Our spiritual sword, do you use it? It was gifted to St. Dominic by Mary over 800 years ago and remains as sharp as ever. It has won military victories, crushed heresies, mediated miraculous cures, and cut through countless hearts of stone. We know “our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.” (Eph. 6:12) The Rosary is one of our most powerful weapons against any spiritual darkness, be it the attacks of the Enemy, doubts, fears, big things going on in the world, struggles in your own life, you name it. Interestingly, during the Black Death people took up the Rosary and added the petition at the end of the Hail Mary because it felt to many that “now” and “the hour of death” were so close.

Pope Leo XIV last year said, “As we begin October, the month dedicated to the holy Rosary, I invite you to pray the Rosary every day for peace in our world." His predecessor Pope Leo XIII is called the Pope of the Rosary because he wrote 14 encyclicals on the Rosary! He said, “For we are convinced that the Rosary, if devoutly used, is bound to benefit not only the individual but society at large.” So let us not doubt the power of this great prayer, this great spiritual sword, given by God to his Church. The month of October is a great time to turn to the Rosary again as it is the Month of the Rosary and we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7th.

All for God’s Glory,

Fr. Adam Grelinger