(Downloadable Audio Rosaries for transfer to mobile to pray while driving /
riding, etc)
(Right-click on the Rosary links to download them to your computer.)
1. Website: Rosary Army.
With Greg and Jennifer Willits.
THE ENGLISH ROSARY
• Luminous Mysteries - Prayed on
Thursdays (19.2 MB)
2. Website: Rosary Army.
With Greg and Jennifer Willits.
THE ENGLISH SCRIPTURAL ROSARY (BIBLE PASSAGE BETWEEN EACH PRAYER)
• Luminous Mysteries - Prayed on
Thursdays (26.7 MB)
3. Website: EWTN
EWTN's International Rosary
THE HOLY ROSARY
• Joyful Mysteries (Monday &
Saturday) (2.11 MB)
• Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday &
Friday) (2.10 MB)
• Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday &
Sunday) (2.12 MB)
• Luminous Mysteries (Thursday)
(2.11 MB)
4. Website: EWTN
The Holy Rosary with Mother
Angelica and the Nuns of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery
THE HOLY ROSARY
• Joyful Mysteries (Monday &
Saturday) (3.14 MB)
• Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday &
Friday) (3.14 MB)
• Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday &
Sunday) (3.14 MB)
• Luminous Mysteries (Thursday)
(3.14 MB)
5. Website: EWTN
The Rosary in the Holy Land
with Fr. Mitch Pacwa
THE HOLY ROSARY
• Joyful Mysteries (Monday &
Saturday) (2.24 MB)
• Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday &
Friday) (2.09 MB)
• Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday &
Sunday) (2.07 MB)
• Luminous Mysteries (Thursday)
(2.34 MB)
6. Website: EWTN
The Scriptural Rosary (Note: May have to turn up the volume to hear
it.)
THE HOLY ROSARY
• Joyful Mysteries (Monday &
Saturday) (3.32 MB)
• Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday &
Friday) (3.25 MB)
• Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday &
Sunday) (3.36 MB)
7. Website: Scriptural Rosary
(Male voice)
THE SCRIPTURAL ROSARY
• Joyful Mysteries (Monday &
Saturday) (20.0 MB)
• Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday &
Friday) (20.0 MB)
• Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday &
Sunday) (20.2 MB)
• Luminous Mysteries (Thursday)
(25.0 MB)
8. Website: Scriptural Rosary
With Melissa
THE SCRIPTURAL ROSARY
• Joyful Mysteries (Monday &
Saturday) (27.0 MB)
• Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday &
Friday) (28.4 MB)
• Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday &
Sunday) (26.6 MB)
• Luminous Mysteries (Thursday)
(26.1 MB)
COURTESY:
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St. Dominic divided the lives of our Lord and our Lady into fifteen mysteries, which stand for their virtues and their most important actions. These are fifteen pictures whose every detail must rule and inspire our lives. They are fifteen flaming torches to guide our steps throughout this earthly life; fifteen shining mirrors to help us to know Jesus and Mary, to know ourselves and to light the fire of their love in our hearts; fifteen fiery furnaces to consume us completely in their heavenly flames.
Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of praying and ordered him to preach it far and wide so as to reawaken the fervour of Christians and to revive in their hearts a love for our Blessed Lord.
Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions .
The saints made our Lord’s life the principal object of their study; they meditated on his virtues and his sufferings, and in this way arrived at Christian perfection .
Let us meditate, then, on the life and sufferings of our Saviour by means of the holy Rosary; let us learn to know him well and to be grateful for all his blessings , so that, on the day of Judgment, he may number us among his children and his friends.
A mystery is a sacred thing which is difficult to understand. The works of our Lord Jesus Christ are all sacred and divine because he is God and man at one and the same time. The works of the Blessed Virgin are very holy because she is the most perfect and the most pure of God’s creatures. The works of our Lord and of his blessed Mother can rightly be called mysteries because they are so full of wonders, of all kinds of perfections, and of deep and sublime truths, which the Holy Spirit reveals to the humble and simple souls who honour these mysteries.
The works of Jesus and Mary can also be called wonderful flowers, but their fragrance and beauty can only be appreciated by those who approach them, who breathe in their fragrance, and who discover their beauty by diligent and serious meditation.
Blessed Alan relates that a nun who had always had a great devotion to the Rosary appeared after her death to one of her sisters in religion and said to her, “If I were able to return in my body to have the chance of saying just a single Hail Mary, even without great fervour , I would gladly go through the sufferings that I had during my last illness all over again, in order to gain the merit of this prayer” It is to be noted that she had been bedridden and suffered agonizing pains for several years before she died.
My Hail Mary, my Rosary of fifteen or of five decades, is the prayer and the infallible touchstone by which I can tell those who are led by the Spirit of God from those who are deceived by the devil. I have known souls who seemed to soar like eagles to the heights by their sublime contemplation and who yet were pitifully led astray by the devil. I only found out how wrong they were when I learned that they scorned the Hail Mary and the Rosary which they considered as being far beneath them.
The Hail Mary is a blessed dew that falls from Heaven upon the souls of the predestinate. It gives them a marvelous spiritual fertility so that they can grow in all virtues. The more the garden of the soul is watered by this prayer the more enlightened one’s intellect becomes, the more zealous his heart, and the stronger his armor against his spiritual enemies. [ when we make sign of the cross let us think of these three effects]
St Louis Marie de Montfort
St Louis Marie de Montfort says: The Holy Rosary contains many mysteries of Jesus and Mary , and since faith is the only key which opens up these mysteries for us , we must begin the Rosary by saying the Creed very devoutly , and the stronger our faith the more merit our Rosary will have.
IT WOULD HARDLY be possible for me to put into words how much Our Lady esteems the Rosary. Neither can I sufficiently express how highly she rewards those who work to preach the devotion, to establish it and spread it, nor on the other hand how firmly she punishes those who work against it.
St Louis Marie de Montfort
Our Lady also said to Blessed Alan: "I want you to know that, although there are numerous indulgences already attached to the recitation of my Rosary, I shall add many more to every fifty Hail Marys (each group of five decades) for those who say them devoutly, on their knees----being, of course, free from mortal sin. And whosoever shall persevere in the devotion of the Holy Rosary, saying these prayers and meditations, shall be rewarded for it; I shall obtain for him full remission of the penalty and of the guilt of all his sins at the end of his life. Do not be unbelieving, as though this is impossible. It is easy for me to do because I am the Mother of the King of Heaven, and He calls me full of grace. And, being full of grace, I am able to dispense grace freely to my dear children."
