Tradition tells us that in the year 1208, St. Dominic received the rosary from the Blessed Virgin Mary during an apparition where she appeared to him while he was praying in a monastery in Prouille, France. She asked him to encourage the faithful to pray it daily to combat the rampant spread of heresy and the loss of faith.
When the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette at Lourdes in 1858, she was seen with a rosary in her hands. When the Virgin Mary appeared to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco in Fatima 100 years ago, she likewise encouraged the daily recitation of the rosary.
The rosary is unique in that it combines meditative and discursive prayer- meditating on the important salvific events in the life of Jesus Christ as we pray the biblical prayers of the Apostle’s Creed, the Our Father and Hail Mary.
Recently, Dennis Steele from Fairbury visited our St. Joseph Center to drop off some handmade rosaries to be given to people who come into our offices for assistance. He ties them in his spare time. There have been other people who have brought in rosaries to be given away and they fly off the shelves in our lobby. True to form, these were gone after a few days.
For those looking for something to do this Lenten season, consider the daily recitation of the family rosary, a commitment of only 15-20 minutes in the evening. And for those who are single, consider perhaps a quiet moment in the morning before leaving for work, or after returning from work either before or after dinner.
I would like to thank Dennis and all of the other individuals who have made and given us rosaries through the years. Their only motivation, of course, is the salvation of the souls of their brothers and sisters in Christ.
My prayer is that you have a blessed Lenten preparation for the glorious season of Easter in which we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, definitively defeating death.
