FIFTH DECADE

How to say the Rosary worthily

Forty-first Rose

116 It is not so much the length of a prayer as the fervour with

which it is said which pleases God and touches his heart. A

single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and

fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole

fifteen mysteries or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why

is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make

progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as

they should.

117 It is a good thing to think over how we should pray if we

want to please God and become more holy.

1 Firstly, to say the holy Rosary with advantage one must

be in a state of grace or at least be fully determined to give

up sin, for all our theology teaches us that good works and

prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin.

Therefore, they can neither be pleasing to God nor help us to

gain eternal life. As Scripture says, "Praise is not seemly in

the mouth of a sinner" (Ecclus. 15).

The praise and greeting of the angel and the very prayer of

Jesus Christ are not pleasing to God when they are said by

unrepentant sinners.

"These people honour me with their lips, but their heart is

far from me" (Mark 7:6).

Those who join my confraternities (says Jesus Christ), who

say the Rosary every day, without any contrition for their sins,

offer me lip service only and their hearts are far from me.

2 I have just said that a person must "at least be fully

determined to give up sin," 1) because if it were true that God

only heard the prayers of those in a state of grace, it would

follow that those who are in a state of serious sin should not

pray at all. This is an erroneous teaching which has been

condemned by the Church, because sinners, of course, need to pray

far more than good people. Were this horrible doctrine true, it

would be useless and futile to tell a sinner to say the Rosary,

because it would never help him; 2) because they join one of our

Lady's confraternities, or say the Rosary or some other prayer,

without having the slightest intention of giving up sin, they

join the ranks of her false devotees. These presumptuous and

impenitent devotees, hiding under her mantle, with the scapular

round their necks and the rosary in their hands, cry out,

"Blessed Virgin, good Mother, Hail Mary," and yet at the same

time they are crucifying Jesus Christ and tearing his flesh anew

by their sins. It is a great tragedy, but from the ranks of our

Lady's most holy confraternities souls are falling into the fires

of hell.

118 We earnestly advise everyone to say the Rosary: the

virtuous, that they may persevere and grow in the grace of God;

sinners, that they may rise from their sins. But God forbid we

should ever encourage a sinner to think that our Lady will

protect him with her mantle if he continues to love sin, for it

will turn into a mantle of damnation which will hide his sins

from the public eye. The Rosary, which is a remedy for all ills,

would then be turned into a deadly poison. Corruptio optimi

pessima.

The learned Cardinal Hugues tells us that one should be as

pure as an angel to approach the Blessed Virgin and say the

Angelic Salutation. One day, our Lady showed herself to an

immoral man who used to say the Rosary regularly every day. She

showed him a bowl of beautiful fruit, but the bowl itself was

covered with filth. The man was horrified to see this, and our

Lady said to him, "This is the way you are honouring me. You are

giving me beautiful roses in a dirty bowl. Do you think I can

find them pleasing to me?"

Forty-second Rose

119 In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression

to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers,

the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God

listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth.

To be guilty of wilful distractions during prayer would show a

great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries

unfruitful and make us guilty of sin.

How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not

pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect him to be

pleased if, while in the presence of his tremendous majesty, we

give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly?

People who do that forfeit God's blessing, which is changed into

a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully:

"Cursed be the one who does God's work negligently." Jer. 48:10.

120 Of course, you cannot say your Rosary without having a few

involuntary distractions; it is even difficult to say a Hail Mary

without your imagination troubling you a little, for it is never

still; but you can say it without voluntary distractions, and you

must take all sorts of precautions to lessen involuntary

distractions and to control your imagination.

To do this, put yourself in the presence of God and imagine

that God and his Blessed Mother are watching you, and that your

guardian angel is at your right hand, taking your Hail Marys, if

they are well said, and using them like roses to make crowns for

Jesus and Mary. But remember that at your left hand is the devil,

ready to pounce on every Hail Mary that comes his way and to

write it down in his book of death, if they are not said with

attention, devotion, and reverence. Above all, do not fail to

offer up each decade in honour of one of the mysteries, and try

to form a picture in your mind of Jesus and Mary in connection

with that mystery.

121 We read in the life of Blessed Hermann of the Order of the

Premonstratensians, that at one time when he used to say the

Rosary attentively and devoutly while meditating on the

mysteries, our Lady used to appear to him resplendent in

breathtaking majesty and beauty. But, as time went on, his

fervour cooled and he fell into the way of saying his Rosary

hurriedly and without giving it his full attention. Then one day

our Lady appeared to him again, but this time she was far from

beautiful, and her face was furrowed and drawn with sadness.

Blessed Hermann was appalled at the change in her, and our Lady

explained, "This is how I look to you, Hermann, because this is

how you are treating me; as a woman to be despised and of no

importance. Why do you no longer greet me with respect and

attention while meditating on my mysteries and praising my

privileges?"

