The Church celebrates October 7th as a memorial in honor of Mary as Our Lady of the Rosary. October has also been traditionally known as the month of the Rosary. As we know, the recitation of the Rosary is a devotion based on Sacred Scripture. In 1974, Pope Paul VI wrote about the Rosary:
“The Rosary draws from the Gospel the presentation of the mysteries and its main formulas. As it moves from the angel’s joyful greeting and the Virgin’s pious assent, the Rosary takes its inspiration from the Gospel to suggest the attitude with which the faithful should recite it. In the harmonious succession of Hail Marys, the Rosary puts before us once more a fundamental mystery of the Gospel – the incarnation of the Word, contemplated at the decisive moment of the Annunciation of Mary. The Rosary is thus a Gospel prayer, more today perhaps than in the past.” (Marialis Cultus 44)
In light of the fact that we traditionally pray the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary on Wednesdays, here is a brief meditation for today on the first of those Mysteries:
“The Resurrection: Christ’s Resurrection and the risen Christ himself is the principle and source of our future resurrection: ‘Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep… For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.’ The risen Christ lives in the hearts of His faithful while they await that fulfillment. In Christ, Christians ‘have tasted…the powers of the age to come’ and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of divine life, so that they may ‘live no longer for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.’”
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
