Dear friends,

This month of October, the Holy Mother Church reminds us again to include in our daily prayers one of the most beautiful prayers in the Catholic tradition, the Rosary. The Blessed Pope John Paul II has given us a number of reasons why we should not neglect this prayer. Quoting from the introduction of his Apostolic Letter "ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE", the pope says:

“The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second  millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to “set out into the deep” (duc in altum!) in order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is  Lord and Saviour, “the way, and the truth and the life”(Jn 14:6), “the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history  and civilization turn.”

Some of our noble goals as Christians would include knowing the secret of prayer and knowing Jesus more intimately. By allowing ourselves to be formed in the School of Mary, which is the Rosary, the Blessed Mother will not fail us in fulfilling these goals. It is because Mary allows us to see Jesus as she sees him when we devoutly pray the Rosary and when we meditate deeply on each mystery. It is perhaps a new way of looking at the Lord because we are looking at him through the eyes of a mother. It is a more intimate way of looking at Jesus.

In addition, the Blessed Mother helps us to be conformed to Christ. In many ways the graces flowing from the sacraments of the Church and the Word of God are already doing this, but the richness of the means of grace in the Church also includes the Rosary. In this prayer, Mary always reminds us about the mysteries of the life of Christ. She helps us make Christ the center of our life until we become like Jesus.

Let us, then, make this moment a good opportunity for us to grow in holiness and prayer. Let us pray the Rosary!

God Bless!

Fr. Jay M. Policarpio
Director, Radio Maria Philippines
director.phi@radiomaria.org