Oct. 7: Our Lady of the Rosary

In gratitude for a resounding victory in the naval battle that has come to be known as the Battle of Lepanto, Pope St. Pius V instituted this feast. At the time of the battle on this day in 1571, the Rosary Confraternities in Rome were praying the Rosary for the Christian fleet. Our Blessed Mother has given us this beautiful prayer as a weapon against evil and as a way to draw closer to Jesus by meditating on the mysteries of his life. Let us pray in thanksgiving for this gift and commit ourselves to using it often as we pray for the Church and the needs of the world. Our reflection is from an address that Pope Benedict gave on May 3, 2008.

Today, together we confirm that the Holy Rosary is not a pious practice banished to the past, like prayers of other times thought of with nostalgia. Instead, the Rosary is experiencing a new Springtime. Without a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and his Mother, Mary. In the current world, so dispersive, this prayer helps to put Christ at the centre, as the Virgin did, who meditated within all that was said about her Son, and also what he did and said. When reciting the Rosary, the important and meaningful moments of salvation history are relived. The various steps of Christ's mission are traced. With Mary the heart is oriented toward the mystery of Jesus. Christ is put at the centre of our life, of our time, of our city, through the contemplation and meditation of his holy mysteries of joy, light, sorrow and glory. May Mary help us to welcome within ourselves the grace emanating from these mysteries, so that through us we can "water" society, beginning with our daily relationships, and purifying them from so many negative forces, thus opening them to the newness of God. The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation. It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the centre of each "Hail Mary".

Source: Apostleship of Prayer