Saint Dominic was so convinced of the efficacy of the Holy Rosary and of its great value that, when he heard confessions, he hardly ever gave any other penance. You have seen an example of this already in the story that I told you of the lady in Rome to whom he gave one single Rosary for her penance. Saint Dominic was a great Saint and other confessors should be sure to walk in his footsteps by asking their penitents to say the Rosary together with meditation on the sacred mysteries, rather than giving them other penances which are less meritorious and less pleasing to God, less likely to help them advance in virtue and not as efficacious as the Rosary for helping them avoid falling into sin. Moreover, while saying the Rosary, people gain countless indulgences which are not attached to many other devotions.
And, as Abbe Blosius says: "The Rosary, with meditation on the life and passion of Jesus Christ, is certainly most pleasing to Our Lord and His Blessed Mother and is a very successful means of obtaining all graces; we can say it for ourselves as well as for others for whom we wish to pray and for the whole Church. Let us turn, then, to the Holy Rosary in all our needs, and we shall infallibly obtain the graces we ask of God to save our souls."
One day Our Lady revealed to Blessed Alan that, after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the most important as well as the living memorial of Our Blessed Lord's passion there could not possibly be a finer devotion or one of greater merit than that of the Holy Rosary, which is like a second memorial and representation of the life and passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Father Dorland says that in 1481 Our Lady appeared to Venerable Dominic, the Carthusian, who lived at Treves, and said to him: "Whenever one of the faithful who is in a state of grace says the Rosary while meditating on the mysteries of the life and passion of Jesus Christ, he obtains full and entire remission of all his sins."
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St Padre Pio and the Rosary
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by Fr Steve Rodrigues
St Padre Pio is one of the
greatest saints of all times. He is well known in the world for the spiritual
gifts he had: stigmata, healing, prophecy, reading of hearts, levitation,
bilocation, apparition, and “odour of sanctity”. He is a great miracle worker
and a powerful intercessor. Often he was referred to as “the greatest mystic
of the 20th Century”. St Padre Pio called the Rosary a weapon because that’s
exactly what it is. It’s not just some fuzzy feeling meditation, the very
gates of hell tremble when the Rosary is prayed fervently. As Catholics, we
know that the prayers of the Rosary are more than just “vain” repetitious
words. St Padre Pio states, “The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.” If
we truly focus on the meditations of the mysteries, we examine deep into the
heart of the Gospel of truth. Some might still be thinking “Why the Rosary?”
The simple answer is because it’s powerful.
Because it fosters a love for
the Immaculata and asks for Her powerful intercession.
Padre Pio always wore the
Rosary around his arm at night. Concerning the Rosary, Our Lady Herself said
to Padre Pio: “ With this weapon you will win.” Convinced of the power of the
Rosary, Padre Pio always held the Rosary in his hands. When his death was
approaching, he recommended the Rosary to his spiritual children by saying: “Love
Our Lady and make Her loved. Always recite the Rosary.” Padre Pio had an
astonishingly unconditional, total, perennial, unwavering love for the Virgin
Mary.
He used to tell a story: “One
day Our Lord making rounds of Paradise saw some strange faces. He asked
Peter: Who let these people in? Peter: ‘There is nothing I can do.’ The Lord:
‘But You have the key.’ Peter: ‘There is nothing I can do, and you can’t do
either.’ The Lord: ‘What do you mean?’ ‘It’s Your Mother. She has another
key. She lets them in’.” The secular culture is also powerful and is built on
lies and the twisting of good and evil. If we are ever to shake the very
foundation of falsehood that the secularism is built on, we must arm
ourselves with the truth. Praying the rosary is such a powerful way in which
we will begin to take down the secret walls of hidden shame in our homes;
praying the Rosary for those nailed down by addictions of this world is the
silent prescription for this disease.
The Rosary is the Gospel on a
chain. The prayers of the Rosary help us gain insight into the One who is the
Divine Truth and Truth Giver. Not only do we arm ourselves with the truth,
but we also implore the one who is the Mother of Truth to act with us.
In the Rosary we ask the
model of purity Herself, Mary, to pray for our purity. We have a Goliath to
take down and just as David had five stones in his arsenal, we have five
decades in ours. The Rosary has been the chain or the seat belt that we need
in these times of turbulence.
So grab those beads and start praying.
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BENEFITS OF PRAYING THE HOLY ROSARY
I SHOULD LIKE to give you even more reason for embracing this devotion which so many great souls have practised; the Rosary recited with meditation on the mysteries brings about the following marvelous results:
1. it gradually gives us a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ;
2. it purifies our souls, washing away sin;
3. it gives us victory over all our enemies;
4. it makes it easy for us to practise virtue;
5. it sets us on fire with love of Our Blessed Lord;
6. it enriches us with graces and merits;
7. it supplies us with what is needed to pay all our debts to God and to our fellow men, and finally, it obtains all kinds of graces for us from Almighty God.
The knowledge of Jesus Christ is the science of Christians and the science of salvation; Saint Paul says that it surpasses all human sciences in value and perfection. [1] This is true:
1. because of the dignity of its object, which is a God-man compared to Whom the whole universe is but a drop of dew or a grain of sand;
2. because of its helpfulness to us; human sciences, on the other hand, but fill us with the smoke and emptiness of pride;
3. and finally, because of its utter necessity: for no one can possibly be saved without the knowledge of Jesus Christ----and yet a man who knows absolutely nothing of any of the other sciences will be saved as long as he is illumined by the science of Jesus Christ.
Blessed is the Rosary which gives us this science and knowledge of our Blessed Lord through our meditations on His life, death, passion and glory.
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As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting the child in her womb leapt for joy. All the action takes place when Mary greets Elizabeth who was now an old woman even though in the culture of that time the elder came before the younger. When Mary spoke the Holy Spirit came on John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s womb (see Luke 1:15) and he leapt for joy. It was the moment when John the Baptist was cleansed of original sin. Mary was the Spouse of the Holy Spirit since the Annunciation when she conceived Jesus of the Holy Spirit. Now when Mary visits Elizabeth the Holy Spirit shows the importance of Mary, his Spouse, by cleansing John the Baptist of original sin and John the Baptist leaps in Elizabeth’s womb. I have heard one person say the Holy Spirit is boasting about Mary his Spouse.