Forty-third Rose

122 When the Rosary is well said, it gives Jesus and Mary more

glory and is more meritorious for the soul than any other prayer.

But it is also the hardest prayer to say well and to persevere

in, owing especially to the distractions which almost inevitably

attend the constant repetition of the same words.

When we say the Little Office of Our Lady, or the Seven

Penitential Psalms, or any prayers other than the Rosary, the

variety of words and expressions keeps us alert, prevents our

imagination from wandering, and so makes it easier for us to say

them well. On the contrary, because of the constant repetition

of the Our Father and Hail Mary in the same unvarying form, it

is difficult, while saying the Rosary, not to become wearied and

inclined to sleep, or to turn to other prayers that are more

refreshing and less tedious. This shows that one needs much

greater devotion to persevere in saying the Rosary than in saying

any other prayer, even the psalter of David.

123 Our imagination, which is hardly still a minute, makes our

task harder, and then of course there is the devil who never

tires of trying to distract us and keep us from praying. To what

ends does not the evil one go against us while we are engaged in

saying our Rosary against him.

Being human, we easily become tired and slipshod, but the

devil makes these difficulties worse when we are saying the

Rosary. Before we even begin, he makes us feel bored, distracted,

or exhausted; and when we have started praying, he oppresses us

from all sides, and when after much difficulty and many

distractions, we have finished, he whispers to us, "What you have

just said is worthless. It is useless for you to say the Rosary.

You had better get on with other things. It is only a waste of

time to pray without paying attention to what you are saying;

half-an-hour's meditation or some spiritual reading would be much

better. Tomorrow, when you are not feeling so sluggish, you'll

pray better; leave the rest of your Rosary till then." By tricks

of this kind the devil gets us to give up the Rosary altogether

or to say it less often, and we keep putting it off or change to

some other devotion.

124 Dear friend of the Rosary Confraternity, do not listen to

the devil, but be of good heart, even if your imagination has

been bothering you throughout your Rosary, filling your mind with

all kinds of distracting thoughts, so long as you tried your best

to get rid of them as soon as you noticed them. Always remember

that the best Rosary is the one with the most merit, and there

is more merit in praying when it is hard than when it is easy.

Prayer is all the harder when it is, naturally speaking,

distasteful to the soul and is filled with those annoying little

ants and flies running about in your imagination, against your

will, and scarcely allowing you the time to enjoy a little peace

and appreciate the beauty of what you are saying.

125 Even if you have to fight distractions all through your

whole Rosary, be sure to fight well, arms in hand: that is to

say, do not stop saying your Rosary even if it is difficult to

say and you have no sensible devotion. It is a terrible battle,

but one that is profitable to the faithful soul. If you put down

your arms, that is, if you give up the Rosary, you will be

admitting defeat and then the devil, having got what he wanted,

will leave you in peace, and on the day of judgment will taunt

you because of your faithlessness and lack of courage. "He who

is faithful in little things will also be faithful in those that

are greater." Luke 16:10.

He who is faithful in rejecting the smallest distractions

when he says even the smallest prayer, will also be faithful in

great things. Nothing is more certain, since the Holy Spirit has

told us so.

So all of you, servants and handmaids of Jesus Christ and

the Blessed Virgin, who have made up your minds to say the Rosary

every day, be of good heart. Do not let the multitude of flies

(as I call the distractions that make war on you during prayer)

make you abandon the company of Jesus and Mary, in whose holy

presence you are when saying the Rosary. In what follows I shall

give you suggestions for diminishing distractions in prayer.

Forty-fourth Rose

126 After you have invoked the Holy Spirit, in order to say your

Rosary well, place yourself for a moment in the presence of God

and make the offering of the decades in the way I will show you

later.

Before beginning a decade, pause for a moment or two,

depending on how much time you have, and contemplate the mystery

that you are about to honour in that decade. Always be sure to

ask, by this mystery and through the intercession of the Blessed

Virgin, for one of the virtues that shines forth most in this

mystery or one of which you are in particular need.

Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people

fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not

asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were

asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So,

whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special

grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin.

The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is

to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as

quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary

as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been

said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or

have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our

will.

127 It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say

it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could

not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to

think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and

yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honoured by it!

Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy

religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands

of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before.

Dear friend of the Confraternity, I beg you to restrain your

natural precipitation when saying your Rosary, and make some

pauses in the middle of the Our Father and Hail Mary, and a

smaller one after the words of the Our Father and Hail Mary which

I have marked with a cross, as follows:

Our Father who art in heaven, + hallowed by thy name, + thy

kingdom come, + thy will be done + on earth as it is in heaven.

