"A crummy commercial?"
Ping!
I discovered the rosary when I met my wife, a protestant who was a devout Catholic until her mid-30’s. It’s an interesting, but long, story.
But I didn’t discover it the way this guy did. I discovered it in the same way I discovered the koran after 911
I can guarantee there are many more Catholics who became Evangelicals than the other way around. The veil has been rent asunder and we may approach the Throne of God boldly. So many Catholics have discovered this and been freed from the control of men and stepped directly into the Light of the World.
As an Anglican convert to Catholicism while studying at Harvard (not what my Harvard professors would have wished), I was a bit standoffish of the Rosary at first. But I have come to the point of saying it daily, in the evening.
Just about all the prayers in the Rosary are biblical. The Apostle’s Creed, which is a kind of summary of Bible teachings. The Lord’s Prayer, which Christ himself commanded us to use. And the Hail Mary, which Protestants may at first find disturbing. But the first half of the Hail Mary is straight from the Bible—the words of the Archangel to the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation. And the second half asks Mary to pray for us, “that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.” It is not an adoration of Mary, not idolatry, but a fervent request that the Mother of God will intercede for us with her Son, and will help to show us her Son.
Finally, each decade ends with a Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. . . .” So, we pray to all three persons of the Trinity in the course of saying the rosary, as well as asking Mary’s intercession. Jesus Himself said to the servants at the wedding feast of Cana, “Do whatever she tells you.” Because Mary will never say or do anything that goes against His wishes.
As for the Mysteries of the Rosary, those two are basically biblical, and they are centered on the life of Jesus, or on Mary giving birth to Jesus, presenting or finding him in the Temple, and so on. It is because all that she does is directed toward God that the Bible says that “all generations” will call Mary blessed.
I happen to know Father, btw. He’s a good man and a good priest.
How about these protestants praying the rosary.
http://www.catholic.org/prwire/headline.php?ID=11482&wf=rsscol
One of the surviving POWs, who will be at the award ceremony in April at the White House, said Fr. Kapaun was murdered by Chinese prison camp guards in 1951 because he openly defied many of the camp rules, including praying the rosary with other prisoners. Mike Dowe, who like dozens of other survivors of the camp has petitioned both Congress and the Vatican for these honors, recalls that by the time Kapaun died, Protestants and men of other beliefs were praying the Catholic rosary and were openly resisting the Chinese torture.
Because deep down we are all idolaters!
"A crummy commercial?"
One of the very nicest aspects of our having joined our Traditional Latin Mass community is what goes on before Mass every Sunday: while some (often many) wait in line for Confession, the rest of the group prays the Rosary aloud.
Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, children, teens, and adults.
It is a beautiful thing.
Great testament to the power of the Rosary. As my tag line says: Mary helps us defeat Satan, it is part of her mandate.
So I looked at the rosary and asked myself why I was denying something used by millions of fellow Christians. Who was more likely to be right-me or the millions?
I guarantee this guy already knew there were millions of Christians who did and do deny the rosary...
Apparently his parishioners have no compunction about carrying and praying to rosaries...Sounds like the Anglicans are closer to the Catholic religion than the Orthodox...