It’s been some time since I have written a “Mondays with Mary” and I can’t think of a better return than with a post on the Holy Rosary. The Holy Rosary is so important to me that I have now written on this great Marian devotion eighteen times (which includes this post). Yes, you read that correctly – eighteen times.

Although I had a devotion to the Holy Rosary before I met my wife, it has been since knowing her that I have prayed the Rosary more than ever before. We begin our dating relationship praying it, we prayed it as we prepared for marriage, and we prayed it during her pregnancy to our first-born son who happened to be born on the Vigil of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and our anniversary date. As you can see, the Holy Rosary and Mamma Mary have been working in my life for some time now.

For today’s post, I have for you seven quotes from Pope Benedict XVI on the Holy Rosary. I don’t know about you, but I miss him. Pope Benedict XVI, like other Popes before him, was so clear and precise in their thinking, writing, and speaking. They did not confuse the faithful nor were they ambiguous in the things they said to us. I pray this day that you find consolation in these quotes by Pope Benedict and pray for the Catholic Church through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Rosary.

1. “Today, together we confirm that the Holy Rosary is not a pious practice banished to the past, like prayers of other times thought of with nostalgia. Instead, the Rosary is experiencing a new Springtime. Without a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and his Mother, Mary.”

2. “The rosary is a means given by the Virgin for contemplating Jesus and, meditating on his life, for loving and following him always more faithfully.”

3. “Dear young people, I invite you to value this traditional Marian prayer which helps us to understand better the central moments of salvation realized by Christ.”

4. To newlyweds, he said, “to make the praying of the rosary in the family a moment of spiritual growth under the maternal gaze of the Virgin Mary.”

5. “When reciting the Rosary, the important and meaningful moments of salvation history are relived. The various steps of Christ’s mission are traced. With Mary the heart is oriented toward the mystery of Jesus. Christ is put at the centre of our life, of our time, of our city, through the contemplation and meditation of his holy mysteries of joy, light, sorrow and glory.”

6. “The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation. It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the centre of each ‘Hail Mary’”.

7. The Rosary “the prayer of the Christian who advances in the pilgrimage of faith, in the following of Jesus, preceded by Mary.”

Our Lady of the Rosary…Pray for Us 

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