+ Give us this day + our daily bread, + and forgive us our

trespasses + as we forgive those who trespass against us, + and

lead us not into temptation, + but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Hail, Mary, full of grace, + the Lord is with thee, +

blessed art thou among women, + and blessed is the fruit of thy

womb, Jesus. +

Holy Mary, Mother of God, + pray for us sinners, now + and

at the hour of our death. Amen. +

At first, you may find it difficult to make these pauses

because of your bad habit of saying prayers in a hurry; but a

decade said recollectedly in this way will be worth more than

thousands of Rosaries said in a hurry, without pausing or

reflecting.

128 Blessed Alan de la Roche and other writers, including Robert

Bellarmine, tell the story of how a good priest advised three of

his penitents, who happened to be sisters, to say the Rosary

every day without fail for a whole year. This was so that they

might make a beautiful robe of glory for the Blessed Virgin out

of their Rosaries. This was a secret that the priest had received

from heaven.

So the three sisters said the Rosary faithfully for a year,

and on the feast of the Purification our Lady appeared to them

at night when they had retired. St. Catherine and St. Agnes were

with her, and she was wearing a dress brilliant with light, on

which was written in letters of gold the words "Hail, Mary, full

of grace." Our Lady approached the eldest sister and said, "I

greet you, my daughter, who have greeted me so often and so well.

I want to thank you for the beautiful robes you have made me."

The two virgin saints who accompanied our Lady also thanked her

and all three disappeared.

An hour later, our Lady, with the same two companions,

entered the room again, but this time she was wearing a green

dress which had no gold lettering and did not shine. She went to

the second sister and thanked her for the robe she had made by

saying her Rosary. But since this sister had seen our Lady appear

to the eldest sister much more magnificently dressed, she asked

the reason why. Our Lady answered, "Your sister made me more

beautiful clothes because she has been saying the Rosary better

than you."

About an hour after this, she appeared to the youngest of

the sisters wearing tattered and dirty rags. "My daughter," she

said, "I want to thank you for these clothes you have made me."

The young girl, feeling ashamed, cried out, "O my lady, how could

I have dressed you so badly! I beg you to forgive me. Please

grant me a little more time to make you a beautiful robe by

saying my Rosary better." Our Lady and the two saints vanished,

leaving the girl heartbroken. She told her confessor everything

that had happened and he urged them to say the Rosary for another

year and to say it with more devotion than ever.

At the end of this second year, on the same day of the

Purification, our Lady, clothed in a magnificent robe, and again

attended by St. Catherine and St. Agnes, wearing crowns, appeared

to them in the evening. She said to them, "I have come to tell

you that you have earned heaven at last, and you will all have

the great joy of going there tomorrow." The three of them cried,

"Our hearts are ready, dearest Queen, our hearts are ready." Then

the vision faded. That same night they became ill and sent for

their confessor, and received the last sacraments, after having

thanked him for the holy practice he had taught them. After

Compline, our Lady appeared with a large company of virgins and

had the three sisters clothed in white robes. While angels were

singing, "Come, spouses of Jesus Christ, receive the crowns which

have been prepared for you for all eternity," they departed from

this life.

Some important truths can be learned from this story:

1) How important it is to have a good director who will counsel

holy practices, especially that of the holy Rosary; 2) How

important it is to say the Rosary with attention and devotion;

3) How kind and merciful is the Blessed Virgin to those who are

sorry for the past and are firmly resolved to do better; 4) How

generous she is in rewarding us in life, at death, and in

eternity for the little services that we render her with

fidelity.

Forty-fifth Rose

129 I would like to add that the Rosary ought to be said

reverently, that is to say, it ought to be said as much as

possible, kneeling, with hands joined, clasping the rosary.

However, if you are ill, you can, of course, say it in bed; or

if one is travelling it can be said while walking; if, on account

of some infirmity, you cannot kneel you can say it standing or

sitting. You can even say it while working if your duties do not

allow you to leave your job, for work with one's hands is not

always incompatible with vocal prayer.

I agree that, since the soul has its limitations and can

only do so much, when we are concentrating on manual work we are

less attentive to the activities of the spirit, such as prayer.

But when we cannot do otherwise, this kind of prayer is not

without its value in our Lady's eyes, and she rewards our good-

will more than our exterior actions.

130 I advise you to divide up your Rosary into three parts and

to say each group of five decades at different times of the day.

This is much better than saying the whole fifteen decades at

once.

If you cannot find the time to say five decades all

together, say a decade here and a decade there; you will thus be

able, in spite of your work and the calls upon your time, to

complete the whole Rosary before going to bed.

St. Francis de Sales set us a very good example of fidelity

in this respect: once when he was extremely tired from the visits

he had made during the day and remembered, towards midnight, that

he had left a few decades of his Rosary unsaid, he knelt down and

said them before going to bed, notwithstanding all the efforts

of his secretary, who saw he was tired and begged him to leave

the rest of his prayers till the next day.

