ok, so I just read the document JPII wrote when he outlined the Luminous Mysteries, and he clearly states it should be left up to the individual to decide if to add them or not.
So, I think as it is the 15 mystery one that has seemed to call my attention, I will stick with that one for daily recitation.
a second question is, would it be okay to take one of my many rosaries–an unblessed one–and cut it as to make a single decade chain that would be easy for me to thumb in my pocket? From most things I’ve seen, since its unblessed this should be fine, but I just want to see opinions.
I ask becuase what I think I will start out doing, instead of sitting for a 2 hour span to say the whole Rosary, is to say a decade or so every hour, throughout the day, such that I finish the whole thing by the time I fall asleep. But since I work and do other things(in a mostly protestant area) I dont think it would be beneficial to the meditative state to pull out a set of beads every time I have a few moments to properly pray.
I think dividing up the Rosary throughout the day is a good idea. You know what you are capable of. St. Maximilian Kolbe is more than worth a read, as well. And now for some saintly, and papal inspiration…
“All gifts, virtues, and graces of the Holy Ghost are administered by the hands of Mary to whomsoever she desires, when she desires, in the maner she desires, and to whatever degree she desires. Mary is the dispensatrix of all the graces God bestows. Every grace granted to man in this life has three successive steps: from God it comes to Christ, and from Christ to the Virgin, and from the Virgin it descends to us.”
ST. BERNARDINE OF SIENNA
“Every grace which is communicated has a three-fold origin: it flows from God to Christ, from Christ to the Virgin, and from the Virgin to us.”
POPE LEO XIII
“Mary has the greatest and clearest claims to our homage and praise: she is the salvation of the world; our dependence upon the august Mary is complete and universal. There is neither on earth nor in Heaven any justified soul, any one of the Elect, who does not owe Mary his justice and his glory.”
VEN. WILLIAM JOSEPH CHAMINADE
“Many have proved invincibly, from the sentiments of the Fathers -
among others: St. Augustine, St. Ephrem, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Germanus of Constantinople, St. John Damascene, St. Anselm, St. Bernard, St. Bernardine, St. Thomas, and St. Bonaventure - that devotion to Our Most Blessed Virgin is necessary for salvation, and that it is an infallible mark of reprobation to have no esteem or love for the Holy Virgin while,
on the other hand, it is an infallible mark of predestination to be entirely and truly devoted to her.”
ST. LOUIS MARIE DE MONTFORT
“Mary is the whole hope of our salvation.”
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
“If our life were not under the protection of Mary, we might tremble for our perseverance and salvation. In her hands Jesus has placed His almighty power in the order of salvation. All the graces of salvation, both the natural and the spiritual, will be given to us by Mary.”
ST. PETER JULIAN EYMARD
“The Child is not found without Mary, His Mother. If, then it is impossible to separate what God has united, it is also certain that you cannot find Jesus except with Mary and through Mary.”
POPE ST. PIUS X
“If you persevere till death in true devotion to Mary, your salvation is certain.”
ST. LOUIS MARIE DE MONTFORT
“In the multitude of the Elect she shall have praise, and among the blessed she shall be blessed.”
ECCLESIASTICUS 24:4
“Christ entrusted to His Mother’s maternal care the mission of making the Church a single family. Yes, in Mary we have the bond of communion for all of us who, through Faith and Baptism, are disciples and brothers of Jesus.”
POPE JOHN PAUL II
“However great a sinner may have been, if he shows himself devout to Mary he will never perish.”
ST. HILARY OF POITIERS
“The servants of Mary are as certain of getting to Paradise as though they were already there. Who are they who are saved, and reign in Heaven? Surely, those for whom the Queen of Mercy intercedes. The clients of Mary will necessarily be saved.”
ST ALPHONSUS MARIA LIGUORI
“With reason did the Most Holy Virgin predict that all generations would call her blessed, for all the Elect obtain eternal salvation through the means of Mary”
ST IDELPHONSUS
“Every one of the multitudes, therefore, whom the evil of calamitous circumstances has stolen away from Catholic unity, must be born again to Christ by that same Mother whom God has endowed with a never-failing fertility to bring forth a holy people.”
POPE LEO XIII
“Bearing in her womb the Savior, Mary can also be said to have borne all those whose life the Savior’s life enshrined. All of us, then, as many as are knit to Christ, have come forth from Mary’s womb: one Body, as it were, knit together with its Head.”
POPE ST PIUS X
“Souls protected by Mary, and on whom she casts her eyes, are necessarily justified and saved. Just as it is impossible that they be saved from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy, so it is certain that they who are loved by Mary, and for whom she intercedes, will obtain justification and eternal life.”
ST ANTONINUS
“We believe that Mary opens the abyss of God’s mercy to whomsoever she wills, when she wills, and as she wills; so that there is no sinner, however great, who is lost if Mary protects him.”
ST BONAVENTURE
“Not a single soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned.”
ST LOUIS MARIE DE MONTFORT
“O Mother of God! If I place my confidence in thee, I shall be saved; if I am under thy protection, I have nothing to fear; for being thy client is a certainty of salvation which God grants only to those whom He intends to save.”
ST JOHN DAMASCENE
“He who neglects the service of the Blessed Virgin will die in his sins. He who does not invoke thee, O Lady, will never get to Heaven. Not only will those from whom Mary turns her countenance not be saved, but there will be no hope of their salvation. No one can be saved without the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
ST BONAVENTURE
“To desire grace without recourse to the Virgin Mother is to desire to fly without wings.”
POPE PIUS XII
“Jesus honored her before all ages, and will honor her for all ages. No one comes to Him, nor even near Him, no one is saved or sanctified, if he too will not honor her. This is the lot of angels and of men.”
ST MAXIMILIAN MARY KOLBE
I’ve read most of it. Next I’ll read True Devotion to Mary, as well as The Glories of Mary.
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