(It is interesting that modern medical science has shown that by twenty-five weeks the baby in the womb has the ability to hear like that of an adult and can discern the moods and attitudes of its mother. Only three people were born without original sin and we celebrate their birthdays; Jesus on Dec 25th, Mary on Sep 8th and John the Baptist on June 24th. Jesus and Mary were conceived without original sin but John the Baptist was cleansed of original sin while in the womb.)
When Mary spoke, the Holy Spirit came on Elizabeth and on John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s womb. St. Louis Marie de Montfort, who wrote much about Mary, tells us that when we have Mary we will also have her Spouse, the Holy Spirit:
“When the Holy Spirit finds his Spouse in a soul, he flies to that soul, to communicate himself to it, to fill it with his presence, in proportion as he discovers there the presence and the fullness of his Spouse. One of the major reasons why the Holy Spirit does not now work blinding wonders of grace in our souls is that he does not find in us a sufficiently strong union with Mary his indissoluble Spouse.”
(True Devotion to Mary Part 1, chapter 1, article 2)
So when we have Mary in our lives we will also have the Holy Spirit, just as the Holy Spirit fell on Elizabeth and John the Baptist when Mary spoke. So we can say that the closer we are to Mary the closer we are to her Spouse, the Holy Spirit, and the closer we are to God. Mary leads us to God and when we have Mary in our souls the Holy Spirit comes to us.
Mary in cooperation with her Spouse, the Holy Spirit, became the mother of Jesus. Elizabeth asked, “Why should I be honored with a visit from the mother of my Lord?” Elizabeth described Mary as the “mother of my Lord” but our more common expression is Mother of God. Some people misunderstand the meaning of the title Mother of God. When we describe Mary as “Mother of God” we do not mean that Mary is the mother or source of the Trinity and we do not mean that Mary is the source of Jesus’ soul or that his divinity came from Mary. Yet Christ was both human and divine in one person; he had both human nature and divine nature (see Col 2:9).
He was not two separate persons but one person with two natures so therefore we can say that Mary was the Mother of God. It is the same with every mother here. Every mother here gave a body to her child but that child’s soul came from God. Yet when we talk of someone being a child’s mother we never specify or distinguish and say the mother is the mother of child’s body but not of the child’s soul. Likewise the child says, “Hello, mother” and does not say, “Hello, mother of my body.” In the same way we call Mary the Mother of God because Jesus had human and divine nature in one person. Mary is even described as Mother of God in Scripture, in our Gospel today when Elizabeth asks, “Why should I be honored with a visit from the mother of my Lord?” And the word that Elizabeth uses for ‘Lord’ (κυριος) is a word that is used for ‘God’ in the New Testament so there can be no confusion. It is the same word that Jesus uses when he describes himself as ‘Lord of the Sabbath.’ (Mark 2:28)
So no wonder that Elizabeth says to Mary, “Of all women you are the most blessed and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” These inspired words have now become part of that beautiful prayer which we call the ‘Hail Mary.’ Mary was Mother of God once but continues to be mother for all time, mother to each of us bearing fruit in us and Mother of the Church bringing new life to the Church. St. Louis Marie de Montfort wrote,
When Mary has implanted her roots in a soul, she produces…wonders of grace which she alone can produce, because she alone is the fruitful Virgin who never has had, nor ever shall have, her equal in purity…”
So let us spend time in prayer with Mary that she may implant her roots in our souls, and produce wonders of grace which she alone can produce and that her Spouse, the Holy Spirit, may fly to us and fill us with his presence. We can understand why Pope John Paul II was very much influenced by the writings of St. Louis Marie de Montfort and took his motto “Totus Tuus, O Maria,” “I am all yours, O Mary,” from St. Louis Marie de Montfort. The best way to spend time with Mary is by praying the Rosary, the prayer which she has told us in so many places is so dear to her and which is very powerful.
When Mary spoke, the Holy Spirit came on Elizabeth and on John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s womb. When we have Mary in our lives we will also have the Holy Spirit, just as the Holy Spirit fell on Elizabeth and John the Baptist when Mary spoke.
“When the Holy Spirit finds his Spouse in a soul, he flies to that soul, to communicate himself to it, to fill it with his presence...”
(True Devotion to Mary Part 1, chapter 1, article 2)
When Mary has implanted her roots in a soul, she produces…wonders of grace which she alone can produce, because she alone is the fruitful Virgin who never has had, nor ever shall have, her equal in purity…”
May we spend time in prayer with Mary that she may implant her roots in our souls, and produce wonders of grace which she alone can produce and that her Spouse, the Holy Spirit, may fly to us and fill us with his presence.
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THIS MIRACULOUS WAY in which the devotion to the Holy Rosary was established is something of a parallel to the way in which Almighty God gave His law to the world on Mount Sinai and obviously proves its value and importance .
The Secret of the Rosary
St. John Paul II in 2002 said: Historical circumstances make a revival of the Rosary quite timely. First of all, the need to implore from God the gift of peace. The Rosary has many times been proposed by my predecessors and myself as a prayer for peace. At the start of a millennium which began with the terrifying attacks of 11 September 2001, a millennium which witnesses every day innumerous parts of the world fresh scenes of bloodshed and violence, to rediscover the Rosary means to immerse oneself in contemplation of the mystery of Christ who "is our peace", since he made "the two of us one, and broke down the dividing wall of hostility" (Eph 2:14). Consequently, one cannot recite the Rosary without feeling caught up in a clear commitment to advancing peace, especially in the land of Jesus, still so sorely afflicted and so close to the heart of every Christian.
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To say the Holy Rosary to advantage one must be in a state of grace or at the very least be fully determined to give up mortal sin. This we know because all our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are only dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin. Therefore they can neither be pleasing to God nor help us gain eternal life. This is why Ecclesiastes says: "Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner." [1] Praise of God and the salutation of the Angel and the very Prayer of Jesus Christ are not pleasing to God when they are said by unrepentant sinners.
Our Lord said: "This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." [2] It is as though He was saying: "Those who join My Confraternity and say their Rosary every day (even perhaps the fifteen decades), but without being sorry for their sins offer Me lip service only and their hearts are far from Me."
I have just said that to say the Rosary to advantage one must be in a state of grace "or at least be fully determined to give up mortal sin;" first of all, because, if it were true that God only heard the prayers of those in a state of grace it would follow that people in a state of mortal sin should not pray at all. This is an erroneous teaching which has been condemned by Holy Mother Church, because of course sinners need to pray far more than good people do. Were this horrible doctrine true it would then be useless and futile to tell a sinner to say all, or even part of his Rosary, because it would never help him.