Imitate also the faithfulness, reverence and devotion of the

holy friar, mentioned in the chronicles of St. Francis, who

always said five decades of the Rosary with great reverence and

attention before dinner. I have mentioned this earlier.

Forty-sixth Rose

131 Of all the ways of saying the holy Rosary, the most glorious

to God, most salutary to our souls, and the most terrible to the

devil is that of saying or chanting the Rosary publicly in two

choirs.

God is very pleased to have people gathered together in

prayer. All the angels and the blessed unite to praise him

unceasingly. The just on earth, gathered together in various

communities, pray in common, night and day. Our Lord expressly

recommended this practice to his apostles and disciples, and

promised that whenever there would be at least two or three

gathered in his name he would be there in the midst of them.

What a wonderful thing to have Jesus Christ in our midst!

And all we have to do to have him with us is to come together to

say the Rosary. That is why the first Christians met so often to

pray together, in spite of the persecutions of the Emperors, who

had forbidden them to assemble. They preferred to risk death

rather than to miss their gatherings where our Lord was present.

132 This way of praying is of the greatest benefit to us:

1 because our minds are usually more alert during public

prayer than when we pray alone;

2 when we pray in common, the prayer of each one belongs

to the whole group and make all together but one prayer,

so that if one person is not praying well, someone else in the

same gathering who is praying better makes up for his deficiency.

In the same way, those who are strong uphold the weak, those who

are fervent inspire the lukewarm, the rich enrich the poor, the

bad are merged with the good. How can a measure of cockle be

sold? This can be done very easily by mixing it with four or five

bushels of good wheat.

3 One who says his Rosary alone only gains the merit of

one Rosary; but if he says it with thirty other people he gains

the merit of thirty Rosaries. This is the law of public prayer.

How profitable, how advantageous this is!

4 Urban VIII, who was very pleased to see how the devotion

of the holy Rosary had spread to Rome and how it was being said

in two groups or choirs, particularly at the convent of Santa

Maria sopra Minerva, attached a hundred days' extra indulgence

toties quoties, whenever the Rosary was said in two choirs. This

is set out in his brief Ad perpetuam rei memoriam, of the year

1626. So every time you say the Rosary in common, you gain a

hundred days' indulgence.

5 Public prayer is more powerful than private prayer to

appease the anger of God and call down his mercy, and the Church,

guided by the Holy Spirit, has always advocated it in times of

disasters and general distress.

In his Bull on the Rosary, Pope Gregory XIII declares that

we must believe, on pious faith, that the public prayers and

processions of the members of the Confraternity of the Holy

Rosary were largely responsible for the great victory over the

Turkish navy at Lepanto, which God granted to the Christians on

the first Sunday of October 1571.

133 When King Louis the Just, of blessed memory, was besieging

La Rochelle, where the rebellious heretics had their strongholds,

he wrote to his mother to beg her to have public prayers offered

for a victorious outcome. The Queen-Mother decided to have the

Rosary recited publicly in Paris in the Dominican church of

Faubourg Saint-Honor‚, and this was carried out by the Archbishop

of Paris. It was begun on May 20th, 1628.

Both the Queen and the Queen-Mother were present, with the

Duke of Orleans, Cardinal de la Rochefoucault, Cardinal de

B‚rulle, and several prelates. The court turned out in full force

as well as a great number of the general populace. The Archbishop

read the meditations on the mysteries aloud and then began the

Our Father and Hail Mary of each decade, while the congregation

of religious and lay-folk answered. At the end of the Rosary a

statue of the Blessed Virgin was carried solemnly in procession

while the Litany of our Lady was sung.

This devotion was continued every Saturday with admirable

fervour and resulted in a manifest blessing from heaven, for the

King triumphed over the English at the Island of R‚ and made his

triumphant entry into La Rochelle on All Saints Day of the same

year. This shows us the power of public prayer.

134 Finally, when the Rosary is said in common, it is far more

formidable to the devil, because in this public prayer it is an

army that is attacking him. He can often overcome the prayer of

an individual, but if it is joined to that of others, the devil

has much more trouble in getting the best of it. It is easy to

break a single stick; but if you join it to others to make a

bundle, it cannot be broken. Vis unita fit fortior. Soldiers join

together in an army to overcome their enemies; immoral people

often come together for parties of debauchery and dancing; evil

spirits join forces in order to make us lose our souls. Why,

then, should not Christians join forces to have Jesus Christ

present with them, to appease the anger of God, to draw down his

grace and mercy on us, and to frustrate and overcome the devil

more forcefully?

