Our Lady of the most Holy Rosary (Finding the Rosary on Death Row)

by trust in him on Wed Oct 07, 2009 1:00 am

Pray the Rosary!
Look to Jesus.
Meditate on Jesus.
Pray with Jesus.
Suffer with Jesus.
Marvel at Jesus.
Rejoice in triumph with Jesus.
Wonder with Mary at the God made man.
Get to know the God Man, through the heart of His Blessed Mother.
Our Christo-centric view of our Blessed Mother leads us to meditate on her Son, our Saviour.
It's all about Him... all creation points to Him.
Mary is His. We are His.

by Easter-won on Sun Oct 03, 2010 9:01 pm

Apart from the signal defeat of the Albigensian heretics at the battle of Muret in 1213 which legend has attributed to the recitation of the Rosary by St. Dominic, it is believed that Heaven has on many occasions rewarded the faith of those who had recourse to this devotion in times of special danger. More particularly, the naval victory of Lepanto gained by Don John of Austria over the Turkish fleet on the first Sunday of October in 1571 responded wonderfully to the processions made at Rome on that same day by the members of the Rosary confraternity. St. Pius V thereupon ordered that a commemoration of the Rosary should be made upon that day, and at the request of the Dominican Order Gregory XIII in 1573 allowed this feast to be kept in all churches which possessed an altar dedicated to the Holy Rosary. In 1671 the observance of this festival was extended by Clement X to the whole of Spain, and somewhat later Clement XI after the important victory over the Turks gained by Prince Eugene on 6 August, 1716 (the feast of our Lady of the Snows), at Peterwardein in Hungary, commanded the feast of the Rosary to be celebrated by the universal Church. A set of "proper" lessons in the second nocturn were conceded by Benedict XIII. Leo XIII has since raised the feast to the rank of a double of the second class and has added to the Litany of Loreto the invocation "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary". On this feast, in every church in which the Rosary confraternity has been duly erected, a plenary indulgence toties quoties is granted upon certain conditions to all who visit therein the Rosary chapel or statue of Our Lady. This has been called the "Portiuncula" of the Rosary.

by Easter-won on Sun Oct 03, 2010 9:35 pm

three corrections for copy above:

1. The commemoration of Our Lady of the Rosary is no longer on the first Sunday of October, but on October 7.

2. The rank of the commemoration is "memorial," as references to such former ranks as "double of the second class" were dropped when the Catholic Church's liturgical calendar was revised (around 1970).

3. The plenary indulgence mentioned (Portiuncula of the Rosary) was suppressed when the new Enchiridion (Handbook) of Indulgences was issued in 1968. It is now possible to gain a plenary indulgence in a different and simpler way: Under the usual conditions,

"A plenary indulgence is granted, if the Rosary is recited in a church or public oratory or in a family group, a religious Community, or pious Association; a partial indulgence is granted in other circumstances." [The "usual conditions" for a plenary indulgence are the following requirements: (1) sacramental Confession and Communion within a week (before or after), (2) reception of Holy Communion, (3) prayer for the intentions of the pope, and (4) absence of "all attachment to sin, even venial sin."]

by NeedImprovement on Thu Oct 07, 2010 3:13 am

Several excerpts from St. Louis de Montfort's, The Secret of The Rosary (19th Rose) :

... The holy and learned Jesuit, Father Suarez, was so deeply aware of the value of the Angelic Salutation that he said that he would gladly give all his learning for the price of one Hail Mary that had been said properly.

... Blessed Alan says that a nun who had always had a great devotion to the Holy Rosary appeared after death to one of her sisters in religion and said to her: "If I were allowed to go back into my body, to have the chance of saying just one single Hail Mary - even if I said it quickly and without great fervor - I would gladly go through the sufferings that I had during my last illness all over again, in order to gain the merit of this prayer." (Blessed Alan de la Roche, De Dignitate Psalterii, Chapter LXIX) This is all the more compelling because she had been bedridden and had suffered agonizing pains for several years before she died.

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From an article entitled Padre Pio, Mary and The Rosary : " God teaches all of us through the lives of His faithful servants. These lives are beacons set on a mountain for all to see, that all may be guided by them. Many know Mary only with their minds. Padre Pio knew her with his heart. There is no doubt either that he gained this knowledge of the heart through the constant praying of the rosary. There is no doubt either that if he could speak to us at this very moment he would invite us to seek this same knowledge of the heart through the same simple means so dear to him, the rosary."

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St. Padre Pio's devotion to the Holy Rosary is well known. I've often seen these words attributed to him : "Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today."

