The Power of the Rosary - A Weapon Against Terrorism

“One day through the Rosary and Scapular I will save the world.” —Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Dominic

Until September 11th, it seemed that we in North America were insulated from the horrors of war on our homeland. Terrorism happened elsewhere, not here. Yet history shows the last millennium to be the bloodiest the Church has ever seen, increasingly fraught with worldwide war and violence. At the dawn of the Third Millennium such formerly common practices as prayer in school, chastity, self-sacrifice and self-discipline are now perceived by our culture as “unhealthy” or “bad.” Yet things like abortion, artificial population control, artificial contraception, violence in movies, a lust for power, and stepping on others to get ahead in business are perceived as “healthy” or “good.” Catholics are swimming upstream in today’s culture. What can one person or even a handful of individuals do against such a surge of upside-down thinking, culture and trends? Our Lord and His Blessed Mother have revealed that we can do plenty! One person can make a positive impact on our society. How? Through prayer. More specifically, the Rosary.

Modern Day Evidence In the 1950’s, Fr. Patrick Peyton convinced media moguls to put religious programming on television, and convinced top name movie stars to volunteer time and talent to the productions. “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of,” the Irish-born priest often said. He knew this first-hand. As a young seminarian, he had been healed of a deadly lung disease prior to his priestly ordination. He knew first-hand the power of the Rosary, which he had prayed during his illness and with vigor throughout his entire career in mass media productions. He used the Rosary to open doors to the most hardened of hearts, including some mainstream New York media executives and Hollywood stars. On rare occasion, he even invited an executive or star to spontaneously recite a decade with him, if a meeting seemed especially difficult. But Fr. Peyton’s amazing success and influence on mainstream American culture in the 1940’s and ‘50s is just one contemporary example of the power of the Rosary. Brazil won a stunning victory over communism through its citizens praying the Rosary in the early 1960’s, as recorded in a compelling Reader’s Digest article, “The Country that Saved Itself,” published in November 1964. Later, in 1973, the country of Chile won a similar victory through the power of the Rosary prayed by its citizens. And the Spring 1990 issue of “Merciful Love” reported, in an article by the Most Reverend Thomas Daily, bishop of Palm Beach, Florida, that the Rosary closed an abortion clinic. These are but a few examples.

The Battle of Lepanto The Feast of the Rosary, October 7, commemorates another striking victory won through the Rosary. In 1571, the Moslem Turks had amassed a seemingly invincible and vast fleet of battleships to defeat the Christians in one of many ongoing territorial battles the Turks raged against Christian Europe. The Christian opposition was commanded by Don Juan of Austria and outfitted by Pope St. Pius V and other leaders of Christendom. But its fleet was far outnumbered. This battle, known as the Battle of Lepanto, was critical because the Turks threatened to invade Europe and destroy Christianity at the time. A Christian victory was against the odds. But Pope St. Pius V held fast to a thread of hope; the Holy Rosary. He united Christian Europe in a Rosary crusade to pray for victory. The sea soldiers themselves knelt down to pray the Rosary before engaging the opposing Turkish fleet. Victory was won on October 7th, and in gratitude Pope St. Pius V declared October 7th the Feast of the Holy Rosary, which we continue to celebrate today. In light of such powerful examples—and there are many more throughout history—do we truly recognize the power that the Rosary holds for converting hearts and ultimately culture? With abortion and contraception rampant, increasing discussion of human cloning and organ “farms,” and a rise in radical Islam, Catholics have no time to lose in spreading devotion to the Rosary. ...

True Hope For Our Times Surely the revelations of Our Lady to St. Dominic are as applicable and true today as they were in the 13th century. Radical Islamic terrorists may be comparable to the Turks and Albigensians of prior eras. Often the saints have written that the devil himself and his fallen angels fear Our Lady more than anyone else other than the Holy Trinity. They have an overwhelming fear of the Rosary, writes St. Louis de Montfort. And St. Bernard explains that the Angelic Salutation puts them to flight and makes all hell tremble. “It would hardly be possible for me to put into words how much Our Lady thinks of the Holy Rosary and of how she vastly prefers it to all other devotions,” writes St. Louis de Montfort in his book, The Secret of 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.” In light of such powerful testimony, how can we who serve Christ on the front lines of Catholic retailing do anything less than pray the Rosary daily and encourage others to do so as well. Your efforts will be rewarded beyond your hopes or expectation. The Holy Rosary gives us hope beyond all telling. Let’s not hesitate to tell the world! †

Often the saints have written that the devil himself and his fallen angels fear Our Lady more than anyone else other than the Holy Trinity.

And is it not, therefore, natural to see why family life in it's totality is being attacked? Break-up of marriages, abortion, etc.? Here is where the devil and his minions can smear the image of the Blessed Trinity. God is too exalted in eternity for the devil to attack him directly, since the devil is merely a creature of God. However, in creation, particularly that of our first parents, God's exalted union and fecundity of Love is imaged and produced in Holy Matrimony - the union and fecundity of which leads to ever more Life and Love.

It is no accident, nor merely a parable, that Christ comes to us as the bridegroom in Love with His bride - the Church. Christ stands up for Her and protects and sacrifices Himself out of Love for Her. This reality is expressed most clearly in the marriage banquet of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Since the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist - Christ Himself - gives Himself to us in Love with the fecundity of increasing Divine Life and Love in us. It clearly has "sexual" overtones to it, as properly expressed in Holy Matrimony. Rather, Holy Matrimony is a sign of It. It is His oath and pledge to us, His vow, i.e. Sacrament.

Christ comes to reverse the perversions that the devil destructively projects into Creation, He comes to rebuild family Life - that of marriage and extended families, to nations, to the whole of universal Creation, i.e. Catholic.

Often the saints have written that the devil himself and his fallen angels fear Our Lady more than anyone else other than the Holy Trinity. They have an overwhelming fear of the Rosary, writes St. Louis de Montfort. And St. Bernard explains that the Angelic Salutation puts them to flight and makes all hell tremble.

It is precisely in the Angelic Salutation that God's redemptive plan of Salvation begins in Christ. It is here that Mary, in all humility and under the Grace of God, speaks for all mankind to accept the 2nd Person of the Blessed Trinity into His Creation as the Incarnation of Jesus Christ! It is here that family Life and Love begin to be restored, with the wondrous Mystery of God Himself directly becoming part of His Creation. Through Christ our Brother, God becomes truly our Father as opposed to merely our Creator. Consequently, Mary too, is given the singular role of truly becoming our Mother in the Divine Life of God as per His plan. No wonder the devil fears her and the prayer of the Holy Rosary - a prayer that builds in our interior lives, under the influence of Grace, the contemplative foundation of the Divine Family Life and Love of God! The devil cannot touch this. He will do anything to prevents it's growth. Let us not help him succeed!

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