Dear friend of the Confraternity, whether you live in the

town or the country, near the parish church or a chapel, go there

at least every evening, with the approval of the parish priest,

together with all those who want to recite the Rosary in two

choirs. If a church or chapel is not available, say the Rosary

together in your own or a neighbour's house.

135 This is a holy practice, which God, in his mercy, has set

up in places where I have preached missions, in order to

safeguard and increase the good brought about by the mission and

to prevent further sin. Before the Rosary was established in

these little towns and villages, dances and parties of debauchery

went on; dissoluteness, wantonness, blasphemy, quarrels and feuds

flourished; one heard nothing but evil songs and double-meaning

talk. But now nothing is heard but hymns and the chant of the Our

Father and Hail Mary. The only gatherings to be seen are those

of twenty, thirty or a hundred or more people who, at a fixed

time, sing the praises of God as religious do.

There are even places where the Rosary is said in common

every day, at three different times of the day. What a blessing

from heaven that is! As there are wicked people everywhere, do

not expect to find that the place you live in is free of them;

there will be people who avoid going to church for the Rosary,

who may even make fun of it and do all they can, by what they do

and say, to stop you from going. But do not give up. As those

wretched people will have to be separated from God and heaven

forever, already here on earth they have to be separated from the

company of Jesus and his servants.

Forty-seventh Rose

136 People of God, cut yourselves adrift from those who are

damning themselves by their impious lives, laziness and lack of

devotion without delay, and say the Rosary often with faith,

humility, confidence and perseverance.

1 Our Lord told us to pray always, after the example he

has given us, because of our endless need of prayer, on account

of the darkness of our minds, our ignorance, and weakness, and

the number of our enemies. Anyone who really gives heed to this

commandment of our Master will surely not be satisfied with

saying the Rosary once a year, as the Perpetual Members do, or

once a week, like the Ordinary Members, but will say it every day

without fail, as a member of the Daily Rosary, even though the

only obligation he has is that of his own salvation. "We ought

always to pray and not lose heart."

137 These are the eternal words of our Blessed Lord himself. And

we must believe his words and abide by them if we do not want to

be damned. You can explain them as you wish so long as you do not

interpret them as the world does and observe them in a worldly

way. Our Lord gave us the true explanation of his words in the

examples he left us: "I have given you an example that as I have

done to you, so you do also." (Jn. 13:5.) And "he spent the whole

night in prayer to God," (Luke 6:12) as if the day was not

sufficient for it.

Often he repeated to his Apostles these two words, "Watch

and pray." The flesh is weak, temptation is everywhere and always

around you. If you do not keep up your prayers, you will fall.

And because some of them evidently thought that these words of

our Lord constituted only a counsel, they completely missed the

point. That is why they fell into temptation and sin, even though

they were in the company of Jesus Christ.

138 Dear friend of the Confraternity, if you want to lead a

fashionable life and belong to the world - by this I mean if you

do not mind falling into mortal sin from time to time and then

going to confession, and avoiding conspicuous sins which the

world considers vile, while keeping up the "respectable" ones -

then, of course, there is no need for you to say so many prayers

and Rosaries. To be "respectable" you only need to say a little

prayer morning and evening, an occasional Rosary given to you for

your penance, a few decades said in a casual way, when the fancy

takes you - that is quite enough for any good-living person. If

you did less, you might be branded as a freethinker or

profligate; if you do more, you are becoming an eccentric or a

fanatic.

139 But if you want to lead a true Christian life and genuinely

want to save your soul and walk in the footsteps of the saints

and not fall into serious sin, if you wish to break all the

snares of the devil and extinguish all his flaming darts, you

must pray always as our Lord taught and commanded you to do.

If you really have this wish at heart, then you should at

least say your Rosary every day, or its equivalent.

I repeat "at least," because probably all that you will

accomplish through your Rosary will be to avoid mortal sin and

temptation. This is because you are exposed to the strong current

of the world's wickedness by which many a strong soul is swept

away; you are in the midst of the thick, clinging darkness which

often blinds even the most enlightened souls; you are surrounded

by evil spirits who, being more experienced than ever and knowing

that their time is short, are more subtle and more effective in

tempting you.

It will indeed be a marvel of grace wrought by the holy

Rosary if you manage to keep out of the clutches of the world,

the devil and the flesh and sin, and gain eternal life.

140 If you do not want to believe what I say, at least learn

from your own experience. I should like to ask you if, when you

were in the habit of saying no more prayers than people usually

say in the world, and saying them in the way they usually say

them, you were able to avoid serious faults and sins that were

grievous but seemed of little account to you in your blindness.

Now at last you must wake up, and if you want to live and die

without sin, at least serious sin, pray always; say your Rosary

every day, as all members used to do in the early days of the

Confraternity. (See the end of this book for proof of what I

say.)

