Today's Gospel reading from Luke has
Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray the Lord's prayer, which is fitting on
the day when we celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary, since the rosary is a popular
prayer devotion within our Catholic faith.
The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was established by Saint Pius V on
the anniversary of the naval victory won by the Christian fleet at Lepanto over
the Ottoman empire on October 7, 1571. The victory was attributed to the help
of the holy Mother of God whose aid was invoked through praying the Rosary. The celebration of this day invites all of us
to reflect upon the mysteries of Christ, following the example of the Blessed
Virgin Mary who was so uniquely associated with her son's incarnation, passion,
and glorious resurrection.
The celebration of Our Lady of the
Rosary takes place in the month of October, a month dedicated to Mary and to an
awareness of the respect for life. A
respect for life and the Virgin Mary are so appropriate to celebrate and honor
at the same time. Mary never receives
honor for her own sake, as she always points to her son and always leads us
closer to him.
The rosary is a symbol of our Catholic
faith that speaks so strongly in our society.
When I was associate pastor at St Richard Catholic Church in Jackson, a
group of us would go out to the abortion clinic in Jackson every Thursday
morning to pray the rosary for an end to abortion and for a greater respect for
life in our society. This action of
praying the rosary in front of the clinic really is a powerful and prophetic
sign. When we visit the prisons through our prison ministry program, we meet so
many inmates who realize that they need to find Christ in their lives in their
moment of crisis and isolation from the rest of our society. These prisoners are always asking us for
rosaries when we visit them. They pray the
rosary with great devotion and see the rosary as a symbol of their faith that
will accompany them during this difficult time, a symbol that will always
minister to the other inmates as to what they believe. In fact, I remember one prisoner telling me
that he prayed the rosary every day for months on his fingers when he did not
have any beads.
As we pray the Lord's prayer during
mass today as Jesus instructed us to do, as we celebrate the Blessed Virgin as
the Mother of our Lord and the Mother of our Church, let us always remember the
Gospel of Life that is foundational to the Catholic faith which we
profess.
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