Rosary Talk (Family Rosary Rally)

 

Welcome to the Family Rosary Rally! You just heard our bishop’s amazing Rosary talk, followed by five powerful and inspiring testimonies. The purpose of this rally is to encourage families to pray the Rosary together every day.

First, I will give you some tips on praying the Rosary, then I will speak about some fruits and miracles of the Rosary. And finally, I will give you an exhortation to daily pray the family Rosary.

The first tip on praying the Rosary is slow down. Before I was a priest, when I lived in Hays, there was a woman lead the Rosary after Mass and she sounded like an auctioneer. We are praying to a person, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Rosary is a double prayer. We pray with our mind and we pray with our voice. We need to meditate when we pray the Rosary. Before Mary appeared to St. Dominic in 1205, when the Rosary was prayed, there were no meditations to it. But, when Our Lady gave St. Dominic the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries, and people began to meditate on them, thousands of heretics came back to the Church. The Albigensians believed the body was evil and marriage was bad. When Our Lady gave Dominic the mysteries of the Rosary and told him to preach the Rosary, it helped Catholics return to the true teachings of the Church.

The meditations are really the Gospel in miniature because it covers important events often called mysteries in the lives of Jesus and Mary. When we meditate on the sacred mysteries Mary pours many graces and gifts into our soul, through Her prayers and intercession. The mystery becomes present to us. It increases our faith. We become more like Christ. We grow in virtue by meditating on and attempting to imitate the virtue associated with the mystery. God gives us insights into the mystery, which is what Alex Flood said happens when he prays the Rosary. We receive grace into our souls. Our mind is reminded of the truth associated with the mystery. We avoid falling into error because we experience the divine truth. Because the events involve God, they have eternal effects on our soul. St. Louis de Montfort said to pray the Rosary without meditating is like a body without a soul.

Mary treasured all the mysteries in Her Heart. She helps us to meditate on them, so we too can treasure them in our heart. When we gaze upon the mysteries, we are gazing upon them with the eyes of Mary. We begin to love Jesus as Mary loves Jesus. We feel what Jesus feels. We see what Jesus sees. When we are meditating on a mystery of the Rosary, allow the mystery to come alive in your mind. And be there at the mystery and participate in it. For example, when meditating on the Birth of Jesus, allow Mary to hand the baby Jesus to you and you hold Him in your arms. You see His smile and reach out your finger to touch His nose.

St. Padre Pio prayed 35 Rosaries a day. How many rosaries can you pray in 20 minutes? Did you know you can pray 30 rosaries in 20 minutes. St. Louis de Montfort said, “Somebody who says his Rosary alone only gains the merit of one Rosary, but if he says it together with thirty other people, he gains the merit of thirty Rosaries. This is the law of public prayer. How profitable, how advantageous this is!” 

To pray the Rosary with a group, you receive the same graces as the number of rosaries prayed with the group.

Here are some of the many fruits of the Rosary. The Rosary will bring back fallen away Catholics. The Rosary brought me to Confession from being away from it for 20 years (from 3^rd grade until I was 27). I had never seen my parents go to Confession, nor did they ever encourage me to go to Confession. When my grandmother was dying, I promised her I would pray a Rosary for her. After hearing about Our Lady’s messages from Medjugorje, I decided to daily pray the Rosary, go to Confession and confess monthly, read the Bible everyday and attend daily Mass. The sorrowful mysteries convicted me of my sins and how I hurt Jesus, which ultimately led me to return to Confession.

When we pray the Rosary, Mary will pray for us, now and at the hour of our death, as April Owens testified on behalf of her brother, who received the Last Rites before he died. The Rosary brought her family members back to the Church and her father became Catholic. The Rosary helped a protestant pastor, Alex Flood and his family become Catholic. Little Molly Leonard woke up and began to eat after her parents prayed the Rosary for her. Angie Marlett testifies the Rosary helps her to stay sober from her battle with alcohol addiction.

Jared and Katie testify that due to their daughter, Julian praying for a new baby girl everyday when the family prayed the Rosary together, they conceived, Kaci, a baby girl.

Jared said men are the spiritual leaders of the family and are responsible for daily family prayer. St. Paul said, “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and was handed over for her, so that she may be a spotless bride.” Jesus laid down his life for His bride the Church and this is what all husbands and fathers are to do. Today, we have a crisis of men, who don’t live up to their Christian role has husband and father. Men are called to guardians, defenders and protectors of their wife and family, like St. Joseph was for the Holy Family. It is the duty of the father, the spiritual leader of the house to lead and encourage his family to pray the Rosary.