When our Blessed Lady gave the Rosary to St. Dominic, she

ordered him to say it every day and to get others to say it

daily. St. Dominic never let anyone join the Confraternity unless

he were fully determined to say it every day. If nowadays people

are allowed to be Ordinary members through saying the Rosary once

a week, it is because fervour has dwindled and charity grown

cold. You get what you can from one who is poor in prayer. "It

was not so in the beginning."

Three things must be noted here.

141 The first is that if you want to be enroled in the

Confraternity of the Daily Rosary and share in the prayers and

merits of its members, it is not enough to be enroled in the

Ordinary Rosary or simply to make a resolution to say it every

day. In addition, you must give your name to those who have the

power of enroling. It is also a very good thing to go to

confession and communion for this intention. The reason for this

is that the Ordinary Rosary membership does not incLude that of

the Daily Rosary, but this latter does include the former.

The second point I want to make is that, absolutely

speaking, it is not even a venial sin to fail to say the Rosary

every day, or every week, or every year.

The third point is that whenever illness, or obedience to

a lawful superior, or necessity, or involuntary forgetfulness has

prevented you from saying the Rosary, you do not forfeit your

share in the merits and you do not lose your participation in the

Rosaries of the other Confraternity members. So it is not

absolutely necessary for you to say two Rosaries on the following

day to make up for the one you missed, as I suppose, through no

fault of your own. If, however, when you are ill, your sickness

is such that you are still able to say part of your Rosary, you

have to say that part.

"Blessed are those who stand before you always." "Happy

those who dwell in your house, O Lord, they praise you

continually." Lord Jesus, blessed are the brothers and sisters

of the Daily Rosary Confraternity who, day after day, are present

in and around your throne in heaven, so that they may meditate

and contemplate your joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries.

How happy they are on earth because of the wonderful graces you

bestow on them, and how blessed shall they be in heaven where

they will praise you in a special way forever and ever.

142 2 The Rosary should be said with faith, for our Blessed

Lord said, "Believe that you will receive and it will be

granted." If you believe that you will receive what you ask from

God, he will grant your petitions. He will say to you, "As you

have believed, so be it done to you." "If anyone needs wisdom,

let him ask God with faith, and without hesitating, and - through

his Rosary - it will be given him."

143 3 Thirdly, we must pray with humility, like the publican;

he was kneeling on the ground, on two knees, not on one knee as

proud and worldly people do, or one knee on the bench. He was at

the back of the church and not in the sanctuary as the Pharisee

was; his eyes were cast down, for he dared not look up to heaven;

he did not hold his head up and look about him like the Pharisee;

he beat his breast, confessing himself a sinner and asking for

forgiveness: "Be merciful to me, a sinner," and not like the

Pharisee who boasted of his good works, who despised others in

their prayers. Do not imitate the prayer of the proud Pharisee

which only hardened his heart and increased his guilt; imitate

rather the humility of the tax-collector, whose prayer obtained

him the remission of his sins.

You must be on your guard against giving yourself to what

is extraordinary and asking or even desiring knowledge of

extraordinary things, visions, revelations, or other miraculous

graces which God has occasionally given to some of the saints

while they were saying the Rosary. Sola fides sufficit: Faith

alone suffices now that the Gospel and all the devotions and

pious practices are sufficiently established.

Even if you suffer from dryness of soul, distaste for prayer

and interior discouragement, never give up the least part of your

Rosary; this would be a sign of pride and infidelity; but like

a brave champion of Jesus and Mary, say your Our Fathers and Hail

Marys in your dryness, without seeing, feeling, or appreciating,

and concentrating as best you can on the mysteries.

You ought not to look for sweets or jam to eat with your

daily bread, as children do; but to imitate Jesus more perfectly

in his agony you could say your Rosary more slowly sometimes when

you find it particularly hard to say: "Being in agony, he prayed

the longer," so that what was said of our Lord when he was in his

agony of prayer may be said of you: he prayed all the longer.

144 4 Pray with great confidence, with confidence based on the

goodness and infinite generosity of God and on the promises of

Jesus Christ. God is the spring of living water which flows

unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray. The eternal Father

yearns for nothing so much as to share the life-giving waters of

his grace and mercy with us. He entreats us, "All you who thirst,

come to the waters," that is, come and drink of my spring through

prayer, and when we do not pray to him he sorrowfully says that

we are forsaking him, "They have forsaken me, the fountain of

living water."

We please our Lord when we ask him for graces, and if we do

not ask he makes a loving complaint, "Until now you have not

asked anything.... Ask and you will receive, seek and you will

find, knock and the door will be opened to you."

Furthermore, to give us more confidence in praying to him,

he has bound himself by a promise: that his eternal Father would

grant everything we ask in his name.