St. Louis Marie de Montfort
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IT IS NOT SO much the length of a prayer, but the fervor with which it is said which pleases Almighty God and touches His Heart. One single Hail Mary that is said properly is worth more than one hundred and fifty that are badly said. Most Catholics say the Rosary, the whole fifteen mysteries or five of them anyway or, at least a few decades. So why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and go forward in the spiritual life? Surely it must be because they are not saying them as they should. It is a good thing to think over how we should pray if we really want to please God and become more holy.
St Louis Marie de Montfort
One day our Lord said to Blessed Alan, “If only these poor wretched sinners would say my Rosary often, they would share in the merits of My Passion, and I would be their Advocate and would appease the justice of God.”
“A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly”.
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One night when a woman Confraternity member had retired, Our Lady appeared to her and said: “My daughter, do not be afraid of me. I am your loving Mother whom you praise so faithfully every day. Be steadfast and persevere; I want you to know that the Angelic Salutation gives me so much joy that no man could ever really explain it.” (Guillaume Pepin, in Rosario aureo Sermon 47)
Saint Gertrude corroborated this in one of her visions; in her Revelations, Book IV, Chapter II, we find this story: It was the morning of the feast of the Annunciation and the Hail Mary was of course being sung in Saint Gertrude’s monastery. During the singing she had a vision in which three streams gushed forth from the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost and gently flowed into Mary’s virginal heart. The minute they reached her heart they bounded back to the source from where they had come. From this Saint Gertrude learned that the Blessed Trinity has allowed Our Lady to be most powerful next to God the Father, the wisest after God the Son, and the most loving after God the Holy Ghost. She also learned that every time the Angelic Salutation is said by the faithful the three mysterious streams surround Our Lady in a mighty, swirling current and rush into her heart. After they have completely bathed her in happiness they gush back into the bosom of Almighty God. The Saints and Angels share in this abundance of joy as do the faithful on earth, who say this prayer. For the Angelic Salutation is the source of all good for God’s children
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One day, when St. Mechtilde was praying and was trying to think of some way in which she could express her love of the Blessed Virgin better than before, she fell into ecstasy. Our Lady appeared to her with the Angelic Salutation written in letters of gold upon her breast and said to her, “My daughter, I want you to know that no one can please me more than by saying the greeting which the most adorable Trinity presented to me and by which I was raised to the dignity of the Mother of God. By the word Ave, which is the name of Eve, Eva, I learned that God in his infinite power had preserved me from all sin and its attendant misery which the first woman had been subject to. The name Mary, which means ‘lady of light,’ shows that God has filled me with wisdom and light, like a shining star, to light up heaven and earth. The words, full of grace, remind me that the Holy Spirit has showered so many graces upon me that I am able to give these graces in abundance to those who ask for them through my mediation. When people say, The Lord is with thee, they renew the indescribable joy that was mine when the eternal Word became incarnate in my womb. When you say to me, Blessed art thou among women, I praise the mercy of God who has raised me to this exalted degree of happiness. And at the words, Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, the whole of heaven rejoices with me to see my Son Jesus adored and glorified for having saved mankind.”
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One day Saint Gertrude had a vision of our Lord counting gold coins. She summoned the courage to ask Him what he was doing, and he answered, “I am counting the Hail Marys that you have said; this is the money with which you purchase Heaven.” (Do not misunderstand this story; we cannot attain Heaven on our own, but it is also true that “faith without deeds is dead” – James 2:17)
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In The Secret of The Rosary’ by St. Louis de Montfort:
Our Lady has approved and confirmed this name of the Rosary; she has revealed to several people that each time they say a Hail Mary they are giving her a beautiful rose, and that each complete Rosary makes her a crown of roses.
Blessed Alan also relates that a nun who had always had a great devotion to the Rosary appeared after her death to one of her sisters in religion and said to her, “If I were able to return in my body to have the chance of saying just a single Hail Mary, even without great fervour, I would gladly go through the sufferings that I had during my last illness all over again, in order to gain the merit of this prayer.” It is to be noted that she had been bed-ridden and suffered agonizing pains for several years before she died.
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When the muslims were decimating Catholics in Europe in the 1500′s, Saint Pope Pius V asked all of the Catholics to pray the Holy Rosary of the Holy Virgin Mary. He then gathered the naval fleets of the Papal States, Spain, Genoa, Venice and Malta to form the Holy Catholic League to defeat them. Don Juan of Austria was only 24 years old when he commanded this league against the powerful muslim galleys at Lepanto.
The Battle of Lepanto took place on Sunday October 7th. 1571. Thanks to the powerful prayer of the Holy Rosary and the brave battle of the Holy league, the Ottoman fleets were defeated and peace again reigned on the Mediterranean Sea. This was the decisive defeat of the Ottoman Terror.
St. Pope Pius V belonged to the Dominican Order of Friar Preachers. And because of this, he was very well acquainted with his founder St. Dominic’s love for the Holy Rosary. He knew personally about all the miracles that God had worked for St. Dominic, through the Holy Rosary, to convert thousands of heretics back to the true Catholic faith. For this reason he motivated all of Europe to pray the Holy Rosary for the victory of the Battle of Lepanto. God heard their prayers through the intercession of the Virgin Mary’s Holy Rosary.
I am presently, one short chapter at a time (each chapter is called a Rose), reading St. Louis De Montefort’s “The Secret of the Rosary“. In this beautiful and joyful book, you read how the Holy Rosary is so powerful because it is the recitation of the prayer of Jesus Christ: the Our Father, and the Holy Scripture (Chapter 1 of St. Luke’s Gospel) of the Angel Gabriel’s salutation to Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace“. Praying these prayers and meditating on the life of Jesus is very pleasing to God. Therefore He quickly answers our prayers.
Mary appeared to St. Dominic in the 1200′s and instructed to pray the Holy Rosary to bring heretics back to Jesus’ Church. She also told him to pray the Holy Rosary before preaching. And before he started his homily, he was to start with a Hail Mary. The reason for this was that, before people could hear the truth, they needed to learn to pray first. Since the Holy Rosary is so easy to pray, she told him to teach them to pray the Holy Rosary and then they would have their minds opened to the truth of the Catholic Faith.
