Monday, October 7, is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. I would be amiss and greatly derelict in my duties as a rosary blog writer if I didn’t write something about it. The Catholic San Francisco, asked its readers, “Why do you pray the rosary?” I provided some of my thoughts (this should look familiar to anyone who read The Rosary for the Rest of Us):
“Praying the rosary hasn’t made me rich. Praying the rosary hasn’t made me famous. Praying the rosary hasn’t given me a promotion at work. So why do I pray the rosary? Praying the rosary regularly gives me perspective. I start to see things the way God wants me to see them. I don’t obsess over the little things in this world that aren’t important to my eternal salvation. Praying the rosary helps me focus on what is truly important – my relationship with God. It hasn’t made my problems go away, but it has given me the strength to endure and overcome them just as Jesus Christ did in the sorrowful mysteries.”
I actually had a difficult time answering why I pray the rosary. It’s not that I don’t like or believe in the power of the rosary, but it is difficult to put its value into words. The rosary is a divine gift from God. And coming from God, who is outside our human understanding, makes explaining the rosary hard to capture in words. But at the same time, it is important to occasionally ask, “why?”
Asking ourselves why we pray the rosary forces us to evaluate the role it plays in our lives. Do we just pray it out of habit or routine without understanding why? Do you mistake it for some magical chant? Do we pray the rosary because someone told us to? The rosary isn’t a prayer we should take for granted. When we know why we should pray the rosary, we become that much more motivated to want to pray it. My “ah-ha!” moment with the rosary came on my pilgrimage to Medjugorje. I felt this peace come over me as if God was tell me, “It’s going to be okay… I got you.” Ever since then the rosary has provided me an oasis of peace in my busy, tiring, and hectic life.
The rosary is much like an uncut and unpolished gem. To the unobservant, it just looks like a rock. To those who take the time to dig deeper, they will find something of great value. On this feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, ask yourself, “why?” And when you do find an answer, please leave a comment. You never know if your insight might provide a spark for others to discover a greater value in rosary prayer.
Related articles
- On the Rosary (glorificamus.wordpress.com)
- Fest of Our Lady of the Rosary – October 07 (catholichomeschoolaustralia.com)
- OCTOBER – MONTH of the ROSARY (seasnh.org)
- Using the Rosary Beads for Praying the Rosary (rosarydoctor.wordpress.com)
- Month of the Holy Rosary (fatherjerabek.wordpress.com)
- Welcome October! (joyfulpench.wordpress.com)