Forty-eighth Rose

145 As a fifth point, I must add perseverance and prayer. Only

he who perseveres in asking, seeking, and knocking, will receive,

will find and will enter. It is not enough to ask God for certain

graces for a month, a year, ten or twenty years; we must never

tire of asking. We must keep on asking until the very moment of

death, and even in this prayer, which shows our confidence in

God, we must join the thought of death to that of perseverance

and say, "Although he should kill me, I will trust in him," will

trust him to give me what I ask.

146 Prominent and rich people of the world show their generosity

by foreseeing people's wants and ministering to them, even before

they are asked for anything. God's munificence, on the other

hand, is shown by his making us seek and ask, over a long period

of time, for the graces which he wishes to bestow, and the more

precious the grace, the longer he takes to grant it:

1 in order to increase the grace still more;

2 in order that the recipient may more deeply appreciate

it;

3 in order that the one who receives it may guard against

losing it; for people do not appreciate very much what they

obtain quickly and at little cost.

So, dear members of the Confraternity, persevere in asking

God for all your needs, both spiritual and material, through the

holy Rosary; especially should you pray for divine Wisdom, which

is "an infinite treasure," and there can be no possible doubt

that you will receive it sooner or later, provided you do not

give up and do not lose courage in the middle of your journey.

"You still have a great way to go."

You have a long way to travel, there will be bad times to

weather, many difficulties to overcome, and many enemies to

defeat before you will have stored up enough treasures for

eternity, enough Our Fathers and Hail Marys with which to buy

your way to heaven and win the glorious crown which awaits each

faithful brother and sister of the Confraternity.

"Let no one take your crown": take care that your crown is

not appropriated by another who has been more faithful than you

in saying his Rosary every day. "Your crown": it was yours, God

had prepared it for you; it was yours, you had already half

obtained it by your Rosaries well said. But because you stopped

on the way when you were running so well, another has left you

behind and got there first; another who is more diligent and more

faithful has paid, by his Rosaries and good works, what was

required to obtain that crown.

"You began your race well; who has hindered you?" Who has

prevented you from having the crown of the holy Rosary? Alas,

none other than the enemies of the Rosary, who are so numerous.

147 Believe me, it is only the violent who take it by force.

These crowns are not for the timid who are afraid of this world's

taunts and threats, neither are they for the lazy and indolent

who only say their Rosary carelessly, or hastily, just for the

sake of getting it over with. The same applies to people who say

it intermittently, as the spirit moves them. These crowns are not

for cowards who lose heart and lay down their arms as soon as

they see hell is let loose against their Rosary.

Dear fellow-members, if you want to serve Jesus and Mary by

saying the Rosary every day, you must be prepared for temptation:

"If you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for

temptation." Heretics, licentious people, the so-called

respectable people of the world, persons of superficial piety,

and false prophets, hand in glove with your fallen nature and all

hell itself - all will wage terrible battles against you in an

endeavour to make you give up this holy practice.

148 To help you to be better armed against their onslaught - not

so much of acknowledged heretics and profligates as those who are

considered "respectable" in the eyes of the world, and even those

who are devout but have no use for the Rosary - I am going to

tell you simply some of the things these people are always saying

and thinking.

"What does this babbler want to say?" "Come, let us attack

him, for he is against us." What is he doing, saying so many

Rosaries? What is it he is always mumbling? Such laziness! He

does nothing but keep on sliding those beads along, he would do

much better to work without amusing himself with such

foolishness. Oh yes, it's quite true, all you have to do is to

say the Rosary and a fortune will fall from heaven into your lap.

The Rosary brings you all you need without lifting a finger. But

hasn't it been said, "God helps those who help themselves"? Why

load yourself with so many prayers? Brevis oratio penetrat

coelos; an Our Father and a Hail Mary well said are quite

sufficient. God has never commanded us to say the Rosary; of

course it's all right, it's not a bad devotion when you've got

the time, but don't think for one minute that people who say the

Rosary are any more sure of heaven than we are. Just look at the

saints who never said it!

Far too many people want everyone to see through their own

eyes, people who lack prudence and carry everything to extremes,

scrupulous people who see sin almost everywhere, who say that

those who do not say the Rosary will be damned.

Oh yes, the Rosary is all right for old women who can't

read. But surely the Little Office of our Lady is much more

worthwhile, or the seven penitential psalms? Is there anything

more beautiful than those psalms which have been inspired by the

Holy Spirit?

You say you have undertaken to say the Rosary every day;

that's just a flash in the pan, you know it won't last. Wouldn't

it be better to undertake less and be more faithful about it?

Come, my friend, take my word for it, say your morning and night

prayers, work hard during the day and offer it up. God does not

ask any more than that. If you didn't have your living to earn,

as you have, you could commit yourself to saying your Rosary. But

as it is, say your Rosary on Sundays and Holidays when you have

plenty of time, but not on days when you have to work.

