Those who are not of the unity of the Church do not believe in the intercession of Mary, because they have never made trial of it. But the whole Church is pervaded by a consciousness of her love and power – now, as it was in the beginning. The “Hail Mary” has been the prayer and meditation of saints. All devotion to the Mother of God springs from it, as all harmony springs from the octave. A few notes are the element of all song, as the few words “Hail, Mary, full of grace!” are the element of all the love and veneration, the devotion and worship of the Church for our Blessed Mother.
(Cardinal Manning)
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Bishop Anthony writes: The Rosary is made up of both mental prayer and vocal prayer: mental prayer because we are meditating on the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus and his Mother. Of course, the vocal prayer consists in saying each decade with its Pater Noster and 10 Hail Marys while at the same time meditating, as nearly as we can, on the events of our Saviour’s life. I have helped many of our Faithful to appreciate the merits of the Rosary which is basically the prayer Christ gave us (Pater Noster) and the Angelic Salutation (the very message of our Salvation) which the Archangel Gabriel brought to Mary. The Rosary therefore comes to us from the beginning of our Salvation! It was only in 1214 that Holy Mother Church received the Rosary in its present form, given by our Blessed Lady to Saint Dominic, as a powerful means of converting heretics. Even though there is nothing so great as the majesty of God and nothing so low as men and women because we are sinners, God does not despise our poor, weak prayers. He wants us to sing His praises! And Gabriel’s greeting to Mary is the most beautiful hymn which we can sing to God. This new hymn, foretold by the Psalmist David (“Then, O my God, I will sing Thee a new song”, Psalm 143) was to be sung at the coming of the Messiah and is none other than the Angelic Salutation. The old hymn was sung by the Jews in gratitude to God for creating them and delivering them from captivity through the Red Sea; the new hymn is that which Christians sing in thanksgiving for the graces of the Incarnation and our Redemption on Calvary. All this was brought about by the Angelic Salutation, so that every time we say a decade of the Rosary, we are thanking Almighty God for His unspeakable goodness to us. The Rosary praises God the Father for creating us and giving us His only Son; it praises the Son for deigning to leave heaven to redeem us; and it praises the Holy Spirit Who formed our Lord’s pure Body in our Lady’s womb – the Body which was to become the Victim of our sins. So it is in this spirit of utter thankfulness that we recite our Rosary,
making acts of faith, hope and love as we thank God for the priceless gift of salvation. In short, as I tell our people, the Rosary is a gift from heaven and traces beautifully the science of our salvation.
Let us pray
Ave Maria! Thou, O Virgin Mary, art the Ark of our Salvation! Through Thee was Jesus, the Redeemer of all who trust in Him, born into the world. We offer Thee our praises, adorable Mother and beseech Thee to pray always for our Salvation and our peace. Through Christ our Living Lord. + Amen +
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And a passing thought.
The more things your trust dares to ask of the Lord, the more you will receive. (Saint Bernard)
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SACRED HEART OF JESUS, THY KINGDOM COME!
OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY, PRAY FOR OUR PEACE AND SALVATION!
+OUR LADY OF VICTORIES AND SAINT PANCRAS,PRAY FOR US!+
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