Let us pray the 15 traditional Holy Rosary’s mysteries (Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious) kneeling everyday (when ever possible, kneeling). There is nothing wrong with the Luminous Mysteries, but they are not traditional. I believe that Our Lady taught St. Dominic the 15 mysteries for a reason. I also trust what the saints taught about these mysteries too.
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Here are ten reasons you should pray the rosary.
1. The Rosary is Scriptural.
The prayers of the Rosary, which consist mainly of the Our Father (Matthew 6:9), and the Hail Mary (Luke 1:42, 41,48, 2:35), are pulled straight from scripture. The later addition of the second portion of the "Hail Mary," while inferred from Scripture, can easily be omitted by non-Catholics who are praying the rosary but uncomfortable with the Marian aspect of the devotion. The rest of the Rosary is inferred by scripture (the Apostle's Creed, the Glory Be, the O My Jesus) and consists of a meditation on the events of the life of Christ which we find in the Bible. We know from scripture that praying and speaking God's Word is a valuable tool in our arsenal against the forces of darkness. Praying the Rosary, then, is an easy way to get started waging spiritual warfare for ourselves and on behalf of others.
2. The Rosary was recommended by Heaven.
In 1208 when the albigensian heresy was growing in strength and popularity, St Dominic stormed heaven for help. Our Lady appeared to him and recommended that he start preaching about praying the rosary as a means to help people understand the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, reminding him that when God willed to renew the face of the earth He did so using the Angelic Salutaion found in the Hail Mary. It worked. Later, God used Mary to appear to Saint Bernadette in Lourdes, France and three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, where she recommended the prayers of the Rosary to save sinners, help people turn to Christ, and help people to pray and sacrifice, and warned that difficult world events were occurring because so few people loved God. In fact, wherever God has used Mary to speak to His people, the rosary has been recommended as the best way to help even the simplest of people to learn and know the Gospel.
3. The Rosary is a Christ- centered meditation.
Even though it is the chief of the Marian devotions, the Rosary is all about Jesus Christ (and the way Mary herself related to Him.) We know from scientific findings that there are great mental and emotional, and even physical benefits to meditation. In the rosary, the person praying is immersed in thoughts about the events in the life of Christ. Instead of a meditation focused on emptying the mind and spirit, it is a meditation focused on lifting the mind and spirit to God. If you've been wanting to learn how to meditate, but nervous about all of the different, non Christ-oriented methods out there, try the rosary! It's the easiest "method" to enter into contemplative prayer.
4. The beads of the Rosary help to represent a spiritual reality.
In an encyclical about the Rosary called Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Pope John Paul II said this: At the most superficial level, the beads often become a simple counting mechanism…Yet they can also take on a symbolism which can give added depth to contemplation. Here the first thing to note is the way the beads converge upon the crucifix, which both opens and closes the unfolding sequence of prayer. The life and prayer of believers is centered upon Christ. Everything begins from him, everything leads towards him, everything, through him, in the Holy Spirit, attains to the Father. As a counting mechanism, marking the progress of the prayer, the beads evoke the unending path of contemplation and of Christian perfection… A fine way to expand the symbolism of the beads is to let them remind us of our many relationships, of the bond of communion and fraternity which unites us all in Christ.
As a homeschooling family, we recently purchased an abacus to teach my oldest the first steps of doing mental math. It occured to me at the time that the physical moving around of the beads themselves help her to make CONCRETE a mental idea she is ascribing to it. Children who grow up using an abacus become experts at making math a reality in their heads, even very difficult calculations and concepts. In the same way, the physical act of fingering the beads and moving them around helps make spiritual realities concrete for us.
5. The Rosary brings families and friends together.
The Rosary is the single easiest prayer time to organize with children. It is easy both for people who are accustomed to long periods of prayer and people who are completely uncomfortable with praying at all. Because it has a set structure, everyone knows how to pray it or can easily learn, and it's universality make it approachable as a prayer choice for family prayer, prayer with visiting guests, and in groups who desire to get together for the purpose of prayer. Praying the rosary in the family has been recommended by Heaven over and over again and is a powerful way to unite all members of the family around Christ.
6. The Rosary is a complete prayer.
You have probably heard that our prayer time should include the old A.C.T.S. acronym: Adoration, Confession, Thanskgiving, and Supplication. The Rosary contains each of these elements. It also contains a combination of vocal and mental prayer, as well as containing a physical element-- something we do with our bodies-- which makes it the most complete, all-in-one prayer available to us.
7. The Rosary is a sacrifice of time.
We all know that it's one thing to SAY we love God and another to do the things that demonstrate that we really do. Praying the rosary takes about twenty minutes, and is not always "easy" (especially if you're doing it with young boys, and having to stop every few minutes to say: "No honey, the rosary is a SPIRITUAL weapon! SPIRITUAL! Not physical!") It is also true that the rosary can be extremely boring if we do not involve our hearts and minds in the prayer. It is a sacrifice of the heart. At the same time, Our Lord says: "but go and learn what this means: "I desire mercy, not a sacrifice." For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mt 9:13) Praying the rosary is not only a sacrifice that tells God we mean business, but also an act of mercy, when we realize what it really is and how much it helps those for whom we pray.
8. The prayers of the Rosary unite us to the communion of saints.
Over the years, literally thousands of saints have recommended the rosary as a means to get to know God. When we pray the Rosary, we are in agreement with the prayers of every Christian walking the earth, in particular united to all those who pray the rosary, and also in agreement with the prayers of the saints in heaven. We are in a special way united to the prayers of the Queen of Saints and Angels... the one whom Our Lord to chose to inhabit competely in both a physical and spiritual way, Mary. It is a unifying force for Christians and a powerful means of connecting with the Body of Christ.
9. The Rosary is recommended by all people who pray it regularly.
I have never met a person who regularly prays the rosary who doesn't highly recommend it to everyone. A regular habit of praying the rosary builds character, fortifies the desire for virtue in a person, helps them to draw closer to Christ, wages spiritual warfare, brings protection from evil and harm, and provides an active outlet through which physical and mental calm can flow.
10. The Rosary can change your heart and the lives of the people you pray for.
There are so many miracles attributed to the recitation of the rosary that it would be impossible to make an exhaustive list. People who pray the rosary regularly report hearing from God more clearly, experiencing physical healings, emotional healings, and answers to every prayer. The Rosary has historically been the method of prayer that sees the most powerful results. Of those who don't see their prayers answered, people report seeing their hearts changed instead. "I thought I wanted something and prayed the rosary every day to receive it," says Mariana Lopez, a daily rosary reciter from Fayetteville, NC, who has been praying the rosary for more than sixteen years, "But God taught me to want something else that was better."
