THE WORD AND THE FEAST
October 7, 2019: Celebrating our Blessed Mother of the Holy Rosary
Acts 1:12-14; Luke 1: 26-38
The feast of Our Blessed Mother of the Holy Rosary, was initially known as the feast of Our Lady of Victory, in thanksgiving for the victory in a battle at Muret (in England) in the year 1213. After a winding history of changes and developments, it was in the year 1913 that Pope Pius X fixed the feast on October 7th and invited the Church to celebrate it as the feast of the Holy Rosary.
Every time we pray the Rosary, we repeat the words from the Word of God...the Gospel today reminds us of this fact! "Full of Grace", the Angel addressed Mary, and that is what she was! And that is what she is, to each of us today - a channel of grace! As the apostles found in her a source of strength and direction to remain united, until the Spirit anointed them, we are called too, to unite ourselves in prayer with her.
In various accounts of Our Blessed Mother's apparitions with a rosary in hand, we are given to listen to the fact that as those who receive the apparitions prayed, Mary was seen rolling the beads of the rosary. I would wonder in the beginning what it meant : what is she saying... also, hailing herself, calling herself blessed? But in deeper recollection, I humbly understood the message is very different here: Mary prays with us! Mary joins us in prayer! She is not just a model and an intercessor for us, she also accompanies us in all moments of our life - be it dark or bright.
Let us thank God for this lovely form of contemplating God's salvific design, the Rosary. And let us seek our Blessed Mother's company and guidance in order that we may walk the way traced by her Son and our Lord, Jesus Christ.