Men, take up the sword and fight to spiritually protect your wife and family. What is this sword? Do you remember when Boko Ha-ram kidnapped all those girls in Africa? The bishop of that diocese didn’t know what to do, so he went before Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration and begged the Lord to help him. Jesus came out of the Eucharistic Host, and Our Lord handed the bishop a sword. The bishop was astonished and reached out to take the sword and when he grabbed it, it suddenly turned into a large Rosary. Jesus then said to the Bishop, “Boko Haram is gone. Boko Haram is gone. Boko Haram is gone.” After this experience, the bishop told the people his diocese to pray the Rosary as a weapon against Boko Haram and Boko Haram slowly returned the girls on their own. The Rosary overcame this terrible evil.

St. Padre Pio said, “The Rosary is the weapon for these times. Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.”

The Rosary has helped win wars. In 1213, the Battle of Muret was won by the Rosary. 800 crusaders were outnumbered by 20,000. Catholics spent the night praying the rosary. In the morning all went to confession and received Holy Communion. During the battle St. Dominic prayed before a statue of Mary in a nearby church. The opposing army indulged in a night of drunkenness and debauchery. The following day, the Catholics won the war.

On October 7 of 1571 was the Battle of Lepanto off the Italian coast. Before the battle, all 81,000 sailors confessed & received Holy Communion. From the Ottoman Empire 274 Muslim ships outnumbered 208 Christian ships. Pope Saint Pius V asked all Catholics to pray the Holy Rosary. On the day of the battle the wind shifted causing the Catholics to handily beat the Muslims saving Europe from an invasion.

At St. Mark’s parish, they have an ongoing miracle. When WWII started, Msgr. Hackenbroich, the pastor had the parish pray the Rosary, so that all the soldiers would come home after the war. He promised Our Lady that he would build a grotto, if they did. All came home and so the grotto was built. No soldier from St. Mark’s has ever died in World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam war or any war since then.

The Rosary helped convert a satanist, Bartolo Longo. He was raised Catholic, but fell away from the Church and became a satanic priest. He eventually went to Confession, but fell into despair. One day, he heard Friar Alberto say, ‘One who propagates my rosary shall be saved.’ From that moment, Bartolo Longo’s life was consumed with devotion to Our Lady and promoting Her Rosary. He built the world’s largest basilica dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, Italy. Today, Bartolo Longo was canonized and made a saint by Pope Leo. St. Pope John Paul II added the Luminous mysteries to the Rosary due to St. Bartolo.

Religious orders who pray the Rosary daily have many vocations, and they all wear their habits, including our own Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters of Wichita, the Dominican Sisters of Nashville, the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration, the Sisters of Life, the Benedictine Sisters of Gower, Missouri, etc…

Fr. Don Calloway, a priest of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception said if you pray 3 or 4 Rosaries a day, you will break free of impurity & pornography.

The Rosary has even put our fires. On October 9 of 1871, was the great Peshtigo fire in Wisconsin and Michigan, the greatest fire tragedy in US history killing between 1,200-2,400 people. Near Champion, Wisconsin, Sister Adele Briese and her companions processed a statue of Mary, around the grounds, praying the Rosary and singing hymns to Jesus and the Blessed Mother. A rain came and the fire halted at the fence of the land consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, containing the chapel, school and convent.

When I went to Medjugorje for the first time in 1991, there happened to be popular priest from another country in Medjugorje. Two young ladies and I wanted to go to Confession to him. One of the ladies suggested we pray a Rosary, so that the priest will come to hear our confessions. There were about 20 outdoor confessionals. I told them I thought that foolish to pray the Rosary to get a priest to come to us, especially since he was nowhere around. But I relented and we prayed the Rosary. Just as we finished the Hail Holy Queen, the priest goes directly into the Confessional in front of us and we each confessed to him.

In 2005, in our diocese of Wichita, many parishes put in their bulletin a Seven Sorrows Rosary Novena from May 16^th to May 24th to close the abortion clinic on Central. On the last day of the Rosary Novena, May 24^th, the former feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, the abortion clinic was closed.

A few years after I was ordained, a priest, I went to the March for Life in Washington, DC. While vesting for Mass in the crypt church, since I didn’t know any of the priests there, I decided to pray the Rosary with the intention of priests coming to me to go to Confession. After about a decade, a priest came up to me and said, “Father, will you hear my confession?” I said, “Sure!” After he left, I continued saying the Rosary. By the time I finished praying the Rosary, I heard the Confession of three priests, who I had never met before.