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MEDITATION FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY ROSARY, 5 OCTOBER 1879
Cardinal John Henry Newman
Cardinal John Henry Newman
Newman had no text for this short sermon. What we have here is the report given in a newspaper and written from notes taken at the time of preaching. It was delivered on Sunday, 5 October 1879. The Cardinal was then 78 years of age, and was speaking "from his heart" to the boys at Oscott College, in the north of Birmingham. As it was the Feast of the Holy Rosary, he preached on the text: "They found Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in a manger" (Lk 2,16).
Five months previously, Newman was in Rome to be created Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII.
Personal love for the Rosary
Newman himself was very fond of his beads. He said: "to my own feelings nothing is more delightful" (The Letters and Diaries, XII, 217). For him it was not a matter of a mechanical repetition, but a meditation and contemplation of the mysteries of our Lord's life in the company of his Mother. He has not told us expressly how he said the Rosary, but the following advice which he gave to a recent convert whom he directed probably reflects Newman's own procedure: "Try it thus, if you don't so use it at present, but perhaps you do;—viz. before each mystery, set before you a picture of it, and fix your mind upon that picture (e.g. the Annunciation, the Agony, etc.) while you say the Pater and 10 Aves, not thinking of the words, only saying them correctly. Let the exercise be hardly more than a meditation. Perhaps this will overcome any sense of tedium" (The Letters and Diaries, XII, 263). Needless to say, the material repetition of Paters and Aves has then reached its scope and becomes genuine prayer (cf. Philip Boyce, OCD, 'At Prayer with Newman', in In Search of Light. Life Development Prayer. Three Essays on John Henry Newman. Rome, International Centre of Newman Friends, 1985, p. 82).
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I am not going to make a long address to you, my dear boys, or say anything that you have not often heard before from your superiors, for I know well in what good hands you are, and I know that their instructions come to you with greater force than any you can have from a stranger. If I speak to you at all, it is because I have lately come from the Holy Father, and am, in some sort, his representative, and so in the years to come you may remember that you saw me today and heard me speak in his name, and remember it to your profit.
You know that today we keep the Feast of the Holy Rosary, and I propose to say to you what occurs to me on this great subject. You know how that devotion came about; how, at a time when heresy was very widespread, and had called in the aid of sophistry, that can so powerfully aid infidelity against religion, God inspired St Dominic to institute and spread this devotion. It seems so simple and easy, but you know God chooses the small things of the world to humble the great (I Cor. 1,27-28).
Of course it was first of all for the poor and simple, but not for them only, for everyone who has practised the devotion knows that there is in it a soothing sweetness that there is in nothing else. It is difficult to know God by your own power, because He is incomprehensible. He is invisible to begin with, and therefore incomprehensible. We can in some way know Him, for even among the heathens there were some who had learned many truths about Him; but even they found it hard to conform their lives to their knowledge of Him. And so in His mercy He has given us a revelation of Himself by coming amongst us, to be one of ourselves, with all the relations and qualities of humanity, to gain us over. He came down from Heaven and dwelt amongst us, and died for us. All these things are in the Creed, which contains the chief things that He has revealed to us about Himself.
Now the great power of the Rosary lies in this, that it makes the Creed into a prayer; of course, the Creed is in some sense a prayer and a great act of homage to God; but the Rosary gives us the great truths of His life and death to meditate upon, and brings them nearer to our hearts. And so we contemplate all the great mysteries of His life and His birth in the manger; and so too the mysteries of His suffering and His glorified life. But even Christians, with all their knowledge of God, have usually more awe than love of Him, and the special virtue of the Rosary lies in the special way in which it looks at these mysteries; for with all our thoughts of Him are mingled thoughts of His Mother, and in the relations between Mother and Son we have set before us the Holy Family, the home in which God lived. Now the family is, even humanly considered, a sacred thing; how much more the family bound together by supernatural ties, and, above all, that in which God dwelt with His Blessed Mother.
This is what I should most wish you to remember in future years. For you will all of you have to go out into the world, and going out into the world means leaving home; and, my dear boys, you don't know what the world is now. You look forward to the time when you will go out into the world, and it seems to you very bright and full of promise. It is not wrong for you to look forward to that time; but most men who know the world find it a world of great trouble, and disappointments, and even misery. If it turns out so to you, seek a home in the Holy Family that you think about in the mysteries of the Rosary. Schoolboys know the difference between school and home. You often hear grown-up people say that the happiest time of their life was that passed at school but when they were at school you know they had a happier time, which was when they went home; that shows there is a good in home which cannot be found elsewhere. So that even if the world should actually prove to be all that you now fancy it, if it should bring you all that you could wish, yet you ought to have in the Holy Family a home with a holiness and sweetness about it that cannot be found elsewhere.
This is, my dear boys, what I most earnestly ask you. I ask you when you go out into the world, as you soon must, to make the Holy Family your home, to which you may turn from all the sorrow and care of the world and find a solace, a compensation, and a refuge. And this I say to you, not as if I should speak to you again, not as if I had of myself any claim upon you, but with the claims of the Holy Father, whose representative I am, and in the hope that in the days to come you will remember that I came amongst you and said it to you. And when I speak of the Holy Family I do not mean Our Lord and Our Lady only, but St Joseph too; for as we cannot separate Our Lord from His Mother, so we cannot separate St Joseph from them both; for who but he was their protector in all the scenes of Our Lord's early life? And with Joseph must be included St Elizabeth and St John, whom we naturally think of as part of the Holy Family; we read of them together and see them in pictures together. May you, my dear boys, throughout your life find a home in the Holy Family; the home of Our Lord and His Blessed Mother, St Joseph, St Elizabeth, and St John.
