Praying the Holy Rosary shouldn't really be a devotion particular to some Catholics. The Rosary is so embedded in Catholic piety and tradition that the Church promotes it as the highest form of prayer save for contemplation, the highest form of prayer outside of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Praying the Rosary is an 'optional extra' for us Catholics, but at the same time, it is an essential optional extra devotion.
This is not just because Our Lady made various promises that those who prayed the Rosary would receive Divine help and the graces necessary for salvation. There are many, many reasons why we should pray the Rosary and there are many reasons why its constant promotion is vital. It just so happens that Our Lady said that devotion to the Rosary would bring souls out of error and heresy and into the pursuit of sanctity and holiness. At this time, we have no remedy for the souls who believe those things that run totally contrary to the Most Holy Faith.
Devotion to Our Lady is a constant running through the history of the Church's multitude of Saints, many recommending the Rosary after it was given by Our Lady to St Dominic in order to convert the French from the Albigensian heresy. Popes have lived and died swearing by the efficacy of devotion to the Rosary, imploring others to pray it. Certainly our reigning Pontiff prays it and so did Blessed Pope John Paul II.
It seems to me, also, that there is a mysterious link between praying the Rosary, devotion to Our Lady and love for the Holy Father. I'm sure that our love for the Holy Father increases with our devotion and prayer of the Rosary, because of the great love in the heart of Mary for the Vicar of her Son. Our love for the Holy Father is actually a supernatural love. That is why, perhaps, some in the Church don't understand it.
At this time in the Church's history, when heresy and liberalism run rampant even among some in great authority in the Church, it is exceedingly important that more Catholics take up the Rosary in the spiritual battle in which we all find ourselves, struggling, failing, but with Our Blessed Lady, conquering. It is so important that we unite behind the Successor of St Peter, have great love for him and appreciation for his stewardship of the Church, that we pray that he will be protected against his enemies within and without the Church.
Pray for us O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!
"The rosary is the scourge of the devil" - Pope Adrian VI.
"The Rosary is the best therapy for these distraught, unhappy, fearful, and frustrated souls, precisely because it involves the simultaneous use of three powers: the physical, the vocal, and the spiritual, and in that order. " - Archbishop Fulton Sheen
"The rosary is a treasure of graces" - Pope Paul V.
Padre Pio the stigmatic priest said "The Rosary is THE WEAPON."
Pope Leo XIII wrote 9 encyclicals on the rosary.
Pope John XXIII spoke 38 times about Our Lady and the Rosary. He prayed 15 decades daily.
St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort wrote: "The rosary is the most powerful weapon to touch the Heart of Jesus, Our Redeemer, who loves His Mother."
"One day through the Rosary and the Scapular I will save the world." Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Dominic
"Say the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world." Our.Lady of Fatima 1917
"The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary." St. Francis de Sales
"If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I assure you that in spite of the gravity of your sins, you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory. Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in Hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul, if and mark well what I say -- if you say the Holy Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon of your sins." St. Louis de Montfort
"Those who say the Rosary daily and wear the Brown Scapular and who do a little more, will go straight to Heaven."
St. Alphonsus Ligouri
"Among all the devotions approved by the Church none has been favored by so many miracles as the devotion of the most Holy Rosary. " Pope Pius IX
"If there were one million families praying the Rosary every day, the entire world would be saved. "
Pope St. Pius X
"There is no surer means of calling down God's blessing upon the family than the daily recitation of the Rosary." Pope Pius XII
"We put great confidence in the Holy Rosary for the healing of evils which afflict our times."
Pope Pius XII
"The Rosary is a school for learning true Christian perfection."
Pope John XXIII
"No one can live continually in sin and continue to say the Rosary. Either he will give up the sin or he will give up the Rosary" Bishop Patrick Boyle
"Those who say the Rosary frequently and fervently will gradually grow in grace and holiness and will enjoy the special protection of Our Lady and the abiding friendship of God." Bishop Hugh Boyle
"The Family that prays together, stays together." Father Patrick Peyton
"If families give Our Lady fifteen minutes a day by reciting the Rosary, I assure them that their homes will become, by God's grace, peaceful places." Father Patrick Peyton
"If our age in its pride laughs at and rejects Our Lady's Rosary, a countless legion of the most saintly men of every age and of every condition have not only held it most dear and have most piously recited it but have also used it at all times as a most powerful weapon to overcome the devil, to preserve the purity of their lives, to acquire virtue more zealously, in a word, to promote peace among men."
Pope Pius XI
"When you pray Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now....., the Blessed Mother comes instantly to your side to pray with you. And she does not come alone. She brings angels with her. And not just one or two for she is the Queen of Angels, so choirs of angels come with her. And she and Jesus are joined at the heart and cannot be separated so she brings Jesus with her. And Jesus cannot be separated from the Trinity so He brings the Father and the Holy Spirit with Him. And where the Holy Trinity is all of creation is and you are surrounded by such beauty and light as you cannot imagine in this life. Your Mother comes as Our Lady of Grace with her hands out-stretched. Rays of light emit from her hands piercing your body, healing you and filling you with graces. This is your inheritance which was poured out from the heart of Jesus on the Cross, when the centurion pierced His Heart with the spear, into the only pure vessel ready to receive such graces at that time,Your Mother. Now as you pray the Rosary, or even just recite one Hail Mary, you receive your portion of these graces."He also said at this time, "Anyone who goes to Mary and prays the Rosary cannot be touched by Satan." Is it any wonder that anyone who prays the Rosary from the heart is so blessed and protected and powerful in their prayers for others?"
Father Gabriel Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican
Posted by That The Bones You Have Crushed May Thrill
great stuff!
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