The holy rosary, a spiritual weapon that lights hearts on fire

Daniel Ibañez   By Daniel Ibañez for CNA

 

null / Daniel Ibañez

Rome Newsroom, Oct 9, 2022 / 08:00 am (CNA).

October is the month of the rosary. Catholics around the world are encouraged to join in praying the rosary daily to honor the Virgin Mary. On Oct. 7, Catholics celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was previously known by the alternate title of “Our Lady of Victory.”

The feast day takes place as a commemoration of the Battle of Lepanto, a 16th-century naval victory that secured Europe against Turkish invasion. Pope Pius V had encouraged the faithful to pray the rosary, and the Blessed Mother’s intercession was credited with the triumph of the “Holy League.” For centuries, the rosary has been considered a weapon of protection against evil and a powerful tool of intercession.

Cast onto one of the columns of the baldachin in St. Peter’s Basilica is the representation of a rosary. So small, it often goes unnoticed by the pilgrim. It is said that Bernini himself, wanting to dedicate his work to the Virgin, crafted the rosary onto the column after finishing the basilica. Daniel Ibañez
Cast onto one of the columns of the baldachin in St. Peter’s Basilica is the representation of a rosary. So small, it often goes unnoticed by the pilgrim. It is said that Bernini himself, wanting to dedicate his work to the Virgin, crafted the rosary onto the column after finishing the basilica. Daniel Ibañez

Pope Francis tweeted in 2017 that “the rosary is a synthesis of the mysteries of Christ: we contemplate them together with Mary, who gives us her gaze of faith and love.” Daniel Ibañez
Pope Francis tweeted in 2017 that “the rosary is a synthesis of the mysteries of Christ: we contemplate them together with Mary, who gives us her gaze of faith and love.” Daniel Ibañez

Daniel Ibañez
Daniel Ibañez

October is the month of rosary and all Catholics are called to unite to ask for the intercession of our Mother and to meditate on the mysteries of the life and teachings of Jesus through her prayer. The recitation of the Holy Rosary is one of the most deeply rooted devotions among the Christian people. It originated around the ninth century as a simplification of the Psalter and spread rapidly among the unlettered laity as a simple prayer. The rosary is a crown of roses that we give to our Mother.

Millions of people around the world pray to Our Lady, asking her to care for them as a mother and thanking her for accompanying them through the journey of their lives. Daniel Ibañez
Millions of people around the world pray to Our Lady, asking her to care for them as a mother and thanking her for accompanying them through the journey of their lives. Daniel Ibañez

The Holy Rosary is a powerful weapon against the wiles of evil; it is so powerful that it disarms the devil and changes lukewarm hearts into hearts on fire and in love with Jesus, Our Lord. When we pray it with devotion we are configured to the Lord. According to the testimonies of Sister Lucia, visionary in Fatima, when we pray it with love, heaven opens and many graces are poured on the person who prays it. For this reason, it is important to pray it with love, shelling out these “aves marias” with joy and enthusiasm, knowing that we are beating and destroying all the lurking of the devil.

"As you recite the Rosary, pray to the Queen of the World for the holiness of the family." — Blessed Alvaro del Portillo. Daniel Ibañez
“As you recite the Rosary, pray to the Queen of the World for the holiness of the family.” — Blessed Alvaro del Portillo. Daniel Ibañez

Daniel Ibañez
Daniel Ibañez

There are many reasons to pray to the rosary. Perhaps the world needs peace. Perhaps your grandmother is sick. Why do you pray the rosary?


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4 Comments

  1. The holy rosary is a spiritual weapon of mass construction. Young and young at heart rosary warriors storm heaven relentlessly with those Planet-friendly tiny rosary missiles.

  2. Daniel Ibañez takes nice pictures. One Pope Francis standing piously before Our Lady of Fatima statue. Head lowered rosary dangling from hands.
    Francis appointed Cardinal Mario Grech Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, assigning them facilitators rather than Apostolic witnesses to the faith during the Synod on Synodality. Grech announced, “What have we to fear” if we allow divorced and remarried outside the Church, LGBT+ to express their genuine feelings of love for Christ, to receive the Eucharist like all others. Appointed by His Holiness Synod relator, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich advised it’s time we revise our doctrine on homosexuality.
    Another Cardinal had strong reservations, “This is absolutely clear: that Jesus has spoken about the indissolubility of matrimony. And how is it possible that Cardinal Grech is more intelligent than Jesus Christ, where he takes his authority to relativize, to subvert [what is] of God? I cannot understand it. I must say it openly, because the definition of the pope is, and [based in] the Vatican Council and also the history of Catholic theology, he has to guarantee the truth of the Gospel and the unity of all the bishops, and in the Church, in the revealed truth” (Cardinal Gerhard Müller).
    Would that it be said that Müller, reflecting on all this, that the Pope cannot “participate in the omnipotence of God” in this “hostile takeover” of the Church – that this indeed is the design of Pope Francis. Too inflammatory. So I won’t say it. I’ll instead say Daniel Ibañez takes nice pictures.

    • I’m glad you said it Father. With that image, I’ve been fighting back yet another uncharitable thought about Francis. All I could think about was his insulting nastiness towards a group that presented him a mosaic of a large number of rosaries early in his pontificate when, in one of his moments of exhibitionistic pseudo-charity, he told the group they should have instead donated the money spent on the rosaries to the poor.

      Had his imaginatiion been pure, he would have forseen that the lives of many poor would experience spiritual gifts if, over time, the rosaries could gradually be dispersed among the Catholic needy encountered throughout the world during papal trips knowing they were once cherished by a generous Pope.
      His carnage towards the Church is another more monumental matter.

  3. “The beauty of our weapons”! Yet:

    2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

    2 Corinthians 6:7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;

    1 Corinthians 2:5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

    Praise be to God who gives us victory in Jesus Christ.

2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks

  1. Le Saint Rosaire est une arme spirituelle qui enflamme les cœurs
  2. The holy rosary, a spiritual weapon that lights hearts on fire – Catholic World Report – Spiritality, Metaphysics & Religion

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