Rosary Reflection - Rosary Is The Book of The Blind

(Photo©Michael Seagriff)

"The rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next.  The power of the rosary is beyond description."    

               (Venerable Fulton J. Sheen)

Our Lady of the Rosary, Adoration and My Friend Mike

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Today we celebrate the memorial of our Lady of the Rosary, instituted by Pope Pius V. He attributed the naval victory over the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 to the Blessed Mother's intercession after the Christian world sought her aid through the Rosary. The Nashville Dominicans provide an interesting summary of this miraculous event and of Pius V. I encourage you to read their article here.

As a Lay Dominican, I have come to treasure the rosary, contemplating the richness of its mysteries every day.

But I also have a fondness for this particular memorial beyond my love of the rosary. You will understand why after reading about my friend Mike. The article that follows is one of twenty stories from my book, Fleeting Glimpses of the Silly, Sentimental and Sublime:

Rosary Reflection - When Parents Pray The Rosary

"The faults of children are not always imputed to the parents, especially when they have instructed them and given good example. Our Lord, in His wondrous Providence, allows children to break the hearts of devout fathers and mothers. Thus the decisions your children have made don't make you a failure as a parent in God's eyes. You are entitled to feel sorrow, but not necessarily guilt. Do not cease praying for your children; God's grace can touch a hardened heart. Commend your children to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When parents pray the Rosary, at the end of each decade they should hold the Rosary aloft and say to her, 'With these beads bind my children to your Immaculate Heart"'. She will attend to their souls."

(St. Louise de Marillac)

October - The Month of the Rosary - Calling Upon Mary

(Image source)

October is the month dedicated to the most Holy Rosary of our Blessed Mother Mary. 

We Dominicans love Mary. We treasure her Rosary and make it a priority in our daily prayer lives. Devotion to Mother Mary and the Rosary go hand in hand.

St. Mary Magdalene and the Dominican Order

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Today the universal Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene - great sinner transformed by the forgiveness, mercy and grace of her beloved Lord into a great saint.

Over the centuries various spiritual writers have referred to her to as the Apostle to the Apostles, the Evangelist of the Resurrection and the Apostle of the Ascension.

The Dominicans have a great devotion to Mary Magdalene as explained here by the Nashville Dominicans. She is also the patroness of the Dominican Order. You can find out why by watching this most informative presentation by Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P..

Before visiting those sites, why not join the rest of the Dominican family, by reading the following excerpt from the Life Of St. Mary Magdalene by Rabanus Maurus, which is offered as the second reading in today’s Office of Readings  in the Dominican supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours:

Beware of what you desire...

The great Dominican preacher, St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419), never hesitated speaking the Truth, no matter how uncomfortable it might make his listeners. 

Why? He had one and only one concern - the salvation of souls. 

How do these words of his make you feel?

A Lenten Reflection from St. Thomas Aquinas

(St. Agatha's, Canastota, NY)

I have been journeying through Lent this year with the aid of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas. I thought you might find the following worthy of reflection and contemplation this Passion week:

“The Passion of Christ suffices to reform completely our entire life. For whosoever desires to live perfectly, need do nothing more than despise those things which Christ on the cross despised, and love the things which Christ loved. For no example of virtue is absent from the cross.