Holy Rosary, Source of Strength

During this pandemic, praying the Holy Rosary becomes our source of strength. Since the start of the quarantine last March 2020, here in Davao City, Catholics are encouraged to pray the rosary every 8 o’clock in the evening. The Archdiocese of Davao through DXGN 89.9 Spirit FM spearheads the said rosary prayer on air and through DXGN’s live streaming at its FB page. The intentions of the rosary are for this pandemic to end, for healing for those afflicted with Covid-19, protection for everyone most especially for our frontliners and guidance for our government and church leaders.

With or without pandemic it is hoped that we continue our devotion to Mama Mary by praying the Holy Rosary daily. Some of the promises of Mama Mary if one recites it are her special protection and the greatest graces. Likewise, the Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin,  and  defeat heresies.

On the other hand, below is a story about the legend of praying the rosary that was posted in the FB page, The Devotion to Our Lady of Fatima:

A legend tells that Lego, a brother (who was not a priest) of the Order of the Dominicans, could not read or write, so he could not read the Psalms, as was the custom in the convents of that time.

Then, when he finished his work at night (he was the doorman, the sweeper, the gardener, etc …) he went to the convent chapel and knelt in front of the image of the Virgin Mary, and recited 150 Hail Marys (the number of the psalms), then he retired to his cell to sleep.

In the morning, at dawn, he got up before all his brothers and went to the chapel to repeat his habit of greeting the Virgin.

Brother Superior noticed that every day, when he arrived at the chapel to celebrate morning prayers with all the monks, there was an exquisite smell of freshly cut roses and he became curious, so he asked everyone who was in charge of adorning the altar of the Virgin so beautifully, to which the answer was that none did, and the rose bushes in the garden were not missing their flowers.

The lay brother became seriously ill; the other monks noticed that the altar of the Virgin did not have the usual roses, and they deduced that it was the Brother who put the roses. But how?

Nobody had ever seen him leave the convent, nor did they know that he bought the beautiful roses.

One morning they were surprised that he had risen, but they could not find him anywhere.

At last, they met him in the chapel, and each monk who entered was amazed, for the lay brother was kneeling in front of the image of the Virgin, ecstatically reciting his Hail Marys, and each one that addressed the Lady, a rose appeared in the vases.

Thus at the end of his 150 greetings, he fell dead at the feet of the Virgin.

Over the years, Santo Domingo de Guzmán, (it is said that by revelation of the Blessed Virgin); He divided the 150 Hail Marys into three groups of 50, and associated them with the meditation of the Bible: The Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries and the Glorious Mysteries, to which Saint Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries.

Moreover, as we celebrate the feast of the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary every October 7, I am sharing this Prayer to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary that I gathered from vaticansite.com:

O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, in these times of such brazen impiety, manifest thy power with the signs of thine ancient victories.

From thy throne whence thou dispense pardon and grace, mercifully regard the Church of thy Son, His Vicar on Earth, and every order of clergy, religious, and laity, who are oppressed in this mighty conflict.

Thou who art powerful, the vanquisher of all heresies, hasten the hour of mercy, even though the hour of God’s justice is every day provoked by the countless sins of men, the sons and daughters of Adam.

Obtain for me, the least of men, kneeling before thee in supplication, the grace I need to live righteously upon earth, in order to be numbered among the just in heaven.

In the company of all faithful Christians throughout the world, I salute thee
and acclaim thee as Queen of the Most Holy Rosary.

Queen of the Most Holy Rosary pray for us.

Amen.

“Finally, when people say the Rosary together it is far more formidable to the devil than one said privately, because in this public prayer it is an army that is attacking him. He can often overcome the prayer of an individual, but if this prayer is joined to that of other Christians, the devil has much more trouble in getting the best of it.” ~ St. Louis De Monfort