Catechism Corner | How Can This Simple Set of Beads Be a True Spiritual Weapon?

Understanding the rosary as a spiritual weapon is vital to understanding why it is so powerful and the reasons for why heaven gave it to us. St Paul says that the Word of God is a spiritual weapon. Well, almost the entire prayers of the Rosary come right out of the New Testament. Therefore, the Rosary is a spiritual weapon. What is a weapon used for but to fight against an enemy. The enemy of our souls is Satan, sin, and the spirit of the world. With the Rosary, using it daily, we can defeat the devil, the world, and our sinful selves. Many, many saints and popes have referred to the Rosary as a weapon. St Padre Pio, St Josemaria Escriva, St John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI are some of the recent people who have used this terminology.

The rosary came into existence in the year 1208, when Our Lady appeared to St. Dominic and instructed him to use it as a weapon against falsehoods. The Church has given her consent for the faithful to pray the Rosary from its very beginning It is a prayer that combines vocal prayer and mental prayer (meditation). Saints, popes, and many holy mystics have promoted it. It is the most recognized Marian prayer in the entire Catholic world. Pope Leo XIII wrote 11 encyclicals on the Rosary.

The 13th century was a time of knights, battles, swords, and chivalry. By using a set of prayer beads containing the sacred mysteries of Jesus as the foundation of his preaching, St. Dominic wielded it as a spiritual sword against falsehoods and theological errors. I love the fact that during his lifetime Catholics wore the rosary on the left side of their belt to signify the side from which a knight withdrew his sword from its sheath.

While it is true that a set of prayer beads doesn't look like a weapon, what gives the rosary its power is what can't be seen with the human eye. What God and the angels (both holy and fallen) see that we can't is that the rosary encapsulates and enshrines the saving mysteries of the God-Man. It is those mysteries that set us free from the bondage of Satan. This is why Satan hates the rosary and fears it so much. The rosary is a dragon slayer!

Three reasons Why we pray the Rosary:

1) Love your mother. You love your mother, right? Sure, you do. Then, give her roses. In addition to being a spiritual weapon, it is also a crown of spiritual roses. When we pray it we give Mary, our spiritual mother, a wreath of spiritual roses.

2) Jesus is pleased by it. Jesus is not offended if someone prays the words of the New Testament while meditating on the mysteries of our salvation. Praying the Rosary shows that we are grateful for what Jesus has done for us, and we never want to forget it. By thinking of all that our Savior did for us on a daily basis, we are showing Jesus that we love him very much.

3) Be a saint! You are never going to become holy without praying. Spontaneous prayers are good, but if you don't have a consistent structured prayer routine in your day, you will not advance in virtue and build spiritual muscles. By praying the Rosary, you will begin to avoid anything that displeased God and Our Lady. Your life will change when you pray the Rosary.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.