The Power of the Rosary

This is a transcript from youtube.

https://youtu.be/8Z4XKvk60ag

Good afternoon. My name is Fr. Joseph Gill. I am here to speak about the power of the rosary in history in the life of the saints and the power of rosary in my own personal life in my own personal walk with Christ. So forgive me if I tell some stories that you have heard before. For those who have been around in the Catholic Church for a long time may know some beautiful powerful stories about the rosary. But I think they are worth telling. And the first one happened in the year 1571. It is one of the most powerful events in the history. In 1571, the Ottoman Empire, the Muslims had began this naval campaign against Christianity. And in particularly, they were trying to conquer the Island of Venice and when they got to Venice, they were planning to spread out throughout Italy and throughout of all Christendom to take over Christianity. Now, they know that they have been beaten back for quite a bit after the Crusades and they were wanting to exact their revenge. And so they were planning in October a major naval battle to take this island of Venice. The Holy Roman Empire, the Papal states and many of the other small countries for example the Napes and Sicily, they themselves were their own separate countries. Heard about this plan. They started to gather an army. They started to equip naval ships. They started to recruit men who were willing to fight this battle. But they knew that they were outnumbered. In fact there were 12,000 less Christian Soldiers than were Muslim soldiers. Heading into this battle. They simply could not find any more people who were willing to fight with them and for them. And knowing that their situation was rather dire, the Pope at that time, Pope Pious the fifth, opened every church in Rome. And invited every priest to tell every person in their parish to pray the rosary for the success of this battle. This battle that was going to occur on October 7, 1571. And so the naval battle was raged, with thousands upon thousands of soldiers with hundreds of ships both from the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. And the two of them continued to fight all throughout the day and when all the dust has settled. The Christians had won the day. With the far less amount of ammunition. With far less ships. And far fewer men. And this miracle saved Christianity at that time from the Muslim invasion. And not only did it saved Christendom but it showed the power of the rosary. And Pope Pious the fifth was so amazed at the fact that everyone who prayed the rosary was able to obtain this victory from God that he declared October 7 the feast of Our Lady of Victory which we now know is Our Lady of the Rosary. The power of the rosary really saved Christianity from the impending doom that the Muslims wanted to reek upon it. This is the power of the rosary. The rosary is one of the most powerful weapons that we have against sin, weapons against addiction, weapons against fear, weapons against any evil in the world in fact Blessed Pious the ninth,one of our Popes said, “Give me an army saying the rosary and I will conquer the world.” Padre Pio used to call the rosary his weapon. And often if he is without it he would say, “Bring me my weapon.” And everyone knew what he was talking about. His rosary, this powerful prayer.  Don Columbia Marmion who was a great spiritual writer used a wonderful analogy. The rosary is to evil, what David’s stones were to Goliath. Because if you think about it, five small stones could not take down this magnificent giant. Unless God’s hand was with him. Unless the Holy Spirit guided those stones exactly. In the same way, how can a few small beads overcome the power of evil. Only if they were placed in the hands of someone more powerful than evil, the power of Our Lady, the power of Our Lord. Who are able through the rosary to overcome the vast network of evil that exists in the world and in our own human hearts. That is the power of the rosary. Over this past year, I had the privilege and the awesome duty in assisting an exorcism. I am not an exorcist but I was able to assist in this exorcism. And one of the stories from that exorcism that really stood out to me was one of the early sessions. We are all praying the Hail Mary very silently in our own minds. Nobody was speaking at all. We were all kind of laying our hands on this young man who was possessed. And all of a sudden his eyes snapped open and in an unearthly voice he cried out, “We can’t have him! We can’t have him!” Because of the power of that Haily Mary. The demons within him recognized that this young man was consecrated to Mary and to Jesus. And therefore nothing could touch him. nothing could conquer him because of the power of the hail mary and the power of the rosary. We were praying in our own minds. It is kind of a mind blowing experience for me to experience that. Same way the power of the rosary really exemplified itself in my own life. In my life, I kind of have a love and hate relationship with the rosary. Because growing up my parents forced us to pray the rosary once a week. It was on our way to church on Sundays we lived about 20 minutes from the church and we can get an entire rosary end by the time we get to church. And the only way that we would ever get a soda, only once a week on Sunday lunch, if we