Oct. 7 - Blessed Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

What a glorious Feast Day this is for little ones! It is not a major feast but it is a “Memorial” and important particularly at this time in our world so in need of “Mothering”. Jesus dying on the cross told us through John, “Behold your Mother”, but Catholics seem to be looking to Mary less instead of more, it seems. This Feast commemorates a time when Catholics joined in praying the Rosary to defeat the enemies of Christ. We seem to “talk more now and pray less” but…

Perhaps, these years have been times of pruning and as St. John Paul II saw a “new springtime” for the Church – it may be yet to come. I think often of Mary’s prophecy to the children at Fatima, in her third apparition to them, on July 13, 1917:

…In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph…

In the first encounter on May 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary taught the children about the gravity of sin which merits temporal punishment, the reality of Grace by which we are given the vision of God, and the efficacy of the daily recitation of the Rosary to bring about world peace.
Pope Emeritus has called Fatima an “ongoing prophecy”.

Mary seems often to appear to children or to the childlike. St. Juan Diego, for instance, was an older layman but so childlike and comparatively newborn in the faith as a convert, Mary called him “Juanito” (little John).

Jesus used the example of a child when his disciples began discussing who was the greatest among them. Jesus warned them:

Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Mt 18: 3-5)

Come, Holy Spirit, purify our hearts and enable us to become humble.
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
Queen of Peace, intercede for this world so in need of you to bring your Son again into our lives, through the graces He has entrusted to you!
O my Jesus, pardon us and save us from the fires of hell, draw all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.

 

[Goya]

AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.

 

[bardegaulois]

Every time this feast rolls around, I can’t help but remember its martial birth: Lepanto, October 7, 1571. Through the intercession of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, may peace prevail in Christian lands and among Christian princes, and may the enemies of the Church be brought to repentance or be swept from their midst, just as the Ottoman Turks were driven from the Mediterranean through the intercession of the same Lady. Though Christ Our Lord, Amen.

 

[Della]

It commemorates: the Battle of Lepanto (you may have to scroll down a bit). If the Christian West hadn’t won that battle we’d all be be saying our prayers towards Mecca.

 

[The_Apostolate]

I know it is the feast day,because i went too Mass and the priest mention it before the Mass started,also after Mass we said the Miraculous Medal novena .than the Rosary follow after that. May Our Lady continue too watch over all of us,and protected us from harm and the Devil, and keep us close too her son Jesus. Amen

 

[7_Sorrows]

Every time this feast rolls around, I can’t help but remember its martial birth: Lepanto, October 7, 1571. Through the intercession of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, may peace prevail in Christian lands and among Christian princes, and may the enemies of the Church be brought to repentance or be swept from their midst, just as the Ottoman Turks were driven from the Mediterranean through the intercession of the same Lady. Though Christ Our Lord, Amen.

 

[MariaChristi]

AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.

Dear Goya, bardegaulois, Della, The Apostolate, and 7 Sorrows,

Thank you all for your love of Mary and for honoring her in your replies. Yes, the Feast does commemorate the famous victory at Lepanto, hence is also called the Feast of our Lady of Victory. Della, thanks for the link which reminds us:

…October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, celebrates the victory at Lepanto, the battle that saved the Christian West from defeat at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.

That this military triumph is also a Marian feast underscores our image of the Blessed Virgin prefigured in the Canticle of Canticles: “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?” …

It is important for us to renew in our own hearts and thus help renew in the Church true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. True Devotion is above all, by God’s Grace, a total and an interior gift of self to Jesus through Mary, and we can grow in this by faithfully praying the Rosary with attention and devotion. For more on True Devotion see HERE

The victory today is first in our own hearts and then like Mary we continue to grow in grace and in sharing Him Who fills our hearts. I like to think of St. John Paul II’s words to the Servant of God Frank Duff: “Remember, victory will come through Mary”. Both these holy men fought the good fight on earth, and so must we!