The rosary, peace and family

LET'S take a break for a while from all these shameful political shenanigans, stupid military adventurism, and other heartbreaking pieces of news. We need to breathe and regain our sanity. And the Pope has a good idea.

In an apostolic letter he wrote late last year, the Pope proposed that all of us pray the rosary. He is convinced, just as many people are, that the rosary works very effectively for the cause of world peace, and also for family welfare.

It's never an act of escapism, of simply taking refuge in some pietistic practice. It's a vital prayer that links man to his God, restoring him to his senses and to his faith. And that, my dear, is what we all need now!

The Pope says that far from offering an escape from the problems of the world, the rosary obliges us to see them with responsible and generous eyes, and obtains for us the strength to face them squarely.

It's no trick, it's no gimmick. It's the common experience of those who pray it from the heart. Far from taking us away from reality, it makes us more realistic. Why? Because an added dimension is given to our vision.

I wish to reiterate, quite strongly, the importance and urgency of this papal proposal. The rosary should be more widely and regularly prayed, either individually or in families or even in groups.

We have to overcome that childish bias that considers the rosary as something only for kids or for old women with nothing much to do in life. This is truly a lamentable situation when we allow such prejudice to shape our attitude. And yet how many are still infected by such crazy prejudice?

History gives witness to how the rosary in many crucial instances helped people in our various needs, be it personal, family, political, economic, social, etc.

It's a shame that we allow ourselves to be dominated by mere human forces, so weak and prone to the allurements of evil, while ignoring a readily available means that can put us back to our dignity as children of God.

The rosary, the Holy Father affirms, is a prayer for peace, since it consists in the contemplation of Christ, the Prince of Peace. He who assimilates the mystery of Christ learns the secret of peace and makes it his life's project.

Saint Josemaria Escriva reinforces this idea when he once said: "The beginning of the way, at the end of which you will find yourself completely carried away with love for Jesus, is a confident love for Mary."

The Pope even says that the meditative character of the rosary, with its tranquil succession of Hail Mary's, already gives a peaceful, yes, even therapeutic, effect on those who pray it. I am sure those who pray it can readily confirm this assertion.

The rosary is also a prayer for peace because of the fruits of charity that it produces. Contemplating Christ with Mary in the rosary unavoidably fills one with eagerness to love, to serve, and help others without expecting any return.

The Pope also says that the rosary plays a very important role in family life. Now that the family is buffeted with all sorts of pressures and problems, families should turn to the rosary for light and strength.

Of course, there's that classic phrase, "The family that prays together stays together." This has always been the case. As the Holy Father affirms, when families pray the rosary, the individual members regain the ability to look one another in the eye, to communicate, to show solidarity, to forgive one another.

For this is a common and widespread difficulty. More and more people find it hard to forgive. How many marriages are broken just because the spouses find it hard to forgive? They forget that mercy is precisely the perfection of love. And yet they find it hard.

Well, praying the rosary calmly, doing it close to Mary our Mother so we can understand and follow Christ more intimately, facilitates that ability to forgive. The rosary, prayed well, truly has the capacity to return us to love, for which we have been created.

Our problem is that we dare to keep distance from God, thoughtlessly relying on our own strength and power. This is when we will find loving, first of all, distorted, and then hard to do. Later it becomes hateful.

We get blinded and dominated, if not by unruly and wild passions then by cold erroneous ideas. What the rosary does is to return simplicity and humility to us, allowing us to feel secure in our filiation to Mary, and ultimately to God.

This is the essence of true love. It's something effortless even if it goes through all sorts of trials and difficulties. Peace and joy never fail to accompany it. There is certainty and confidence where doubt and anxiety seem to eat you up. That's because you know God is with you!

Try praying the rosary regularly. You will see how simple it is, and yet how much it can accomplish!