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1. “The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.” -Saint Padre Pio
2. “Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.” – Blessed Pope Pius IX
3. “The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary.” – Saint Francis de Sales
4. “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.” -St. Padre Pio
5. “Go to the Madonna. Love her! Always say the Rosary. Say it well. Say it as often as you can! Be souls of prayer. Never tire of praying, it is what is essential. Prayer shakes the Heart of God, it obtains necessary graces!” -St. Padre Pio
6. “The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you’ll be amazed at the results.” -St. Josemaria Escriva
7. “Say the Holy Rosary. Blessed be that monotony of Hail Mary’s which purifies the monotony of your sins!” -St. Josemaria Escriva
8. “For those who use their intelligence and their study as a weapon, the Rosary is most effective. Because that apparently monotonous way of beseeching Our Lady as children do their Mother, can destroy every seed of vainglory and pride.” – St. Josemaria Escriva
9. “You always leave the Rosary for later, and you end up not saying it at all because you are sleepy. If there is no other time, say it in the street without letting anybody notice it. It will, moreover, help you to have presence of God.” – St. Josemaria Escriva
10. “The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin…If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors.” – Pope Pius XI
11. “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.” – Archbishop Fulton Sheen
12. ““The Rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life. It is the remedy for all our evils, the root of all our blessings. There is no more excellent way of praying.” Pope Leo XIII
13. “No one can live continually in sin and continue to say the Rosary: either they will give up sin or they will give up the Rosary” – Bishop Hugh Doyle
14. “The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.” -Sister Lucia dos Santos of Fatima
15. “Here is an example to help you understand the efficacy of the Rosary. You remember the story of David who vanquished Goliath. What steps did the young Israelite take to overthrow the giant? He struck him in the middle of the forehead with a pebble from his sling. If we regard the Philistine as representing evil and all its powers: heresy, impurity, pride, we can consider the little stones from the sling capable of overthrowing the enemy as symbolizing the Aves of the Rosary.
“The ways of God are entirely different from our ways. To us it seems necessary to employ powerful means in order to produce great effects. This is not God’s method; quite the contrary. He likes to choose the weakest instruments that He may confound the strong: “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong — Infirma mundi elegit ut confundat fortia” (1 Cor 1:27).
“Have you not often met poor old women who are most faithful to the pious recitation of the Rosary? You also must do all that you can to recite it with fervour. Get right down, at the feet of Jesus: it is a good thing to make oneself small in the presence of so great a God.” – Dom Columba Marmion, Christ, the Ideal of the Priest
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Our Lady's 15 promises to those who devoutly pray the Rosary as revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche...
1.) Whosoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.
Signal Graces are those special and unique Graces to help sanctify us in our state in life. See the remaining promises for an explanation for which these will consist. St. Louis de Montfort states emphatically that the best and fastest way to union with Our Lord is via Our Lady [True Devotion to Mary, chapter four].
2.) I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
Our Lady is our Advocate and the channel of all God's Grace to us. Our Lady is simply highlighting that She will watch especially over us who pray the Rosary. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62) [a great more detail is available on this topic in True Devotion to Mary, chapter four, by St. Louis de Montfort]
3.) The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies.
This promise, along with the next, is simply the reminder on how fervent prayer will help us all grow in holiness by avoiding sin, especially a prayer with the excellence of the Rosary. An increase in holiness necessarily requires a reduction in sin, vice, and doctrinal errors (heresies). If only the Modernists could be convinced to pray the Rosary! (see Lumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42) St. Louis de Montfort states "Since Mary alone crushed all heresies, as we are told by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary)..." [True Devotion to Mary #167]
4.) It will cause good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for Eternal Things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
This promise, along with the previous, is the positive part, that being to live in virtue. Becoming holy is not only avoiding sin, but also growing in virtue. (see Lumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42)
5.) The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.
Since Our Lady is our Mother and Advocate, She always assists those who call on Her implicitly by praying the Rosary. The Church reminds us of this in the Memorare prayer, "... never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided ..."
6.) Whosoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of Eternal Life.
This promise highlights the magnitude of Graces that the Rosary brings to whomever prays it. One will draw down God's Mercy rather than His Justice and will have a final chance to repent (see promise #7). One will not be conquered by misfortune means that Our Lady will obtain for the person sufficient Graces to handle said misfortune (i.e. carry the Crosses allowed by God) without falling into despair. As Sacred Scripture tells us, "For my yoke is sweet and my burden light." (Matthew 11:30)
7.) Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
This promise highlights the benefits of obtaining the most possible Graces at the hour of death via the Sacraments of Confession, Eucharist, and Extreme Unction (Anointing of the Sick). Being properly disposed while receiving these Sacraments near death ensures one's salvation (although perhaps with a detour through Purgatory) since a final repentance is possible.
8.) Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the Light of God and the plenitude of His Graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the Merits of the Saints in Paradise.
Our Lady highlights the great quantity of Graces obtain through praying the Rosary, which assist us during life and at the moment of death. The merits of the Saints are the gift of God's rewards to those persons who responded to His Grace that they obtained during life, and so Our Lady indicates that She will provide a share of that to us at death. With this promise and #7 above, Our Lady is providing the means for the person to have a very holy death.
9.) I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
Should one require Purgatorial cleansing after death, Our Lady will make a special effort to obtain our release from Purgatory through Her intercession as Advocate.
10.) The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of Glory in Heaven.
This promise is a logical consequence of promises #3 and #4 since anyone who truly lives a holier life on earth will obtain a higher place in Heaven. The closer one is to God while living on earth, the close that person is to Him also in Heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states "Spiritual progress tends toward ever more union with Christ." (Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 2014)
11.) You shall obtain all you ask of me by recitation of the Rosary.
This promise emphasizes Our Lady's role as our Advocate and Mediatrix of all Graces. Of course, all requests are subject to God's Most Perfect Will. God will always grant our request if it is beneficial for our soul, and Our Lady will only intercede for us when our request is good for our salvation. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62)
12.) All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
If one promotes the praying of the Rosary, Our Lady emphasizes Her Maternal care for us by obtaining many Graces (i.e. spiritual necessities) and also material necessities (neither excess nor luxury), all subject to the Will of God of course.
13.) I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire Celestial Court during their life and at the hour of death.
Since Our Lady is our Advocate, She brings us additional assistance during our life and at our death from all the saints in Heaven (the Communion of Saints). See paragraphs 954 through 959 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
14.) All who recite the Rosary are my Sons, and brothers of my Only Son Jesus Christ.