But really and truly, what are you doing with that enormous

pair of beads? I've seen a rosary of only one decade, it's just

as good as one of fifteen decades. Why on earth are you wearing

it on your belt, fanatic that you are? Why don't you go the whole

way and wear it round your neck like the Spaniards? They are

great lovers of rosaries; they carry a big rosary in one hand,

while in the other they have a dagger to give a treacherous stab.

For goodness' sake drop these exterior devotions; true devotion

is in the heart. And so on.

149 Similarly, not a few clever people and learned scholars may

occasionally try to dissuade you from saying the Rosary, proud

and critical people, I mean. They would rather you said the seven

penitential psalms or some other prayers. If a good confessor has

given you a Rosary for your penance, to be said for a fortnight

or a month, all you have to do to get your penance changed to a

few other prayers, fasts, alms or Masses, is to go to confession

to one of those gentlemen.

If you consult even some people who live lives of prayer in

the world, but who have never tried the Rosary, they will not

only not encourage it but will turn people away from it to get

them to learn contemplation, as if the Rosary and contemplation

were incompatible, as if all the saints who have been devoted to

the Rosary had not reached the heights of contemplation.

Your closest enemies will attack you all the more cruelly

because they are within you. I mean the powers of your soul and

your bodily senses, the distractions of the mind, distress and

uncertainty of the will, dryness of the heart, exhaustion and

illness of the body - all that will combine with the evil spirits

to say to you, "Give up your Rosary, that is what is giving you

such a headache; give up your Rosary, there is no obligation

under pain of sin; at least say only a part of it; the

difficulties you are having are a sign that God does not want you

to say it; you can say it tomorrow when you are more in the

mood." And so on.

150 Finally, my dear brothers and sisters, the daily Rosary has

so many enemies that I look upon the grace of persevering in it

until death as one of the greatest favours God can give us.

Persevere in it and your fidelity will be rewarded with the

wonderful crown which is prepared for you in heaven: "Be faithful

until death and I will give you the crown of life."

Forty-ninth Rose

151 This is the time to say a little about the indulgences which

have been granted to Rosary Confraternity members, so that you

may gain as many as possible.

An indulgence, in general, is a remission or relaxation of

temporal punishment due to actual sins, by the application of the

super-abundant satisfactions of Jesus Christ, of the Blessed

Virgin and all the saints, which are contained in the treasury

of the Church.

A plenary indulgence is a remission of the whole punishment

due to sin; a partial indulgence of, for instance, a hundred or

a thousand years can be explained as the remission of as much

punishment as could have been expiated during a hundred or a

thousand years, if one had been given a corresponding number of

the penances prescribed by the Church's ancient Canons.

Now these Canons exacted seven and sometimes ten or fifteen

years' penance for a single mortal sin, so that a person who was

guilty of twenty mortal sins would probabLy have had to perform

a seven year penance at least twenty times, and so on.

152 Members of the Rosary Confraternity who want to gain the

indulgences must:

1 Be truly repentant and go to confession and communion,

as the Papal Bull of indulgences states.

2 Be entirely free from affection for venial sin, because

if affection for sin remains, the guilt also remains, and if the

guilt remains the punishment cannot be lifted.

3 Say the prayers and perform the good works designated

by the Bull. If, in accordance with what the Popes have said, one

can gain a partial indulgence (for instance, of a hundred years)

without gaining a plenary indulgence, it is not always necessary

to go to confession and communion in order to gain it. Many such

partial indulgences are attached to the Rosary (either of five

or fifteen decades), to processions, blessed rosaries, etc. Do

not neglect these indulgences.

153 Flammin and a great number of other writers tell the story

of a young girl of noble station named Alexandra, who had been

miraculously converted and enroled by St. Dominic in the

Confraternity of the Rosary. After her death, she appeared to him

and said she had been condemned to seven hundred years in

purgatory because of her own sins and those she had caused others

to commit by her worldly ways. So she implored him to ease her

pains by his prayers and to ask the Confraternity members to pray

for the same end. St. Dominic did as she had asked.

Two weeks later she appeared to him, more radiant than the

sun, having been quickly delivered from purgatory by the prayers

of the Confraternity members. She also told St. Dominic that she

had come on behalf of the souls in purgatory to beg him to go on

preaching the Rosary and to ask their relations to offer their

Rosaries for them, and that they would reward them abundantly

when they entered into glory.

154 To make the recitation of the Rosary easier for you, here

are several methods which will help you to say it in a good and

holy way, with the meditation on the joyful, sorrowful and

glorious mysteries of Jesus and Mary. Choose whichever method

pleases you and helps you the most: or you can make up one for

yourself, as several holy people have done.