3 ways to pray today (it's a big deal)

Our Lady of the Rosary.A few people know that at Fatima, when Mary appeared to three shepherd children, she told them that she was the "Lady of the Rosary." Even fewer people know that this feast day was established back in 1571, for a reason even fewer know!It's a pretty big deal.During the Reformation and Counter-Reformation (not a bloodless argument between zealous Christians on both sides), there were also some good things going on.Pope Pius V, a friend of the great "Counter-Reformation" saint, Charles Borromeo, reformed the breviary and the Missal (which was used in the Church until 1970 - 400 years!), and excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I, which only led to more bloodshed (see Mary, Queen of Scots, the Spanish Armada, the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics and the consequent creation of "priest-holes"). A busy pontificate.The forgotten chapter of Pius V's reign is one that every Western European Christian should know: his initiative to protect Western Europe, called the Holy League. It was to the praying of the Rosary and the courage of the Holy League that the victory of Lepanto was credited, a victory that saved the West from a conquering, violent arm of the Ottoman Empire.Fighting for hundreds of years and having overtaken the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Turks were now pushing into the Mediterranean; they reached Vienna in 1529, though they did not take it (they would try again in 1683; another great story for another time). In 1570, they began their attack on Italy (well, Cyprus, which was a possession of the Venetian Republic). There was a real risk that the Ottoman sultan, who already claimed to be Emperor of the Romans, would take possession of Italy and the western Mediterranean and move on to the Atlantic. The Holy League was the name given to the united forces of Southern Europe who gathered a fleet to meet the Turkish navy.Pope Pius V, knowing that the European forces were at a clear disadvantage, had urged all of Catholic Europe to pray the ROSARY for the fleet. He also urged the sailors and soldiers of the fleet to pray the Rosary before the battle. It was an intense battle and an extraordinarily tight fight. So when the European fleet was victorious (a victory seen as miraculous, though not without significant losses) at Lepanto on October 7, 1571, the credit was given to Mary's intercession and Pius V instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory (his successors changed the name several times; it was Pope St John XXIII in 1960 who called it the "Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary").Incidentally, Pope Pius V was a Dominican ;-)This is part of our story, the story of Christendom and the battles to protect the Faith and the faithful. It is the story of a God that calls us to do great and difficult things, to participate in the glorious victories of the battles that must be fought here on earth, to participate in our own redemption. It is the story of a Mother who hears our prayers and makes a way where it seems there is no way!Mary has come to earth many times and urged us to pray the Rosary. At Fatima (which is significant this year, as it is the 100th anniversary of those apparitions) she repeatedly told the children to pray the Rosary EVERY DAY for PEACE.Have we heeded this directive, which comes directly from the mouth of the Mother of God and our Mother?Do we really believe that prayer works miracles?Do we entrust all our concerns to God through the hands of Mary?Are we praying for peace: in our hearts, in our homes, in our world?Are we praying this prayer - this prayer that is like a chain that binds us and all our intentions to the Heart of our heavenly Mother - every day?Are we praying it well?Here are 3 suggestions of ways to pray the Rosary today, on this Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary; pray 5 decades with your family or with a group of friends:

1. Use meditations before each decade that are based on the Scriptures. Imagine that you are at your Mother Mary's knee, and she is showing you scenes from the "Family Album"; remember that it's your family too.
2. If you have children (or even if you don't), find a book with illustrations for each of the mysteries and really "enter in" to the meditations by imagining briefly the sights and sounds of each scene. Then ask yourself how you would have reacted if you had been present, and how you should have reacted.
3. As you pray the Rosary, ask for the grace to learn to really love this prayer, to see it as a Scriptural and Christocentric meditation and a form of vocal, mental, and contemplative prayer through Mary. Think of the beauty of repeating the heavenly words of an angel: "Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with you."

Blessings to you and all those you love on this beautiful feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.