Since the Rosary is a most excellent prayer focused on Jesus and His Life and activities in salvation history, it brings us closer to Our Lord and Our Lady. Doctrinally, Our Lady is our Mother and Jesus is our Eldest Brother, besides being our God. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62)
15.) Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
Predestination in this context means that, by the sign which is present to a person from the action of devoutly praying the Rosary, God has pre-ordained your salvation. Absolute certainty of salvation can only be truly known if God reveals it to a person because, although we are given sufficient Grace during life, our salvation depends upon our response to said Grace. (See Summa Theologica, Question 23 for a detailed theological explanation). Said another way, if God has guaranteed a person's salvation but has not revealed it to Him, God would want that person to pray the Rosary because of all the benefits and Graces obtained. Therefore the person gets a hint by devotion to the Rosary. This is not to say that praying the Rosary guarantees salvation - by no means. In looking at promises #3 and #4 above, praying the Rosary helps one to live a holy life, which is itself a great sign that a soul is on the road to salvation. (See also paragraphs 381, 488, 600, 2782 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.) In fact, St. Louis de Montfort says even more strongly that "an infallible and unmistakable sign by which we can distinguish a heretic, a man of false doctrine, an enemy of God, from one of God's true friends is that the hardened sinner and heretic show nothing but contempt and indifference to Our Lady..." [True Devotion to Mary, #30]
==============================================
Our Lady's 15 promises to those who devoutly pray the Rosary as revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche...
1.) Whosoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.
Signal Graces are those special and unique Graces to help sanctify us in our state in life. See the remaining promises for an explanation for which these will consist. St. Louis de Montfort states emphatically that the best and fastest way to union with Our Lord is via Our Lady [True Devotion to Mary, chapter four].
2.) I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
Our Lady is our Advocate and the channel of all God's Grace to us. Our Lady is simply highlighting that She will watch especially over us who pray the Rosary. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62) [a great more detail is available on this topic in True Devotion to Mary, chapter four, by St. Louis de Montfort]
3.) The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies.
This promise, along with the next, is simply the reminder on how fervent prayer will help us all grow in holiness by avoiding sin, especially a prayer with the excellence of the Rosary. An increase in holiness necessarily requires a reduction in sin, vice, and doctrinal errors (heresies). If only the Modernists could be convinced to pray the Rosary! (see Lumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42) St. Louis de Montfort states "Since Mary alone crushed all heresies, as we are told by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary)..." [True Devotion to Mary #167]
4.) It will cause good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for Eternal Things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
This promise, along with the previous, is the positive part, that being to live in virtue. Becoming holy is not only avoiding sin, but also growing in virtue. (see Lumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42)
5.) The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.
Since Our Lady is our Mother and Advocate, She always assists those who call on Her implicitly by praying the Rosary. The Church reminds us of this in the Memorare prayer, "... never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided ..."
6.) Whosoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of Eternal Life.
This promise highlights the magnitude of Graces that the Rosary brings to whomever prays it. One will draw down God's Mercy rather than His Justice and will have a final chance to repent (see promise #7). One will not be conquered by misfortune means that Our Lady will obtain for the person sufficient Graces to handle said misfortune (i.e. carry the Crosses allowed by God) without falling into despair. As Sacred Scripture tells us, "For my yoke is sweet and my burden light." (Matthew 11:30)
7.) Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
This promise highlights the benefits of obtaining the most possible Graces at the hour of death via the Sacraments of Confession, Eucharist, and Extreme Unction (Anointing of the Sick). Being properly disposed while receiving these Sacraments near death ensures one's salvation (although perhaps with a detour through Purgatory) since a final repentance is possible.
8.) Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the Light of God and the plenitude of His Graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the Merits of the Saints in Paradise.
Our Lady highlights the great quantity of Graces obtain through praying the Rosary, which assist us during life and at the moment of death. The merits of the Saints are the gift of God's rewards to those persons who responded to His Grace that they obtained during life, and so Our Lady indicates that She will provide a share of that to us at death. With this promise and #7 above, Our Lady is providing the means for the person to have a very holy death.
9.) I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
Should one require Purgatorial cleansing after death, Our Lady will make a special effort to obtain our release from Purgatory through Her intercession as Advocate.
10.) The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of Glory in Heaven.
This promise is a logical consequence of promises #3 and #4 since anyone who truly lives a holier life on earth will obtain a higher place in Heaven. The closer one is to God while living on earth, the close that person is to Him also in Heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states "Spiritual progress tends toward ever more union with Christ." (Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 2014)
11.) You shall obtain all you ask of me by recitation of the Rosary.
This promise emphasizes Our Lady's role as our Advocate and Mediatrix of all Graces. Of course, all requests are subject to God's Most Perfect Will. God will always grant our request if it is beneficial for our soul, and Our Lady will only intercede for us when our request is good for our salvation. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62)
12.) All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
If one promotes the praying of the Rosary, Our Lady emphasizes Her Maternal care for us by obtaining many Graces (i.e. spiritual necessities) and also material necessities (neither excess nor luxury), all subject to the Will of God of course.
13.) I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire Celestial Court during their life and at the hour of death.
Since Our Lady is our Advocate, She brings us additional assistance during our life and at our death from all the saints in Heaven (the Communion of Saints). See paragraphs 954 through 959 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
14.) All who recite the Rosary are my Sons, and brothers of my Only Son Jesus Christ.
Since the Rosary is a most excellent prayer focused on Jesus and His Life and activities in salvation history, it brings us closer to Our Lord and Our Lady. Doctrinally, Our Lady is our Mother and Jesus is our Eldest Brother, besides being our God. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62)
15.) Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
Predestination in this context means that, by the sign which is present to a person from the action of devoutly praying the Rosary, God has pre-ordained your salvation. Absolute certainty of salvation can only be truly known if God reveals it to a person because, although we are given sufficient Grace during life, our salvation depends upon our response to said Grace. (See Summa Theologica, Question 23 for a detailed theological explanation). Said another way, if God has guaranteed a person's salvation but has not revealed it to Him, God would want that person to pray the Rosary because of all the benefits and Graces obtained. Therefore the person gets a hint by devotion to the Rosary. This is not to say that praying the Rosary guarantees salvation - by no means. In looking at promises #3 and #4 above, praying the Rosary helps one to live a holy life, which is itself a great sign that a soul is on the road to salvation. (See also paragraphs 381, 488, 600, 2782 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.) In fact, St. Louis de Montfort says even more strongly that "an infallible and unmistakable sign by which we can distinguish a heretic, a man of false doctrine, an enemy of God, from one of God's true friends is that the hardened sinner and heretic show nothing but contempt and indifference to Our Lady..." [True Devotion to Mary, #30]