Before we can effectively use this weapon against all the evils of the world today, it first needs to effectively shield us from these evils . What better way for us to be shielded, than to draw closer and closer to the loving embrace of Our Blessed Mother ? ... or , as we might further glean (with a smile) from St. Padre Pio's own words :

" A priest, a member of the monastery, asked Padre Pio: 'Does the Blessed Mother ever come to your room?' And he replied: 'Why not ask me instead, 'does She ever leave my room?' "

by Easter-won on Sat Oct 16, 2010 4:09 pm

Finding the Rosary on Death Row
By Jeffrey D. Tiner
The Blessed Virgin actually brought the Rosary into my life before I became a Christian. I had a conversion experience on death row that started with a letter from a stranger, a woman in Switzerland. One of the
things she told me was, "Mama Mary loves you." When I wrote back to her I asked about Mary, wanting to
know more.
In her next letter, my new friend in Switzerland told me that nobody is closer to Jesus than His own Mother and that the surest way to petition Our Lord is through His Blessed Mother. She also advised me to make a Rosary prayer each and every day of my life.
I then noticed that among the items sold on the prison store list was a 95ȼ plastic rosary. I promptly ordered one. Along it came, a poor little plastic rosary, the figure of the Lord barely recognizable in such a
rudimentary form, and the words "Made in China" molded onto the reserve side. So now I had my little rosary beads, but not a clue as to how to use them, or how to pray with them. Later that day, I was fiddling
around with my radio, down at the lower end of the FM dial trying to locate a blues station, when I stumbled upon KBVM. And there was the evening Rosary! A few days later the Jesuit priest, who was the prison chaplain at that time, came by my cell. I asked him if he had any information about how to pray the Rosary. The next week he came back with a beautiful little "how to" pamphlet from the Rosary Center in Portland.
I began to pray the daily Rosary in earnest. I learned that often when I had spiritual questions, the answer would come to me during Rosary prayers. I even found that in the meditative aspect of the Rosary I could drown out the constant noise of prison, going into the Immaculate Heart of Mary as I ask her to offer my prayers up to Jesus. I found that I could petition Our Mother and offer up a Rosary for my friends and family who were sick or in need, and soon I would have good news of recoveries and good tidings. As well, I found that in times of trouble or danger from the enemy, one heartfelt Rosary will drive away any evil.
After experiencing all manner of these graces from Heaven during Rosary prayers, and as I advanced in learning about the Catholic faith, something became very clear to me as I studied the lives of the saints. Almost without exception, every saint you might read about had an exceptional devotion to the Mother of God. And since the time of St. Dominic, all the saints relied upon the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a guiding light in their spirituality, the light illuminating the path to their sanctity.
Perhaps the greatest grace I have received through the Blessed Mother during Rosary prayers is the rebirth in my soul of compassion, humility, and true contrition and sorrow for the crimes I have committed and the wrongs I have done to my neighbors. And when the weight of my sins seemingly combine to crush my heart, Our Sorrowful Mother, in the Rosary, is there to remind me that Christ cleansed me in Holy Baptism, that I can go forward through the Divine Mercy of Jesus, and that I can live the remainder of my life in an honorable fashion, loving Jesus through Mary,
The Rosary is the centerpiece of our private prayer life, joining our hearts to Our Mother, who allows us a filial nearness to her Crucified Son, through the Mysteries of her Most Holy Rosary.
As for that little 95ȼ plastic rosary? I wore it around my neck the day I was baptized in a prison laundry
cart that had been filled with water from a garden hose. From there, I mailed that little Rosary to the
woman in Switzerland, a woman no longer a stranger but now by Baptismal Sponsor, a mentor dear to my
heart. Through her introduction to Mary and through her declared love for the Holy Rosary, I found the
straight path to Jesus.
Take Our Mother's hand in one of yours, clasp the Rosary firmly in your other hand, and follow Our Lady's Light to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Post Script to the Rosary Reflection:
Jeffrey Tiner has given us permission to use anything he writes to us and any artwork he has done. You will notice three samples of his artwork in this issue. The note that accompanied this beautiful reflection on the Rosary said:
“Peace be with you. I write to thank you for your work in aid of Our Blessed Mother.
“I recently wrote to a nun, a great mentor, and asked if she thought it would be OK to pass along Medjugorje prayer cards, etc., given that the Church has not (yet) given an official stamp of recognition, etc. I am a new Catholic (only baptized here on death row five years ago) and am conscious about trying to stay in step with the Church. I have read quite a bit about the apparitions, and a friend visited there a few years ago and confirmed that the peace found there is absolutely, incredibly real.
“So, a few days later, the prison mail was delivered. I received a letter from Sister, assuring me that all was well, and giving me a litany of examples of miracles related to Medjugorje, including some within her own family. Also, I received two separate letters from other people containing Medjugorje prayer cards. And I received a letter from yet a fourth friend, containing your newsletter! Our Lady answered my question, loud and clear!”

http://www.spiritofmedjugorje.org/oct2010.htm

Our Lady of the most Holy Rosary (Finding the Rosary on Death Row)

Our Lady of the most Holy Rosary (Finding the Rosary on Death Row)

Feast of the Holy Rosary

Re: Our Lady of the most Holy Rosary (Finding the Rosary on Death Row)

The Value of One Hail Mary

Finding the Rosary on Death Row