[Comment: The Assumption]

Friends of the Rosary,

The month of August is dedicated to The Immaculate Heart of Mary. And this Saturday 15th is the solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

The Assumption was an ancient belief, dating back to the apostles themselves. In 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma, a truth revealed by the Holy Spirit, with these words:

“The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven.”

The Assumption completed God's work of redemption in Mary. It was not fitting that the flesh that gave life to the Lord himself should ever undergo corruption. The Mother of Jesus was bodily taken up and entered eternity, giving us hope and joy.

[Written by Mikel A | TheRosaryNetwork.org | Live Broadcast Every Day at 7:30 pm ET from New York on our YouTube and Facebook Channels ]

[Comment: Finest Devotion]

Friends of the Rosary,

According to St Louis Mary De Montfort, one day Our Lady revealed to Blessed Alain de la Roche, a fifteenth-century French theologian, the following:

After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the most important and living memorial of the Lord’s passion, there is no finer devotion or one of the greater merit than that of the Holy Rosary.

“The Holy Rosary is like a second memorial and representation of the life and passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” wrote Louis De Montfort.

St Dominic, who received the Rosary from the Virgin Mary, explained that while saying the Rosary people gain countless indulgences that are not attached to many other devotions.

[Written by Mikel A | TheRosaryNetwork.org | Live Broadcast Every Day at 7:30 pm ET from New York on our YouTube and Facebook Channel ]

[Comment: Narrow Space]

Friends of the Rosary,

The fruit of the first Glorious mystery is faith. With the first Hail Mary, we ask for the increase of faith. To follow the truth and enjoy eternal happiness by serving Jesus, we need abundant faith.

Wait, we all have faith, right? Well, only until we get seriously challenged. Meaning, until we face a big storm, a moment of darkness, or see our life at peril.

Take St Peter, one the chosen disciples and holder now of the keys of Heaven. After confidently walking on the water toward Jesus, he felt he was about to drown and abandoned his faith.

Our egos and fears constraint us to our narrow space. Only when we self-deny handing our will and freedom to Jesus and Mary, we realize that we participate in something and Someone infinitely greater than ourselves. Then, we understand and see.

[Written by Mikel A | TheRosaryNetwork.org | Live Broadcast Every Day at 7:30 pm ET from New York on our YouTube and Facebook Channel ]

[Comment: Loving the Cross]

Friends of the Rosary,

This month, we celebrate two martyrs of Auschwitz death camp, St Maximilian Kolbe, on August 14, and St Teresa Benedicta, Edith Stein, today. They both suffered the worst horrors of the twentieth century.

Edith Stein was a brilliant university professor and an influential German philosopher. Born into a prominent Jewish family in 1891 in Breslau, Germany, she converted to Catholicism.

One day Edith Stein discovered the autobiography of Teresa of Avila. After reading it, she exclaimed, “This is the truth”. She decided to imitate Teresa of Avila by becoming a Discalced Carmelite nun, adopting the name of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.

She was arrested by the Nazi regime, and along with all Catholic of Jewish extraction and her own sister Rosa Stein–also a Catholic–, was killed in a suffocating gas chamber in Auschwitz on August 9, 1942.

Proclaimed saint by John Paul II, Teresa Benedicta learned to love the Cross of Jesus.

[Written by Mikel A | TheRosaryNetwork.org | Live Broadcast Every Day at 7:30 pm ET from New York on our YouTube and Facebook Channel ]

[Comment: Weapon to Reform the World]

Friends of the Rosary,

We celebrate today the feast day of St. Dominic Guzman, the Spanish medieval priest who received the Holy Rosary from the Virgin Mary for the whole Catholic Church. He also founded the Order of Preachers, known as Dominicans. Along with the Franciscans, the Dominicans became a key Order to maintain the purity of the faith.

Born in Caleruega, Castile, Spain, at the end of the twelfth century, Dominic observed, while traveling in the south of France the gravity of the Albigensian heresy. This unchristian heresy deadly poisoned souls by saying that the material world was evil and hence denying the Incarnation and the sacraments.

Deeply concerned, St Dominic withdrew into a forest near Toulouse. For three days and three nights, he prayed unceasingly, wept, and did harsh penances for the souls of the heretics. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated and finally fell into a coma. At this point, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, accompanied by three Angels. She gave her the Rosary saying: “Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?”

