This month of October is a particularly Marian time each year. Because we celebrate the Feast of Mary as Our Lady of the Rosary on Oct. 7, the whole month is dedicated to the recitation of the rosary.

 

Like so many aspects of modern faith, the rosary sadly seems to have lost some of the centrality of its place in the life of many Catholics compared to decades ago. Nevertheless, it is sometimes surprising, and certainly heartening, to speak to the faithful and find how often it is still recited today, and even more how much it is loved.

 

If one approaches the rosary from what we might call a mechanical perspective, it can seem cumbersome and not in synch with the modern mind that is so used to rapid and changing stimuli, be it in terms of music and entertainment or communications and news. The continual repetition of the same prayers — compounded if one recites the rosary daily — can seem sluggish and monotonous. 

 

However, when the rosary is prayed with an open heart and a love for Mary, Jesus and the faith, faithful throughout the ages have experienced the richness of this prayer to our mother.

 

In particular, the power of the rosary as a prayer is experienced if one keeps in mind how Scriptural it is. 

 

Each decade of the rosary begins by praying the Our Father. As we know, that prayer is recorded in the Gospels as being the prayer of Jesus Himself. Each time we pray the Our Father, then, we directly place ourselves in the image of the Son of God. By Christ’s will, that prayer makes us part of the dialogue between the Son and the Father.

 

Each decade of the rosary, then, starts by concentrating our faith with that of Mary on her son, Jesus. He is the object of all we do, including praying the rosary.

 

Each Our Father is then followed by 10 Hail Mary’s. 

 

The first half of the Hail Mary again comes directly from the Gospels. It is the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to Mary at the Annunciation. The Hail Mary allows us to place ourselves either with the Angel Gabriel, conveying the heavenly greeting, or with Mary, in humility hearing and seeing what no human being has before or since.

 

That richness opens so many thoughts about Mary as full of grace, that is to say sinless. We are reminded that the Lord is fully with her and that she is especially blessed because she was free from original sin and because she guarded that holiness by avoiding all personal sin. 

 

What a reminder that is for each of us about our own call to holiness both in this life and in heaven for all eternity.

 

Each decade then concludes offering glory to the Blessed Trinity. In that way we are drawn to join the heavenly choirs described in the Scriptures that are rightly praising God for all eternity.

 

The Scriptural basis of the rosary is heightened by the traditional use of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries as well as the luminous mysteries added by Pope St. John Paul II as we pray each decade. In that way, with Mary we are joined to the whole life and mystery of Jesus.

 

As with any prayer, we may find that our thoughts can wander and our attention to the prayer weaken at times. But the context of the life of Jesus and Mary offered by the rosary gives us the chance to join it to ourselves and our particular needs, joys and intentions.

 

Of course it takes work to recite the rosary. Good things regularly require our effort. The month of October is precisely the time to renew our dedication to this great prayer and to the love and intercession of Mary. She truly is Jesus’s mother and our own as well.