Catechism Corner: The Story of Our Lady of the Rosary

Never will anyone who says his Rosary every day be led astray. This is a statement that I would gladly sign with my blood.

Saint Louis de Montfort

The story of our Lady of Rosary is an interesting one. In the 16th century, Pope Pius V was having trouble with the Ottoman Turks, who were a real danger to Christianity. After months of disagreements and arguments, he was able to unite Spain, Venice, and the States of the Church in a naval expedition to fight the Turks.

The two navies met in the Gulf of Lepanto in Greece on October 7, 1571. On the same day, the Rosary Con-fraternity of Rome was meeting at the Dominican headquarters there.

The group recited the Rosary for the special intention of the Christians at battle. The Christians defeated the Turks in a spectacular victory and believed it was the intercessory power of the Blessed Virgin that won the victory.

Pope Pius V dedicated the day as one of thanksgiving to Our Lady of Victory. Pope Gregory XIII later changed the name to the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Pope Clement XI extended the feast to the Universal Church in 1716. And in 1913, Saint Pius X established the date for the feast that we know today as October 7.

The story of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary focuses on the intercessory power of Mary. It shows that when Christians are in danger, they can go to Mary.

When an individual is in pain, discouraged, or having trouble accepting God's will, he or she can also go to Mary. She will pray to her Son for anyone who calls on her. Anyone who prays to Mary no longer feels alone because she prays with them and for them.

Mary encouraged praying the Rosary in her apparitions. At Lourdes when she appeared to Saint Bernadette, Mary had a Rosary. As Bernadette prayed it, Mary joined in on the Glory Be prayers.

At Fatima Mary exhorted the three children who saw her to pray the Rosary for peace.

The Rosary is a deep prayer because as we recite the Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and Glory Be, we meditate on the mysteries in the lives of Jesus and Mary. No wonder it pleases Our Lady when we pray the Rosary.

The liturgy places us in the school of Mary, the privileged disciple of the Lord Jesus. In the light of the Gospel of Luke, we learn to be "in awe", the ability to allow oneself to be in awe of God. She became a Mother even though she was a virgin. And Elizabeth, she was told, was already in her sixth month, even though she was elderly (Lk. 1:36). It was awe that allowed Mary to let God act. And this openness allowed the Awaited One of the Nations to take root within her.

On the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, Mary's attitude teaches us today to trust in her intercession through the recitation of the Holy Rosary. What appears to be humanly impossible through our human efforts can be achieved through the grace Mary can obtain for all of life's battles, whether they be interior or exterior.

Mary teaches us today to turn our gaze upward, to trust, and to entrust ourselves to the Lord. In doing this, we recognize we cannot do it on our own, that we are not the authors of our destiny, that we need others, and that we are all together in need of God. The Lord never leaves us alone – he promised us this. But we must be the first to believe it by turning our gaze from the things of this earth and learning how to fix our gaze on heaven, from whence comes our help (cf. Ps 121).

The trust we show by praying the Holy Rosary is a sign through which we recognize that God works through us and around us and, through Mary's intercession, we can cultivate a "higher objective in life". To believe is actually to give credit to the One who can do all things, to accept His help, to recognize that we cannot do everything on our own, to entrust ourselves to Him even when His plans do not correspond to ours, to the point of offering ourselves with trust: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word".

The third lesson we can draw from this Gospel text is to learn from Mary and with Mary how to trust God's time. This time consists of silence, waiting, and patience. Mary teaches us how to live in this time. She teaches us to allow ourselves to stop the frenetic rhythm of life to discover how to savour the things of God.