"When people love and recite the Rosary they find it makes them better."

"The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you'll be amazed at the results." Saint Josemaria Escriva

Scripture Text: (PS 139:1B-3, 13-14AB, 14C-15)
R. (24b) Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

What comes to our minds when we think of the Rosary?

Numerous popes and saints have recommended praying the Rosary as an effective weapon in the Church’s spiritual armory; indeed Padre Pio called it ‘the weapon.’ At Fatima the Blessed Virgin, who identified herself as ‘the Lady of the Rosary,’ told the three young visionaries: Pray the Rosary every day… to obtain peace in the world.

During one of his homilies Pope Francis encouraged Catholics to pray the Holy Rosary saying that it’ ‘sustain us in the battle against the evil one and his accomplices.’ The Holy Father also reflected on the truth well known to Catholics who love Our Lady that she is continually with us; living with us in the trials and challenges associated with the conflicts between God and Satan.

The Pope went on to say that Mary is our Mother, but we can also say that she is our representative, our sister, our eldest sister, she is the first of the redeemed, who has arrived in heaven.

Let us have trust in Our Lady and, especially in this month of October, pray the Holy Rosary. It’s a wonderfully flexible prayer. It doesn’t depend on spending long hours kneeling in church. We can fit it into the spare moments of the busiest day – I often say a decade or two while I walk along the street or wait for the bus.

Bishop Hugh Doyle, who served in Pittsburgh during the 1940’s once said, “No one can live continually in sin and continue to say the Rosary: either they'll give up sin or they'll give up the Rosary." So why not give it a try? It only takes around 15 minutes of your day and besides you may be very surprised at the results.