Why should we pray the Rosary? | March 4, 2011

While, yes it is true that the devotion to the Rosary is not a “necessary” fixture in Catholic life it is certainly exalted by many past popes and by many saints to boot. Pope Pius XII once said that the Rosary is the compendium of the entire Gospel”. John Paul II referred to the Rosary as his “favourite prayer”.

And, if all of this isn’t enough, Fr. James says quite simply that “we pray it because we listen to our Mother”. He went on to explain that Mary has repeatedly asked us to pray the Rosary in her apparitions in both Lourdes and Fatima.

“Whatever you ask through the Rosary shall be granted”: this was the initial promise of Our Lady to St. Dominic (to whom Our Lady revealed the 15 Secrets of the Rosary). St. Dominic who died in 1221, was the founder of the Order of Preachers or Dominicans. Tradition holds that the Blessed Mother herself asked St. Dominic to propagate the devotion as an antidote for heresy and sin.

Fr. Jim Phalan told us that the mysteries of the Rosary are synonymous with the mysteries of our Faith. Those who make the Rosary the “soundtrack of their prayer” root themselves in the Gospel of Jesus, Father Jim said.