The Rosary: Sign of Salvation

"If you presevere in reciting the Rosary, this will be the most probable sign of your eternal salvation."

~Blessed Alan de la Roche

Who can't appreciate "simple snippets from the saints"? Like one single line from Christ, their words possess incredible spiritual depths about which could be written volumes of books.

Perseverance in praying the Rosary, with its beautiful prayers and meditations, proves not that we have attained holiness but only that we are striving for it, despite our weak human nature.

-The Rosary helps us remember that God has lifted us from nature and that we must live supernatural lives.

-The Rosary allows us to meditate on and imitate the examples set by Our Lord and His Blessed Mother, asking them always for the graces we need.

-Each prayer in the Rosary is a lesson, too. The Apostle's Creed affirms what we believe is true because God revealed those truths. The Our Father is a perfect prayer, given to us by Christ Himself, summing up the Two Great Commandments and reminding us that we have the right to call God "Our Father." The Hail Mary is a liturgical prayer, based on the infallible Gospel, which is inspired by the Holy Ghost. And so it goes with the Glory Be, a prayer to the Holy Trinity. And then there is one and only addition to the Rosary, a short prayer which Our Lady of Fatima asked to be added at the end of each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those with the greatest need of Thy mercy.

The Rosary mysteries encourage us to imitate Our Lady and Our Lord, our perfect models in practicing all the virtues. When the wounds of our fallen nature remind us how weak we really are, praying and meditating on the Rosary will help us remember that ---

"It is not those who commit the least faults who are most holy, but those who have the greatest courage, the greatest generosity, the greatest love." (~St. Francis de Sales)