the name of Jesus as I pray each Hail Mary. It helps keep a rhythm and also brings the high point of the prayer - Jesus who was born, suffered, died, rose and ascended for us. He is always the focus that Our Lady points us to.

As well as being a meditative prayer, the rosary is also an intercessory prayer. We offer the rosary for many intentions - our family, friends, conversion of others, healings etc .. all intercessory prayer. This is also an aspect of spiritual warfare. We take time to pray to Mary who takes us by the hand, listens to our petitions and brings them and us to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. How many of us are here through the prayers of our family or people at church faithfully praying their rosary for us? How many graces have we received through the rosary without realising it.

Today on this special day - I ask you to take some time and pray a rosary. But really pray it, don’t just say it or rattle off the prayers as fast as you can. Pray the words with meaning, unite yourself to Our Lady through the rosary, bind yourself through the prayers on the chain, understand that each Angelic Salutation is a rose you are offering to the Mother of God in honour of her “Yes” to Jesus. Follow her example and say “Yes” to Jesus today as all. Pray for your family, friends, enemies or even people you don’t know. Pray for a particular intention that someone needs or even offer the intentions to Our Lady to use as she chooses as the Mediatrix of Grace.

For many of us the rosary is associated with guilt, an obligation we have to do to be a “good Catholic”. But the rosary is something beautiful and powerful when you understand it and enter into the prayers. Take time today and learn from the school of the rosary, let our Lady take you by the hand through the rosary to unite yourself closer to Jesus.

In the same way that through the rosary Our Lady interceded at the battle of Lepanto and granted them victory, so too today may she intercede for you and teach you to intercede for others in spiritual battle.

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.