The Rosary: "a treasure to be rediscovered". Link: JP2s Apostolic Letter + view samples of our *new* e-Book to help others pray the Rosary "in the light of Scripture, in harmony with the Liturgy,...
... in the context of your daily lives" (St. JP2). Rosary booklet features churches in Póvoa & St. de Montfort's Meditations on the Rosary decades. 12 e 13 Out. Beata Alexandrina Balasar pilgrimage!
THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST NEWSLETTER [2nd Edition, Oct. 8 11h00]1
SEXTA 7 OUTUBRO / FRIDAY 7 OCTOBER
FESTIVIDADE DO DIA: Nossa Senhora do Rosário / Our Lady of the Rosary
Vinde adoremos a Cristo Jesus, Filho bendito da Virgem Maria! Glória ao Pai, ao Filho e ao Espírito Santo, como era no princípio, agora e sempre. Ámen.
ETERNAL WISDOM:
Diz o Papa João Paulo II na sua Carta Apostólica “Rosarium Virginis Mariae”:
“O Rosário, de facto, ainda que caracterizado pela sua fisionomia mariana, no seu âmago é oração cristológica. Na sobriedade dos seus elementos, concentra a profundidade de toda a mensagem evangélica, da qual é quase um compêndio. Nele ecoa a oração de Maria, o seu perene Magnificat pela obra da Encarnação redentora iniciada no seu ventre virginal. Com ele, o povo cristão frequenta a escola de Maria para deixar-se introduzir na contemplação da beleza do rosto de Cristo e na experiência da profundidade do seu amor. Mediante o Rosário o crente alcança a graça em abundância, como se a recebesse das mesmas mãos da Mãe do Redentor.”
JOHN PAUL’S EXCELLENT APOSTOLIC LETTER ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE ON THE MOST HOLY ROSARY HERE is worth reviewing again:
“The Rosary, a treasure to be rediscovered”
43. Dear brothers and sisters! A prayer so easy and yet so rich truly deserves to be rediscovered by the Christian community. Let us do so, especially this year, as a means of confirming the direction outlined in my Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, from which the pastoral plans of so many particular Churches have drawn inspiration as they look to the immediate future.
I turn particularly to you, my dear Brother Bishops, priests and deacons, and to you, pastoral agents in your different ministries: through your own personal experience of the beauty of the Rosary, may you come to promote it with conviction.
I also place my trust in you, theologians: by your sage and rigorous reflection, rooted in the word of God and sensitive to the lived experience of the Christian people, may you help them to discover the Biblical foundations, the spiritual riches and the pastoral value of this traditional prayer.
I count on you, consecrated men and women, called in a particular way to contemplate the face of Christ at the school of Mary.
I look to all of you, brothers and sisters of every state of life, to you, Christian families, to you, the sick and elderly, and to you, young people: confidently take up the Rosary once again. Rediscover the Rosary in the light of Scripture, in harmony with the Liturgy, and in the context of your daily lives.2
“May this appeal of mine not go unheard!” (St. Pope John Paul 2)
At the start of the twenty-fifth year of my Pontificate, I entrust this Apostolic Letter to the loving hands of the Virgin Mary, prostrating myself in spirit before her image in the splendid Shrine built for her by Blessed Bartolo Longo, the apostle of the Rosary. I willingly make my own the touching words with which he concluded his well-known Supplication to the Queen of the Holy Rosary: “O Blessed Rosary of Mary, sweet chain which unites us to God, bond of love which unites us to the angels, tower of salvation against the assaults of Hell, safe port in our universal shipwreck, we will never abandon you. You will be our comfort in the hour of death: yours our final kiss as life ebbs away. And the last word from our lips will be your sweet name, O Queen of the Rosary of Pompei, O dearest Mother, O Refuge of Sinners, O Sovereign Consoler of the Afflicted. May you be everywhere blessed, today and always, on earth and in heaven”.3
Responding to the Rosary Prayer Challenge of St. Pope John Paul II
When one reviews “Rosarium Virginis Mariae” the following exclamation stands out with regards to this call to restore love for the prayer of the Rosary in the world:
“May this appeal of mine not go unheard!”
In so many ways, The Rosary Hour Podcast came together and into being as a direct response to this particular plea and in wanting very much to be literal in our obedience to this request by JPII.
In 1982, St. John Paul II further comments on the transformative power of the Holy Rosary:
“The prayer of the Rosary is a great help to men and women in our time. It brings peace and meditation; it introduces our lives to the Mysteries of God and brings God into our lives. Our thoughts and feelings are little by little freed from anxiety and from the transience of our problems and interests and become more and more open to the action of God.” (September 3, 1982).
He also urged:
“in contemplating the principal events of salvation that were fulfilled in Christ, we see the way in which the Word of God, mercifully entering into human affairs, brought about the Redemption” (17 February 1983).
IN “MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER TO THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD
ON THE OCCASION OF THE XVII WORLD YOUTH DAY (TORONTO 18-28 JULY 2002)” St. JP2 stated:
"You are the salt of the earth...
You are the light of the world" (Mt 5:13-14)
Yes, now is the time for mission!
In your Dioceses and parishes, in your movements, associations and communities, Christ is calling you.
