THE explosion of division, divorce, and violence this past year is striking.
The letters I’ve received of Christian marriages disintegrating, children abandoning their moral roots, family members falling away from the faith, spouses and siblings caught in addictions, and startling outbursts of anger and divisiveness among relatives is grievous.
And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is not yet. (Mark 13:7)
Where do wars and divisions begin, but in the human heart? And where do they incubate, but in the family (if God is absent)? And where do they eventually manifest, but in society? Many wonder how the world has arrived at such a fearful and lonely place. And I say, look back at the gate through which we’ve come.
The future of the world passes through the family. —Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio
We did not oil the gate with prayer. We did not swing it with love. And we failed to paint it with virtue. What is the greatest issue in our nations today? Our governments have been deceived into believing it is universal health care, balanced budgets, and paid social programs. But they are wrong. The future of our societies is to be secured on the health of the family. When the family coughs, society catches a cold. When families fall apart….
Thus, not long before his death, looking over the vast horizons of humanity and where it was headed, Pope John Paul II wrote a letter to the Church… no, he threw a lifeline to the Church for the sake of the world—a lifeline made of chain and beads: the Rosary.
The grave challenges confronting the world at the start of this new Millennium lead us to think that only an intervention from on high, capable of guiding the hearts of those living in situations of conflict and those governing the destinies of nations, can give reason to hope for a brighter future.
Today I willingly entrust to the power of this prayer… the cause of peace in the world and the cause of the family. —Pope John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 40
With all my heart I cry out to you: pray the Rosary today for your family! Pray the Rosary for your addicted spouse! Pray the Rosary for your fallen away children! Can you see the Holy Father’s link between peace and the family, which ultimately, is peace for the world?
This is not the time for excuses. There is so little time for excuses. It is the time to move mountains with our mustard-sized faith. Listen to the testimony of the Holy Father:
The Church has always attributed particular efficacy to this prayer, entrusting to the Rosary… the most difficult problems. At times when Christianity itself seemed under threat, its deliverance was attributed to the power of this prayer, and Our Lady of the Rosary was acclaimed as the one whose intercession brought salvation. —Ibid. 39
If you don’t yet believe that this Woman—the Blessed Virgin Mary—has the ability to liberate your family from the bonds of evil, let Holy Scripture convince you:
I will put enmities between you (Satan) and the woman, and your seed and her seed: she shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for her heel. (Genesis 3:15; Douay-Rheims)
From the very beginning, God ordained that Eve—and Mary is the New Eve—would have a role in crushing the head of the enemy, trampling the serpent which slithers through our families and relationships—if we invite her.
Where is Jesus in this? The Rosary is a prayer which contemplates Christ while at the same time asks our Mother to intercede for us. The Word of God and the Womb of God praying, uniting, defending, and blessing us all at once. The power given this Woman comes precisely from the Cross by which Satan was defeated. The Rosary is the Cross applied. For this prayer is nothing other than a "compendium of the Gospel", which is the Word of God, who is Jesus Christ. He is the very heart of this prayer! Alleluia!
The rosary, a "contemplative and Christocentric prayer, inseparable from the meditation of sacred Scripture," is "the prayer of the Christian who advances in the pilgrimage of faith, in the following of Jesus, preceded by Mary." —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Castel Gandolfo, Italy, October 1, 2006; ZENIT
Pray the Rosary—and let the heel of the Mother fall.
May this appeal of mine not go unheard! —Ibid. 43
But understand this: there will be terrifying times in the last days. People will be self-centered and lovers of money, proud, haughty,abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious, callous, implacable, slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God… (2 Tim 3:1-4)
