Cause of our joy.
It is May and Our Lady's month. Yesterday was First Saturday and as is my custom on every Saturday, I keep Our Lady company for an hour, meditating on the mysteries of the rosary, in a little chapel dedicated to her at my local parish. The hour goes very fast and before I know it, the bells ring for Mass. It is a good way for me to prepare for Mass. Anyway, I just wanted to say that the rosary is such a good prayer to accustom oneself to - even if in the beginning, one can only get through a decade, or maybe one is only able to just hold the rosary, in their attempt to pray it. Our Lady seems to me pleased with our little attempts to honor her... because she never fails to console and fill our hearts with joy.
Yesterday, a reader left a beautiful comment about the rosary, I'll reprint it here, because it is so consoling for those of us who are sinners:
St Louis de Montfort said to sinners:
If you say faithfully the Rosary until death, I assure you, despite the gravity of your sins you will receive a “never fading crown of glory” [1 Pet 5:4]. Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted. You will amend your life and save your soul if you say the Holy Rosary devoutly, every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth; and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins. - St Louis de Montfort, “The Secret of the Rosary”
Thanks SF.
Interesting quote from the great de Montfort and I am certainly a fan of the rosary. However, I seriously doubt that a heretic or someone who has sold their soul to the devil would also be praying the rosary. I think St Louis may have had a tad too much altar wine in this case. Of course, he could have been going for hyperbole as Christ did when He told His followers to pluck out an eye if it caused offence. (Gosh, if I had strictly followed that principle there would have been nothing left of me by the time I reached 20)
ReplyDeleteIt's strange what a challenge it is to say the rosary every day. Sometimes when I'm content and all is quiet I can't seem to focus on a single mystery (I think the Little Flower used to complain of this problem). Then yesterday, sitting in the waiting room at the Honda dealership waiting for my car to be finished, with the noise of power tools, TV, and a room full of people, I meditate like I'm guided by angels. It kind of reminds you how little control you really have over your spiritual life.
ReplyDeleteI have had that grace too - to be in the midst of distractions as you were in the dealership and to be very much recollected. It happens in church after Mass when everyone is talking - it's almost like white noise, or the sound of a strong wind, and I'm able to make a prolonged thanksgiving. I sometimes think of the men in the fiery furnace, unscathed by the flames.
DeleteYou're welcome, Terry. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think enough can be said about the wonders of the Rosary.
I am totally dependent on it, happily so.
SF