As soon as we mention the month of October, our thoughts immediately turn to the Rosary. But we should not pray the Rosary only in October, rather every day and throughout the whole year.
Pope St John Paul II, in the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, calls the Rosary “a prayer loved by countless saints.” And indeed, it is! Here are a few examples:
- St Philip Neri would not go to sleep without having prayed the Rosary;
- St Francis Xavier, while travelling through the forests of the missions, kept the beads hanging around his neck;
- St Peter Claver distributed about 9,000 rosaries a year to the enslaved;
- St John Berchmans, as he lay dying, asked for his three most treasured books: the Crucifix, the Rule of Life, and the Rosary;
- Pope St John XXIII prayed 15 decades daily, five with those around him, five before the Blessed Sacrament, and five in the quiet of his room;
- St John Paul II regarded the Rosary as his favourite prayer.
And Our Lady herself wishes us to pray the Rosary. She requested it in every one of her apparitions. At Fatima and Lourdes she appeared holding the beads in her hands. She did not join the children in saying the Hail Marys, as these were directed to her, but she gently passed the beads through her fingers. The Glory Be she prayed herself, inclining her head in reverence.
May these examples encourage us also to recite this beautiful prayer daily. Let us not say we have no time for it because it is long. The Lord grants us 1,440 minutes each day. Would it not be wonderful to dedicate just 15 of them to Our Lady?
Nor should we claim that the Rosary is a monotonous prayer because of its repetitions. Is not a bouquet of 50 flowers far better than a single bloom?
Carmel G. Cauchi
SDC Member
