In Preparation for Novemeber 1st: let us align ourselves with the angels and saints as we journey toward the day of Universal Sanctification!

October 7,
Our Lady of the Rosary or Our Lady of Pompei

They did it again! Pope John Paul II and Bishop William Giaquinta put their heads together and have some beautiful words about Our Mother Mary for us!

"It would be impossible to name all the many Saints who discovered in the Rosary a genuine path to growth in holiness."(JP2)

Pope John Paul II in his apotolic letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, gives us a little history of this memorial. "As a true apostle of the Rosary, Blessed Bartolo Longo (pictured below) had a special charism. His path to holiness rested on an inspiration heard in the depths of his heart: 'Whoever spreads the Rosary is saved!'. As a result, he felt called to build a Church dedicated to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Pompei, against the background of the ruins of the ancient city, which scarcely heard the proclamation of Christ before being buried in 79 A.D. during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, only to emerge centuries later from its ashes as a witness to the lights and shadows of classical civilization. By his whole life's work and especially by the practice of the 'Fifteen Saturdays', Bartolo Longo promoted the Christocentric and contemplative heart of the Rosary, and received great encouragement and support from Leo XIII, the 'Pope of the Rosary'."

"With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer."

(John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae)

Bishop Giaquinta taught us that "the rosary is a contemplation of the mystery of Jesus, seen through the eyes of Mary, and therefore it must be prayed with a peaceful and gentle spirit, as a simple and loving prayer."

"...it is good to pause on each of the mysteries and meditate on them, for they form the essence of the Rosary, but at the same time we must realize that the repetition of the Hail Mary provides a special form of prayer of petition. You know that the prayer of petition is the prayer through which we ask. With the Rosary, we turn to Mary and plead: 'Pray for us. Pray for us. You, Mary, pray for us, for we do not know how to pray.' Do you think that after we repeated this plea one hundred times, 'Pray for us', Mary will refuse to listen to us? Isn’t this form of petition what Jesus suggested: 'Beg and you shall receive?' Remember what we read in the Gospel: 'Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.' Ultimately, we must learn to blend the two elements of the Rosary, contemplation and petition, and learn to gaze upon the mysteries with the eyes of Mary, and imitate what they suggest, as Mary did." (Giaquinta, Our Life as Apostolic Oblates)

May we entrust all our needs and intentions to Mary, Our Mother and let her lead each of us and our nation to Jesus!

In Preparation for Novemeber 1st: let us align ourselves with the angels and saints as we journey toward the day of Universal Sanctification!