Today is Oct. 26, Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time.
In the readings at today’s Mass, we hear St. Paul tell the Ephesians, “Brothers and sisters: Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”
Saturdays are typically kept in honor of the Virgin Mary. It seems a fitting thing to do so, no less, on the last Saturday of October, the month of the most holy Rosary.
I’ve long been a fan of the Rosary; it was an important prayer in my family growing up and holds a special place in my heart now, since the Church has tasked Dominican friars with the special mission of spreading the Rosary. I’ve long found the Rosary a truly wonderful prayer; it offers me something to say when I simply need to quiet my mind and direct my attention to God.
But many people struggle staying faithful to regular recitation of the prayer. Another ardent fan of the Rosary, St. Louis de Montfort, names two dangerous pitfalls that entrap many people when they begin to pray the Rosary. And being aware of these two dangers can really help us keep our devotion to the Rosary strong.
The first, says de Montfort, is “the danger of not asking for any graces at all.” For him, this means picking up the Rosary without making a clear intention. “Grace will be given to each of us, according to Christ’s gift,” St. Paul says, but we have to ask for it! We have to be intentional. We have to ask, boldly, for a special grace. De Montfort suggests, “Ask God’s help in cultivating one of the great Christian virtues or in overcoming one of your sins.”
The second, according to de Montfort, is to pray the prayer too quickly. Now, I must confess that generally if I pray the Rosary alone, I tend to keep my tempo at a quick clip. But I make sure to formulate the words clearly and do my best to stay focused on the mysteries. De Montfort exhorts us to pray thoughtfully, with a profound spirit of recollection. If we do so, he says, even a decade said with devotion “will be worth more than thousands of Rosaries said all in a rush.”
With confidence today, let us entrust our intentions to the Virgin Mary, especially that more Catholics will discover the joy of praying the Rosary:
O God, who chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, full of your grace, from among women to become the mother of your son, our Redeemer, mercifully grant that, venerating her holy name, we may escape the dangers of this present age and obtain with her life eternal. Through our lord Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
My Daily Visitor spiritual reflections are a dose of daily Catholic inspiration from Our Sunday Visitor magazine.
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