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Dear Sisters and Brothers in
the Lord:
Since the 16th century, Catholic piety has assigned entire months to
special devotions. Pope Leo XIII personally started the practice of
devoting October to the Rosary devotion. In a letter of September 1,
1883, mindful of the Rosary’s power to strengthen faith and foster a
life of virtue, he outlined the triumphs of the Rosary in past times and
admonished the faithful to dedicate the month of October to the Blessed
Virgin through the daily recitation of her Rosary in the presence of the
Blessed Sacrament, in order to obtain through her intercession the grace
that God would console and defend His Church in her sufferings. I highly
recommend that you read Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter, Rosarium
Virginis Mariae, or “On the Most Holy Rosary.“ It explains even further
this wonderful devotion, and introduces the optional mysteries of light
or Luminous Mysteries.
The Family Rosary Crusade, organized and directed by Fr. Patrick Peyton,
C.S.C., sought to revive the practice of families reciting the Rosary
daily within their homes. the Crusade won the encouragement and support
of Pope Pius XII and greatly assisted in realizing the desire of the
Pope that no family would allow a day to pass without the recitation of
the Rosary. A practice which over time, I am sorry to say, has fallen
into greater and greater disuse. Perhaps, this is the reason for the
increase in so many of our society’s ills and problems. But it is also
its solution. As Fr. Peyton said so long ago, “The family that prays
together stays together.” It was true then and is still true today.
This prayer was composed by Cardinal Spellman when the Crusade visited
his Archdiocese:
O Queen of the most holy
Rosary: with hearts full of confidence we earnestly beseech you to bless
the Crusade of the Family Rosary. From you came the grace to begin it.
From you must come the grace to win souls to it. We beg you to bless
this Crusade so that from every home the incense of this prayer will
daily rise before you, O admirable Mother.
O Queen of Homes: by the power of the Rosary we beseech you to embrace
all the members of our family in the love of your Immaculate Heart. May
you abide with us and we with you, praying to you while you pray for us.
May you preside in our homes as once you did at Nazareth with Jesus and
Joseph, filling them with the holiness of your presence and inspiration.
O Queen of Peace: it is you
who have placed the Rosary in our hands. It is you who bid us to recite
it daily. By the power of the Family rosary we beseech you to
obtain peace for us: peace within our hearts, our homes, and our country
and throughout the world. Through the daily recitation of the Family
rosary, we beg you to keep sin from our souls, enmities from our hearts,
and war from our shores. By the graces received from the devotion of the
Family rosary we pray to be made helpful to one another in following the
paths of virtue so that we may be found worthy to be called children of
you family, children of your home. Amen.
Queen of the most holy Rosary, pray for us.
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