As instructed, Dominic Guzman used the Rosary as a powerful means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners. At the end of his earthly life, he converted over 100,000 people leading them to the truth.

His mother, Joanna of Aza, and his brother Manes were beatified by the Church.

[Written by Mikel A | TheRosaryNetwork.org | Live Broadcast Every Day at 7:30 pm ET from New York on our YouTube and Facebook Channel ]

[Comment:  Taking Our Cross]

Friends of the Rosary,

The fruits and the virtues to cultivate of the fifth mystery of Jesus dying in the cross—that we pray today—are self-denial, perseverance, and salvation. Moreover, as we learn in today’s reading (MT 16:24-28), Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

You might wonder if this message is insensitive and too extreme because, after all, we are already suffering countless difficulties and disappointments in our daily lives.

The factual reality is that Jesus’ words mean hope and joy. How is that?

Look, in our fear, lack of charity, and faith—and in many cases, with our pride and rebellion—we have lost sight of who Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary, the saints, and our Heavenly family are. They are love and they are rooting for us.

When we understand that our path to the fullness of life here on earth is to serve the Lord, because we were created with that purpose, then we comprehend that losing our life for Christ is in truth to save it.

We serve Jesus and Mary in this life and we enjoy their presence in the next one.

Saints, with all their suffering, were the happiest people on Earth.

[Written by Mikel A | TheRosaryNetwork.org | Live Broadcast Every Day at 7:30 pm ET from New York on our YouTube and Facebook Channel ]Friends of the Rosary,

[Comment: God’s Face]

Friends of the Rosary,

We commemorate today the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (MT 17:1-9), the biblical passage we reflect on the fourth Luminous mystery.

Before his Passion and Death, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them to a retired mountain. There, the Man-God appeared transfigured in a brilliant white light. The three apostles present were wonderfully delighted with the glorious vision, which included Moses and Elijah.

The Transfiguration showed that Jesus’ redeeming work had two phases: the suffering of the Cross and the glory of the Resurrection.

The Transfiguration anticipated the glory of heaven, where we will see the Lord face to face.

[Written by Mikel A | TheRosaryNetwork.org | Live Broadcast Every Day at 7:30 pm ET from New York on our YouTube and Facebook Channel ]Friends of the Rosary,

[Comment: Saints and the Rosary]

Friends of the Rosary,

There are many saints who bounded themselves to pray the Rosary every single day.

St Francis of Sales and St Charles Borromeo strongly recommended this devotion to anyone. The greatest Popes, from St Pious V to St John Paul II said the Rosary every day. St Ignatius of Loyola, St Francis Xavier, St Francis Borgia were deeply devoted to the Rosary.

Contemporary saints who prayed it were St Theresa of Calcutta, St Josemaria Escriva, and St Padre Pio, among many others.

And here is an interesting thought. St Alphonsus Liguori said: “It is more efficacious to say the Rosary in the company with others than to say it alone.”

[Written by Mikel A | TheRosaryNetwork.org | Live Broadcast Every Day at 7:30 pm ET from New York on our YouTube and Facebook Channel ]Friends of the Rosary,

[Comment: Contemplating the Passion]

Friends of the Rosary,

Contemplating and meditating on the Passion and Death is an absolute need for every Christian.  

[Written by Mikel A | TheRosaryNetwork.org | Live Broadcast Every Day at 7:30 pm ET from New York on our YouTube and Facebook Channel ]

[Comment: Heaven Rejoices]

Friends of the Rosary,

The mysteries we pray today are rightly called joyful because of the joy they gave to the whole universe.

St Louis Mary de Montfort explained that Our Lady and the angels were overwhelmed with joy when the Son of God was incarnate. St Elizabeth and St John the Baptist were filled with joy by the visit of Mary and Jesus. Heaven and Earth rejoiced at the birth of Our Savior. Holy Simeon was filled with joy when he took the Holy Child in his arms. The doctors were lost in admiration at the answers of Jesus at the temple of Jerusalem. And Mary and Joseph were exultant when they found the Child Jesus after three days of search.

[Written by Mikel A | TheRosaryNetwork.org | Live Broadcast Every Day at 7:30 pm ET from New York on our YouTube and Facebook Channel ]