pray the rosary. And our parents would look at the rear view mirror to see if our lips were moving during the rosary. So, I grew up despising being forced to pray the rosary. Well, when I was around 16 years old. I kind of experienced a deep conversion. The Lord kind of touched my heart. Really helped me to fall in love with Him more and more. And so that Lent I decided I would take the hardest penance I could possibly think of which was to pray the rosary everyday. For me, that was torture. It was very difficult. And I used to be able to pray the rosary, nine minutes flat. I was like setting land speed records in this rosary because I just wanted to get it over with. But you know as psychologists say, how long it takes to break a habit is approximately 28 days. And luckily Lent is 40 days. And we have a plenty of time to practice. And when Lent is over I found that I could not put the rosary down. And I continued to pray it since I was 16 everyday. A very powerful experience in my own life to help me set free from some sins. Another friend of mine had a very powerful experience with the rosary. He was really struggling with lust and with addictions to pornography and he wanted to be free from this addiction. And he kept praying, ‘God, how long am I going to have this with me?’ How long until I’m freed and he kept hearing in his soul the voice of the Lord saying when you have prayed one rosary for every time you have committed that sin. You will be free. And he though to himself, ‘I better get started. I have a lot of rosaries to pray.’ He did prayed it everyday and after years of praying the rosary he was set free from this addiction to sin. And he experienced that glorious freedom of the children of God. That is the power of the rosary. One last story about the rosary before I talk about on how we can benefit from the rosary. Are any of you familiar with the story of Blessed Bartolo Longo? It is a wonderful saint story. Because it shows the incredible power of the rosary. Bartolo Longo started out as a Satanic priest. Not the way that the most saint story start out. He grew up in a good Catholic home. But when he went off to College some of his room mates were very involved in the worship of Satan and he started to go along with them to their black masses. Where they would desecrate the Eucharist, where they would spit upon the crucifix. All sorts of ways to mock and insult God. And he was so taken in by this and by the promise of Satan and who ever worshipped Satan, of money, pleasure, power, fame, popularity. He was so taken in by that, that he asked to be ordained a Satanic priest. And so he was. And he said it was the most terrifying experiences in his life. While they were ordaining him a Satanic priest, he was able to see demons flying around the room. He was so horrified by this, but he continued on with that path. And he started to lead black masses. And continued to mock the eucharist. Continued anything possible to practice vice. However, he was very deeply disturbed by the fact that he was having more and more visions of satan. And more and more thoughts of suicide. Thoughts of killing himself. And so he went to the Catholic priest. That was on his College campus and he asked him ‘I need help. I do not know what’s going on. I’m seeing visions of having despair within my soul. What do I need to do?” And the priest told him, to convert, to repent. To give up that sinful life and to turn his life over to the Lord. And he did. And he made a good confession. He got out of that life of Satanism. And he started to follow the Catholic path. However, he was still filled with despair. He continued to be plagued with the memories of the things that he had done. Of the way in which he mocked the Eucharist. Of the way in which he tried to draw away souls from Heaven. And he thought to himself, there is no way that I can be saved after what I did. and so he was actually planning to kill himself. He has set a date for his own suicide. And as that day was approaching. He had a dream. And in that dream that night, he saw the Blessed Mother. And the Blessed Mother held out a rosary. And said, If you pray this rosary daily. And you teach others to do so. You will be saved. And when he woke up he knew exactly what his life’s mission was. It was going to be to spread devotion to the rosary. And so literally with his bare hands. He started to rebuild this old church that has fallen into ruins. Much like Saint Francis. This church in Pompeii, Italy. And he rebuilt this church and dedicated it to Our Lady of the Rosary. After that he went around traveling around the country side. Teaching others about the power of the rosary. And this former satanic priest is now recognized as a Blessed. Blessed Bartolo Longo. Someone who was saved through the power of the rosary. Pretty remarkable story. Just shows that God’s mercy is endless for anyone no matter how bad their former life was. So what is the rosary all about? Well, the name rosary literally means a garden of roses or a crown of roses. So every time we pray the rosary it is like offering Mary a crown of roses. The origins of the rosary are probably not from Saint Dominic. But go even farther back than that. Because the rosary was often called the Poor Man’s Psalter. In other words, the poor man’s Book of Songs. Because there are a Hundred and fifty songs in the bible. These