The Ark of our Salvation, the Ark of the Church, is a lifeboat being violently tossed around in stormy, foreboding waters. Those within the lifeboat can be assured of their safety and salvation, but what of those who have fallen out of the vessel? What hope do they have? Like any good lifeboat, there is a method for re-entry. The rope that those who fall out of the Ark cling to climb back into its safety is the Holy Rosary.
Our Lady of the Rosary, who appeared in 1208 at Prouilhe, France before St. Dominic, promised us fifteen things to those that faithfully and devoutly pray the Holy Rosary. The fourth promise Our Lady, the focus of today, stated the following: “It will cause virtue and 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 of eternal things. Oh, that souls will sanctify themselves by this means.”
In the modern age, we as Catholics frequently encounter the many demonic influences that seemingly govern today’s world. Each opportunity that arises to combat the demonic presents an equally important, often overlooked opportunity to act as our Lord had invited St. Peter and St. Andrew to in the Gospel of Mark.
“Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Mk 1:17, NRSV
If the words of Our Lady are to be properly understood — “…it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.” — then Catholics have a moral duty to pray the Rosary as much as necessary to secure the salvation of those we stand firm against, for the good of our Church, casting out a net of Christian mercy to a world that so desperately needs it, like a rope the Ark of Salvation throws out to those souls lost in the sea.
Our Lady of the Rosary’s third promise states, “The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.”. The struggle of our time requires men and women of great faith. This era needs saints. Now, more than ever, the world needs a whole generation of the faithful to step up and carry out the great commission our Lord commanded over two-thousand years ago, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Mt 28:19-20, NRSV). How can the faithful be expected to evangelize others if their own hearts have not been sufficiently evangelized? The first battle for God’s Kingdom takes place within oneself, the fight against temptation- of which you will be fiercely tempted until your last breath. Fortunately, we have been given a gift to wage war against the evil one. By the faithful and frequent recitation of its beads and meditation of its mysteries, we grow stronger in our own faith and our abilities to resist the temptations of the evil one. This much Our Lady had promised to St. Dominic in 1208, and by extension, has promised to us.
Additionally, in being an excellent tool to engage in spiritual warfare, the Holy Rosary allows us to calmly meditate on the many mysteries that occur throughout scripture and the life of Christ, as recorded in the Holy Gospels. Especially the luminous mysteries implemented by Pope St. John Paul II, which highlight many of the more foundational mysteries of faith. The luminous mysteries are as follows: Our Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan, Our Lord’s Self Manifestation at the Wedding of Cana, Our Lord Proclaims the Kingdom of God and Calls Us to Conversion, Our Lord’s Transfiguration, and finally, Our Lord’s Institution of the Eucharist. All of these are crucial to understanding Christ’s earthly ministry, which we are called to participate in and be a part of. In meditating on the Life and Death of Christ, we, in turn, become closer to Christ and begin to foster a more personal relationship with him. When a personal relationship with Christ meets the Grace endowed by the sacraments, chief among them the Holy Eucharist, my friends, that is how Saints are made! The Rosary is foundational to a life that is full of faith, hope, and charity by virtue of devout, daily recitation.
By the Holy Rosary, if we persist, we will cling to virtue and avoid vice, even when we are at our lowest. This is made evident by Our Lady’s fourteenth promise, “All who recite the Rosary are my sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of my only son Jesus Christ.” Our Blessed Mother, nor does her Divine Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, forget their children. It can never be stressed enough just how important the Holy Rosary is.
Even when all seems lost, when it seems that you have begun to know the devil, when the weight of the whole world seems to crush in on you and the merciless waves outside the Ark of Salvation threaten to drown you, cling to your Rosary. The Holy Rosary is your rope to climb back into the Ark and obtain the Salvific Grace it offers.