Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary

The following is a meditation on today's feast:

OUR LADY OF THE MOST HOLY ROSARY
Pray for Us Who Have Recourse to Thee

From its beginning the Order of Preaches has shown special honor and devotion to Mary, the Mother of God. The Rosary, which places before us the chief mysteries of the life, passion, and resurrection of our Savior, in the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries, has been one of the chief ways in which the Order has expressed this devotion.

As our Dominican brother, the great Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, explains the Blessed Mother’s role in the economy of salvation, “The fullness of grace in Mary was such that its effects overflow upon the entire human race. It is a great thing for a saint to possess the grace sufficient for his or her salvation; it is a greater thing for one to possess the grace sufficient for the salvation of many; but the greatest thing is to possess the grace sufficient for the salvation of the entire human race.”

Our Holy Father Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Exhortation Marislis Cultus, explains the importance of the rosary: “As a gospel prayer, centered on the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation, the Rosary is therefore a prayer with a clearly Christological orientation. Its most characteristic element, in fact, the litany-like succession of Hail Mary’s, become in itself an unceasing praise of Christ…By its nature the recitation of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord’s life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord. In this way the unfathomable riches of these mysteries are unfolded.”

The significance of the rosary is found in a sermon given by St. Bernard, the great promoter of Our Lady, in which he comments on the various events in the life of Christ and Mary. He writes, “I have said it is right to meditate on these truths, and I have thought it right to recall the abundant sweetness given by their fruits; and of Mary drawing abundantly from heaven has caused this sweetness to overflow for us.”

One of the most powerful ways to grow in grace, and become the very likeness of God himself, is to pray the Holy Rosary. Pray the rosary well, brothers and sisters, and I guarantee you will indeed receive its reward, nothing less than the vision of God himself.

Holy Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Amen.

Fr. Andre-Joseph LaCasse, O.P. is the Pastor at St. Patrick’s in Columbus, OH and is the Provincial Promoter of the Rosary.