Thanks to our parents, siblings, relatives, friends, priests and teachers, we know how to pray the Most Holy Rosary. We hope that we comprehend its timeless value.
First, the Most Holy Rosary is an opportunity to adore the Most Blessed Trinity, thereby drawing closer to God and making progress along the challenging path to Paradise. Almost two thousand years ago, Jesus invited His Apostles to pray. Above all, praying is the offering of fitting worship and praise to our Creator. Had the Lord never demonstrated His amazing love and abiding compassion for us after the Fall of Adam and Eve, it still would be right—and absolutely necessary— for us to pray as an expression of laud for our Maker.
The Most Holy Rosary helps us to adore: our Beloved Father in Heaven Who constantly extends His unfathomable mercy towards us; our Savior and Brother Jesus Christ Who lives in Sacred Scripture and the Church’s Apostolic Tradition— and is present in a most unique way, as the Prayer after the Divine Praises during Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament puts it, “in every Tabernacle throughout the world, even until the end of time”: our Counselor, the Holy Spirit, Who inspires us to embrace good fully and avoid evil.
Second, the Most Holy Rosary is an opportunity to answer the urgent summons of Our Lady of Fatima. Six times during 1917, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary appeared to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco in Fatima, Portugal, encouraging them to pray the Most Holy Rosary daily for “the end of the War” (World War I). Although that War has concluded, there are plenty of others that seek our attention and elicit our earnest prayers. And, of course, our prayer list filled with diverse needs never ends. Our Blessed Mother uses our humble prayers to work much benefit throughout the universe. The Mother of God knows better than any other human person that prayer is indispensable.
The Most Holy Rosary helps us to reply affirmatively to Mary’s request to pray her Most Holy Rosary for all the intentions lodged deep in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Pure Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Third, the Most Holy Rosary is an opportunity to unite ourselves to all the holy men and women, boys and girls who are reciting (and who have recited) this prayer that Blessed John Paul II hailed as his “favorite.” Imagine the Poor Souls in Purgatory (“The Church Suffering”) who prayed the Most Holy Rosary. Now they look to us to assist them in their plight as they continue onward to the Everlasting Kingdom. Imagine the Saints in Heaven (“The Church Triumphant”) who recited the Most Holy Rosary. With the abundant grace of God, they have achieved their goal of perfect union with Jesus Christ in Paradise. Now they attentively await our arrival. Imagine the Faithful here on earth (“The Church Militant”) who presently pray the Most Holy Rosary. They are convinced of the intercessory power of Our Blessed Lady and recognize her God-given ability to change hearts and minds.
The Most Holy Rosary helps us to remember always our strong solidarity especially with all the Christians in Heaven, Purgatory and on earth who had and have recourse to the Madonna through the recitation of her Most Holy Rosary. All told, the Most Holy Rosary is an inestimable treasure that we, through no merit of our own, are delighted to possess. May we understand it better and pray it more!
Words of Wisdom
“The Rosary is the most beautiful and the most rich in graces of all prayers; it is the prayer that touches most the Heart of the Mother of God…and if you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary.”
— Pope Saint Pius X (+1914)
“The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you’ll be amazed at the results.”
— Saint Josemaria Escrivá (+1975)
“The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.”
— The Servant of God Lucia of Fatima (+2005)
“I look to all of you, brothers and sisters of every state of life, to you, Christian families, to you, the sick and elderly, and to you, young people: confidently take up the Rosary once again. Rediscover the Rosary in the light of Scripture, in harmony with the Liturgy, and in the context of your daily lives.”
— Blessed John Paul II (+2005)
For What Do We Pray?
On October 1, 2011, which was the First Saturday and the Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, the Most Reverend Paul J. Swain, D.D., the Bishop of Sioux Falls, consecrated the Diocese of Sioux Falls to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Basing his Act of Consecration on that used by Blessed John Paul II on Sunday, March 25, 1984, Bishop Swain and the Pastors in the Diocese of Sioux Falls who made the Act of Consecration with him prayed for certain pressing needs, especially protection from sin.
Immaculate Heart, help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon the world:
From sins against human life—abortion and euthanasia, deliver us.
From contraception and sins against marriage and chastity, deliver us.
From famine and war, deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in society, both national and international, deliver us.
From violations of the Commandments of God and the Precepts of the Church, deliver us.
From all kinds of dishonesty and addiction, deliver us.
From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.
We pray the Most Holy Rosary because we love the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and want to spend eternity in Heaven. Now, let us commend daily all our intentions to Our Mother and Queen through our recitation of her Most Host Rosary.