beautiful prayers that Jesus himself used. And many of the monks used to pray that constantly. They continued reciting the psalms, chanting them in a way to give praise and glory to God. But those who could not read, could not participate in that. And so the monks deviced a way in which people could pray one hundred and fifty prayers on beads in order to help them keep track. (Before the three mysteries in the rosary is prayed – The Joyful mystery. The Sorrowful Mystery. And the Glorious Mystery. These 3 mysteries makes up 150 beads). So that they are able to participate in some small way in the chanting and the prayers of the monks. And so this is how the rosary came to be 150 hail mary’s in order for the people to participate in the prayers of the monks. It was Saint Dominic however, who really popularized it. And spread devotion to the rosary so that many people could come to know this beautiful devotion. And so how do we pray the rosary well? How do we get the most out of it? Well, I love what John Paul the 2^nd said about the rosary. The rosary is looking at the life of Christ through the eyes of Mary. And there are four things we can focus on while praying the rosary. First of all, we can focus on the words we are saying. The words themselves come right out of the scripture. Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with you. Those are the words that the Angel Gabriel came and brought to Mary. And then the second half “Blessed are you among women.And Blessed is the fruit of thy womb.” The words of Elizabeth to her cousin Mary when she encountered the woman who was carrying the son of God. So these words are so sacred, they come right out of the Gospels. And if we focus from the words we will derive great benefit from that. But in addition to the words. We can focus on the virtues that are displayed in these mysteries. For example, when I think about the Annunciation. How Mary this young girl, was able to say ‘Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord’. I think of the virtue of docility to God’s Will. Or trusting in God. And when I pray that mystery of the rosary. I ask God for the grace for me, myself, to participate in that, to have that kind of trust in God and total surrender to His Holy Will. We can also think about intentions for the rosary. For example, when I pray the first sorrowful mystery which is the Agony in the Garden. I think about how Christ was mentally suffering in the garden. With the fears and anxieties that he knew was coming up in his great suffering and passion. I often offer that for people who struggle with mental illness. For those who are paralyzed by fear. So we can offer the rosary for our intentions. But then the final way in which we can benefit from the rosary is by really meditating on the mystery. Kind of putting yourself there. As you’re like immersing yourself in that scene. Try to see what it was like when Christ was going through his agony in the garden. Would I be one of those apostles who were falling asleep? Would have I stayed awake? Am I sometimes like Judas? Who betrayed the Lord? Am I like Jesus, going through a difficult time in my life. Having to pray ‘Father take this cup from me, but not as I will, but as You Will. What was Jesus look like? What do the angels look like when they came to administer him? What was it like when Jesus sweated blood? And then Jesus encounters Judas. And you ponder these all in your mind. And you put yourself there. And you have a real encounter with Christ. Using your imagination to bring the mystery of the rosary to life. The most important thing about the rosary is pray as you can. Not as you can not. Even to this day, I really cannot pray the rosary sitting down. I fall asleep. And I do not know if you have that ever happen to you. But there is this Catholic rumor that flies around that says that when you fall asleep praying the rosary that your guardian angel finished it for you. That’s not true. Guardian Angels do not finish prayers for you. Cause otherwise, I would always pray the rosary as like a Catholic version of counting sheep. You know, you go to sleep…Pray 3 hail mary’s and all of a sudden, your angel takes care of the rest. This is not true. So the way in which I pray the rosary personally is I walk around on a beautiful day. You see me strolling on the streets of Stanford praying the rosary. Not only it’s a good witness. But it helps me to really meditate and enter into the mysteries. It’s a really good idea to apply your mind to the mysteries of the rosary because if we simply recite the words and our hearts are not in it… we do not benefit very much from the grace. We have to apply our minds, our Wills, our Souls, our imagination to these great mysteries of the rosary and that’s how we benefit from it. Not just simply mindlessly reciting words but really making this a prayer. Making it a heart to heart encounter with Christ. So that’s been the story of my life with the rosary. It’s a beautiful devotion one that I encourage everyone to pray daily. One that our Lady encouraged The shepherd children at Fatima to pray daily. And through them the rest of the world is invited through them as well. Because the rosary has the power to overcome armies. It has the power to overcome Satan. The power to overcome addictions and sins. The power to convert souls. And ultimately the power to make us saints.