Two days before feast of the Assumption of Mary on 15 August, one feels duty-bound to celebrate the power of this simple and effective Marian prayer – the Rosary, which some call “a boring prayer”. Due to its repetitiveness, others qualify it as a nonsensical one too. No matter what different people have said or might say, the Rosary is indeed a powerful prayer!
Many saints and Popes have written extensively on the extraordinary power of this prayer. The noted French author of maxims and memoirs, Francois de la Rochefoucauld, said: “Our enemies come nearer the truth in the opinions they form of us than we do in our opinion of ourselves.” Some think that praying the Rosary is a waste of time because nothing will really change in our lives. However, our common enemy, the devil, thinks otherwise. The late Italian exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, Father Gabriel Amorth, said in an article of the March-April 2003 issue of Echo of Mary, Queen of Peace: “One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism: ‘Every Hail Mary is like a blow to my head. If Christians knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would be my end’.”
When I read this comment of our ancient enemy, I was really encouraged. The devil is defeated by the Rosary! What great news indeed! What immediately came to my mind were two reflections made by the French priest and missionary apostle, Saint Louise-Marie Grignion de Montfort regarding this triumphant truth. “Never will anyone who says his Rosary every day become a formal heretic or be led astray by the devil.” “Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practise black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and will save your soul, if – and mark well what I say – if you say the Holy Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins.”
The Rosary deals a blow to the devil’s head because, thanks to it, the heart becomes open to God’s healing grace. When the Rosary is prayed daily, it brings peace and unity, primarily in our own families. Pope Saint Pius X said: “The Rosary is the most beautiful and the richest in graces of all prayers; it is the prayer that touches most the Heart of the Mother of God…and if you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary.” By praying the Rosary, we are making room for God to intervene in our problems and help us solve them. Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the three Fatima seers, said: “The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families… that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.”
By praying the Rosary devoutly, we have Mary’s special protection and earn great and signal graces. The Rosary destroys vice, delivers from sin and dispels heresy. It makes both virtue and good works abound. It achieves for souls most abundant divine mercies. The Rosary lifts people’s hearts to desire God alone and therefore they will not perish. This Marian prayer converts sinners and helps the converted to persevere in grace and so merit eternal life. Those who pray the Rosary shall not die without the Church’s sacraments and will not suffer Purgatory. They will enjoy great glory in heaven and shall attain what they ask for. They are Mary’s beloved Children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. Propagators of the Rosary receive Mary’s aid in all that is necessary.
Most importantly, the Rosary deals a deadly blow to the devil’s head!
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap