"To Thee Do We Turn"

 Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary
    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  As a Third Order Dominican, the Rosary is something near and dear to my heart.  It is part of my daily prayer habit.  But it wasn’t always.  As a child, I dreaded praying the Rosary.  Even though it only takes around 15-20 minutes, that was like an eternity for me!  My family had a practice that, whenever we went on long trips, we would pray the Rosary at the beginning of our travels.  That was not my idea of fun!
    Ironically, it is in my car most of the time that I pray the Rosary these days.  And it is a beautiful means of meditation, both for individuals and for families (even if the kids don’t always appreciate it).  And also, ironically, while we are often chastened by our Protestant brothers and sisters for worshipping Mary, as they think is demonstrated by the Rosary, it is actually very much a Scriptural prayer.  Obviously, the Our Father is scriptural, and the Glory Be, while not explicitly found in Scripture, is common to most, if not all, Christians.  But even the Hail Mary finds most of its roots in Scripture.  The first part, “Hail…full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” is the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary at the Annunciation.  The next part, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” is the greeting Elizabeth speaks to the Blessed Mother at the Visitation.  And the majority of the mysteries of the Rosary are explicitly found in Scripture, while others are implicitly found there.

   But the Rosary also grew out of a practice for illiterate people to be able to pray with priests, brothers, and monks the Divine Office, the Breviary, the other official prayer of the Church (in addition to the Mass).  In the original iteration of the Rosary, given, by tradition, by our Lady to the Order of Preachers, there were 3 sets of mysteries (joyful, sorrowful, and glorious), which each had 50 Hail Marys, just as there are 150 Psalms (50 times 3 equals 150).  I also pray with the Luminous Mysteries, and find no problem doing so (though we did not add another 50 Psalms).  The Rosary was a way for all people whether able to read or not, to join in prayer together throughout the day and week, following St. Paul’s admonition to pray constantly.

    It also helps ingrain in us these three basic prayers of Catholicism.  I have had priests tell me that they have visited patients who are dying of Alzheimers, who cannot even remember the name of their own spouse or children.  And yet, when the Rosary starts, they join in.  My own sister, Amanda, found the Hail Mary, the staple prayer of the Rosary, as a comfort for her.  When she was in the summer between junior and senior year, she was hit by another car (driven by a young man I had sponsored for confirmation) while traveling at the posted speed of 55 mph.  Her Chevy Astro (van) rolled into the corn field, and landed on her arm (she had gotten moved around a bit as the vehicle rolled).  When the car stopped rolling, she was conscious, but could not call 911.  So she prayed Hail Marys until the ambulance came, which helped keep her calm.
    Those prayers that we memorize, especially the ones in the Rosary, are made for times when we cannot think of our own words to pray.  We all know times in life when we’re just too scared, anxious, or excited for our own words to come to our minds.  At those times, we can turn to our favorite prayers, especially the Hail Mary, to ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for us.

    This feast day also commemorates the victory of the Christian fleet over the Ottoman Turk fleet at Lepanto, and so is a great example of turning to Mary when we need assistance.  The Turks had been “knocking on the door of Europe” for years and had sought a foothold in Europe so that they could take Europe for the Muslim faith.  This was a great victory that signaled the fading of Ottoman military power in the Mediterranean.  
    Where do we turn to, or to whom do we turn, when things look most bleak and dire?  It can be so easy to turn to our own machinations and wisdom, and feel that if we do not take control, then all will be lost.  Instead, as shown to us by Pope St. Pius V, who invited all Europe to pray the Rosary for the success of the Catholic fleet, we should turn to prayer, even while making necessary plans and preparations, entrusting ourselves and the situation to the providence of God.  We should, like Mary, say to the Lord, “Be it done unto me according to [God’s] word.”  It is that confidence in God’s plan that should be one of the hallmarks of our life as Catholics, knowing that God is in charge and He will work all things toward His plan of salvation, even when others, or even we, do not follow His will.  Using the metaphor of a naval battle, the waves may roll around us, and the fire around us may seem like the very gates of Hell, but if we are under our Lady’s banner, then we will not, in the end be sunk or destroyed, but will come out victorious.
    Still, that victory can take a while to develop.  We don’t simply pray the Joyful and Glorious Mysteries.  Sandwiched between them are the Luminous Mysteries which tell of some success and some struggles in preaching the Gospel, and even the Sorrowful Mysteries where it looked like all was lost.  In our life we can expect to have joy, light, sorrow, and glory, each in their own times.  But if we stay close to Mary, and view all of it in the light of Divine Providence, then nothing will shake us, no matter what happens.  
    May Mary, Mother of God and Our Lady of the Rosary, help us to ponder the life, Death, and Resurrection of Christ.  May our life also mirror her abandonment to God’s will, and may Mary be the one we turn to as we go to Christ in our joys, sorrows, and glory of life.  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.