THE ROSARY IS A
WONDERFUL WAY TO PRAY
WONDERFUL WAY TO PRAY
The rosary is a
wonderful way to reflect on and savor the saving grace of Christ in His
mysteries...
In the first
reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we read about the Apostles' return to
Jerusalem after Christ's Ascension into heaven. They went to the Upper Room and
"devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women,
and Mary, the mother of Jesus" (Acts 1:14). Today, the Church celebrates
the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary! The rosary is a wonderful way to reflect
on and savor the saving grace of Christ in His mysteries, as long as we never
make the mistake of thinking that our rituals will somehow convince God to save
us. As Paul would agree, our rituals testify to what our heavenly Father has
already done for us, His children.
Each year we gather
around the Rosary Garden at our retreat center and cemetery and recite the
Living Rosary, renew our Diocese's Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
and crown Our Lady of Fatima. Parishes, schools, civil services, clergy and
religious, all join together to pray with our Bishop. I would like to share the
prayer of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary with you to help in your
reflection today:
O Mary, sovereign Queen of heaven and earth, and dearest Mother,
joyfully we kneel at your feet to consecrate our diocese to your Immaculate
Heart. Proudly we proclaim you to be our Queen. Proudly we profess your
complete dominion over us. We are your subjects. Hail, Queen of the universe,
Queen of all creatures, of all kings, and even of the Seraphim; Queen before
whom the very heavens bow. Oh Mother, most loving and most lovable, we know
that you love us with a love more tender, more ardent, more full, than any
other human love in this world. Because you are completely our Queen and our
Mother, we wish to give ourselves to you and all that we have.
We consecrate to you our diocese and place it in your hands; its lay men
and women, its religious, its deacons, its priests, its bishop. We give also
our parochial schools, our high schools, our college, our university, our
seminaries, our hospitals and charitable institutions, and our retreat house.
Into your hands, we place our parishes, our religious communities, and our
diocese. Gladly we acknowledge that we belong to you. Gladly we consecrate
ourselves and our diocese and everything in it to your service, to your glory,
and through you, to your Divine Son. We acknowledge that every blessing and all
good things come to us through your hands. All growth in the diocese, all good
comes through your intercession and your help.
We place under your protection our entire future, our hope, our
difficulties, our problems. If failure should be your wish, we gladly accept
them. Yet, we know that God wishes to manifest His power through you. He wishes
to bless us through you and by you. We are confident of your mercy. We beg
abundant graces, bountiful assistance and loving protection, not through our
merits, but through the loving goodness of your Motherly heart. Amen.
Today, in the
Gospel Acclamation, we proclaim, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is
with you; blessed are you among women" (Lk 1:28).