In Africa, in 2014, over 10,000 people in western Africa died from the Ebola outbreak. The Bishop of the Diocese of Gbarnga told the people to daily pray the Rosary. One village gathered faithfully everyday to pray the Rosary and not one person died who lived in that village, while hundreds of people died in the surrounding villages.

A sorority girl went to bed praying the Rosary, and when serial killer, Ted Bundy, came to her room, an invisible force caused him to drop the knife and pushed him out of the room. A priest later determined the Rosary saved her life.

On August 6, 1945 the first nuclear bomb was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan, killing 140,000 people. Everything within a mile of the blast was annihilated with nothing left standing, no survivors. Yet, just eight blocks from ground zero, there was a two-story house with no damage to it. The community of eight Jesuit priests, who lived there, never suffered any health issues. They prayed the Rosary.

Medjugorje apparitions have not been fully approved, but messages now have ecclesiastical approval. In some of the messages of Our Lady of Medjugorje, She asks families to daily pray the Rosary together. She asked everyone to pray 3 rosaries a day (joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries). Here are some quotes, that Our Lady said, “Even the rosary alone can work miracles in the world and in your lives.” “I request the families of the parish to pray the family Rosary.” “Dear children! Little children, pray the Rosary and meditate the mysteries of the Rosary because, in your life, you are also passing through joys and sorrows.”

When I was a child, my mother taught my siblings and I to pray the Rosary kneeling before a statue of the Virgin Mary. I also didn’t know how to read and write, yet I learned to pray the Rosary. I wish we would have continued to pray the Rosary as a family, but we didn’t. It would have helped us through the terrible and sad years that were to follow.

Harrison Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker, states that he and his wife and their small children daily pray the Rosary together, even before the children could read and write. He said they learn quickly and even can pray the Rosary in English and Latin.

Several families today testified how they daily pray the Rosary together, even with small children. It’s never perfect, but if you consistently do it daily, it becomes easier and all begin to expect it as their normal routine.

Children complain and fuss when they are told to do their chores, or their homework or to go bed? So don’t be afraid and don’t expect things to be perfect. It’s part of family life. Don’t give in to something so important as praying the family Rosary everyday.

When a family prays the Rosary together, wonderful things will happen. It helps fathers and sons to reconcile. It removes strife from mothers and daughters. It helps husbands and wives to forgive each other. Removes jealousy from siblings. Takes away competitive aspirations between brothers. It causes conversion away from sin. Daily praying the Rosary as a family, fosters love, peace & unity between family members. The Rosary can help the family to grow by bringing a new child into the world. The daily family Rosary can be the cause of physical, spiritual and emotional healing. Praying the Rosary as a family will prevent divorce and maintain marital faithfulness. Two couples independently told me the same thing. They both said, “When we began to pray the Rosary as a couple, we fell in love with each other.”

Our heavenly Mother comes to us when we pray the Rosary as a family. She comes in gentleness, and wants to bind our wounds with Her love and the warmth of a Mother. Mary brings us a divine cure for all that ails our family and that is the family Rosary.

Today, many distance themselves from God. Prayer has disappeared in families because parents have no time for their children. So many external influences, TV, social media, sports are oppressing families today and making families distant from God. Our Lady of Medjugorje said social media is like cancer destroying the healthy body of the world.

When we pray the Rosary as a family, Our heavenly Mother comes to us. She intercedes for us to help us in our family relationships. Our Lady will help you to forgive. Our Lady will help you to be strong in your faith.

We work a lot, we are busy. Don’t say you don’t have time to pray the Rosary as a family. Time is not the problem. The problem is love. When someone likes something, they find time for it. When there is love, one always finds time for what one wants to do. With love we are capable of anything.

When the family is strong, when the family has faith, when the family loves, it builds up society and the world around us, and so there is peace in our hearts, in our families and in the world.

Pope Pius XI said, “If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors."

Soon we will pray a Family Rosary during the family Holy Hour and at that time you have the opportunity to consecrate your family to the Hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The word “consecrate” means to set aside for a sacred purpose or to make holy. By consecrating your family the Hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, your family will be protected and set aside to be made holy. Through the consecration, you will allow Jesus, Mary and Joseph to reign over your family and they will help you as a family in all your difficulties. You may wish to consecrate your family regularly, perhaps once a month or at least once a year or whenever you have any difficulty.

There are Pledge Forms so you can pledge to daily pray the Rosary as a family. The pledge is a resolution and is not binding to sin. But, out of love of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, you will resolve to imitate the Holy Family.

Sister Lucia of Fatima once said, “There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary."

May Our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady Queen of Peace inspire families to daily pray the Rosary together, and peace will reign peace in your hearts, in your families and peace in the world.