Our Lady of the Rosary (Memorial)

The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was instituted to honour Mary for the Christian victory over the Turks at Lepanto on October 7, 1571. We celebrate the glories of Mary with you and to implore her motherly protection upon the whole Church and the whole world. In this way the Rosary will become a weapon of victory, an effective weapon, to which Christ's promise applies very well: "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Luke 11:9).

CCC 971

971 "All generations will call me blessed": "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship."513 The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs.... This very special devotion ... differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration."514 The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.515

The Holy Scriptures reveal to us that after the Blessed Virgin Mary had visited her cousin Elizabeth, she recited the Magnificat and one verse proclaims (Luke 1:48, "... From now on all generations will call me blessed") and the Holy Rosary fulfills the prophecy of those words. And by this words in the scriptures, the blessed Virgin Mary shall be called blessed today as much as she was called blessed in the days after the glorious birth of our Lord Jesus.

Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ you Son was made known by the message of an Angel, may, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by his Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of his Resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN.

"It is as if every year Our Lady invited us to rediscover 

the beauty of this prayer, so simple and profound.

" The Rosary, a "contemplative and Christocentric prayer, inseparable from the meditation of Sacred Scripture," 

is "the prayer of the Christian who advances 

in the pilgrimage of faith, in the following of Jesus, 

preceded by Mary," 

~ Benedict XVI ~  

Let us reflect upon the mystery 

of Our Lady of the Rosary 

that is unravelling itself upon the world. 

Let us give thanks to the Lord 

for the wonders that He has bestowed 

upon Our Lady of the Rosary, 

our heavenly Mother 

and our heavenly Queen.

Monday, 7 October, 2013
Our Lady of the Rosary (Memorial)

Reading

Acts 1: 12 - 14
12	Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away;
13	and when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.
14	All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Psalm

Luke 1: 46 - 55
46	And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord,
47	and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48	for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
49	for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
50	And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.
51	He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
52	he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree;
53	he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.
54	He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
55	as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever."

Gospel

Luke 1: 26 - 38
26	In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27	to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28	And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!"
29	But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.
30	And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31	And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32	He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
33	and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end."
34	And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?"
35	And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
36	And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
37	For with God nothing will be impossible."
38	And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.