The Church welcomes you and wishes to be your home and your school of communion and prayer.
Study the Word of God and let it enlighten your minds and hearts.
Draw strength from the sacramental grace of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.
Visit the Lord in that "heart to heart" contact that is Eucharistic Adoration.
Day after day, you will receive new energy to help you to bring comfort to the suffering and peace to the world.
Many people are wounded by life: they are excluded from economic progress, and are without a home, a family, a job; there are people who are lost in a world of false illusions, or have abandoned all hope.
By contemplating the light radiant on the face of the Risen Christ, you will learn to live as "children of the light and children of the day" (1 Th 5:5), and in this way you will show that "the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true" (Eph 5:9).
Those present at this WYD event in Toronto can perhaps still recall the impact of this speech by JPII, especially amid a loyal audience of under a million people who gathered in prayer in Downsview Park just North of the 401 Highway, and who waited for JPII all night in the rain.
One core leadership member of our Rosary Hour Podcast team, and her spiritual director, who was also present at the park at the time, can speak to the story of having witnessed the miracle that occurred after JPIIs helicopter descended from his flight from Strawberry Island.
When the Supreme Pontiff touched the ground in his white robe to kiss the ground, as was his tradition, blessing it with his prayers to Christ at the same time, the crowd gathered in Toronto saw the heavy rain clouds and the rain itself dissipate, seconds later, allowing the future saint to utter the Holy Sacrifice of Mass under the warm yellow sunshine and under a bright blue sky.
Miracles of nature are signs that God wants us to know something personal about Him. That God is real. That He wants us to know Him. To love Him. To serve Him. And for those who are struggling with the realities of “Faith”, or what C.S. Lewis called in a pithy way, “Mere Christianity,” a taste of the supernatural (for better or worse) can remind us of the dimension of our Faith which we often tend to at the last minute — those realities of last things and the importance of preparing daily for eternal life.
Yet, when Christ grants us miracles, as He did before the crowds who wanted later to crucify him, He certainly wants to get our attention.
When Christ breaks the rules of Science, or when the Blessed Mother breaks the rules of warfare through the Rosary — a memory we still celebrate today as recipients of the inheritance flowing from that great battle at Lepanto which for our sake sustained Christendom — we, all of us, face that choice of whether or not it is “time to proclaim” widely, as St. Peter and the Apostles and all the Saints did, with the fire of the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of God.
That we do this in some way, by our humble lives, our various relationships, especially with the poor, and by our prayers and/or our active willingness to die to ourselves to be present always for others can be daunting. For it means that when we are carrying our crosses, we sometimes seek to avoid ‘bleeding’ in the process, and yet Christ assures us that such ‘encounters’ are always new opportunities to demonstrate to God our capacity to mirror his own generous nature — the supernatural aspect of ‘being’ (a more than human subjectivity) that John remarks of: “I am the Good Shepherd that lays down his life for the Sheep” (John 10:11).
How are each of us, even in the smallest tasks, or the littlest “yes” to service part of that call to love — miracle or no miracle — and to respond to that same “mission” mentioned in JPIIs World Youth Day speech, twenty years ago?
The Santuário Alexandrina de Balasar (Póvoa de Varzim)
Morada: The Santuário Alexandrina de Balasar
Rua Alexandrina Maria da Costa, 21, 4570-017
Balasar, Póvoa de Varzim.
For now, to read more about her, visit the Sanctuary website here: https://www.alexandrinadebalasar.pt/
PROGRAMA
12 Quarta-Feira OUT / 2022 (Wed. 12 October)
Igreja: Povo Sacerdotal
21h00 Procissão de velas. Adoração, meditação, en bênção
13 Quinta-Feira OUT / 2022 (Thurs. 13 October)
Padre: Homem Consagrado
08h00 - Acolhimento aos Peregrinos
09h00 - Oração da Manhã e meditação.
10h30 - Santa Missa e Bênção dos doentes.
Preside. D. José Cordeiro, Arcbispo de Braga
Adoração, Eucharítica e Meditação
17h00 Orar ao Senhor da Messe
Santa Missa
Consagração a Nossa Senhora
Meditaçãoes a cargo do Padre Dário Pedroso
Durante o dia haverá sacerdotes para atender de Confissão.
VISIT: https://www.alexandrinadebalasar.pt/ for more pilgrimage details.
OUR SINCERE GRATITUDE
Thank you for reading the late evening edition of The Rosary Hour Podcast Newsletter. If you feel called to help us, please spread the word about our resources on the Rosary as a way to propagate the Rosary on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Link to our new YouTube Channel by clicking here or watching below:
Up next on Episode 1: 006
“Meet Fr. Anthony Gramlich”
Thank you and enjoy, and God Bless you.
First Edition Sent by E-mail
Send us notes on typos to our e-mail on this substack.
(Speaking of the context of daily lives, here is Venerable Patrick Peyton’s Family Rosary channel directed by Father Phalan, who we’ll talk to about the Rosary in 2023. This channel has a focus on Rosary Dads from their post last year. Useful for “dads group”:
Excerpt from the Vatican, on the 16th day of October in the year 2002, the beginning of the twenty- fifth year of my Pontificate. JOHN PAUL II.