The Rosary - Our World was Never in Greater Need.

By Tom Dennehy

October is the month of the most Holy Rosary and never in our history was our world in more need of this powerful prayer. When we pray the Holy Rosary, we have Our Lady’s hand in our hand. When we pray the Holy Rosary, we have the power of God in our hands.

Father Gabriel Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican, tells us that every Hail Mary is a blow to the head of Satan and if we knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would be the end of all evil and wars in our world. The secret that makes this prayer so effective is that the Rosary is both prayer and meditation. It is addressed to the Father, to the Blessed Virgin and to the Holy Trinity and is a meditation centred on Christ. Fr. Patrick Peyton who was born in County Mayo and is known as the “Rosary Priest” tirelessly promoted the powerful prayer of the Rosary across the globe. Many of his Rosary rallies attracted hundreds of thousands, including several in the Philippines and South America that drew over a million people. At the time of his death, he had preached to more than an estimated 28 million people. It was he who proclaimed the phrase, “The family that prays together stays together” and “A world at prayer is a world at peace.” On June 15, 1941, he was ordained with his brother Tom. He was grateful to Our Lady for saving his life by healing him of tuberculosis. As a response and in thanksgiving, he dedicated himself to spreading the practice of the family rosary, which he had first learned in his own home. He was assigned to Albany as Chaplain to the Holy Cross Brothers.

He began the Family Rosary Crusade, getting volunteer students to assist him in writing letters to bishops asking them to organize a rosary campaign and travelled around the world hosting Rosary Rallies. A rally in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1964 and another in the Philippines 1985, both drew over two million people. His message always was to draw people into a deeper relationship with Our Lady through family prayer.

He used the power of the media and convinced celebrities such as Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and James Cagney to lend their fame to the promotion of the Rosary through radio, television and film. Fr. Peyton was declared venerable by Pope Francis on December 18, 2017. Let us hope that he soon will be declared a great saint. We now need someone like Fr.Peyton to promote the Holy Rosary. So let us all begin to pray the rosary every day. All it takes is fifteen minutes. We waste so much time doing things which are of no benefit to us or to our world like watching television or spending time on our mobile phones. Why not turn off the radio on your way to work and pray the rosary and you will be amazed at the power it will have on your day. You will even see miracles happening. The praying of the rosary has proved effective so many times since St. Dominic was inspired to preach it in the thirteenth century. It was particularly effective in saving the world from impending disaster. A notable example is the victory at Lepanto in 1571. Invading forces were about to overrun Europe and the outlook for Christianity looked bleak. Pope Pius V spent nights in prayer and commanded all Catholics to pray the Rosary.

Churches were filled across Western Europe with Christians praying for an unlikely victory. Their prayers were answered in what seemed a miraculous manner when the enemy was defeated and their fleets were destroyed in a sea battle which was described as one of the most important victories in history. In recognition of this extraordinary victory, Pope Pius V declared a feast day for Our Lady of Victories now celebrated as Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7. Our Lady, in all her apparitions around the world, has stressed the importance and power of the rosary. In Fatima, she told the visionaries, “The Rosary has the power to stop wars.”

Let us begin by asking the Holy Spirit to help us, as we pray the Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous Mysteries of the rosary and meditate on the Good News of the Gospel.

Latest Medjugorje message September 25th 2024.

Dear children, God has sent me among you, to love you and encourage you to prayer and conversion, for peace in you and in your families and in the world. Little children, do not forget that true peace comes only through prayer and from God who is your peace.