Making The Rosary Part Of Our ‘Every Day’

On the evening of the Apparition in 1879, the people of Knock came rushing from their homes in wonder and excitement to witness the extraordinary vision at the gable wall of their simple parish church. Together, they knelt and prayed the Rosary in the pouring rain for almost two hours.

The Knock Apparition was a silent one – not a word was spoken, not a prayer was requested, and yet those present knelt or stood near the church gable and joined together in prayer. The witnesses said the Rosary together as it was a prayer that was close to their hearts,  a familiar part of their everyday lives. Most likely, they would have carried their beads with them in their pockets and so coming together on that special evening, they joined together in the prayer that was  recited in their own family homes on a nightly basis.

The month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary and, in these challenging times, offers an opportunity for each of us to make this beautiful journey through the life of  Jesus and His mother a part of our every day. The word ‘Rosary’ comes from the Latin ‘Rosarium’, which means ‘garland of roses’. The Mysteries of the Rosary are meditations on episodes in the life and death of Jesus from the Annunciation to the Ascension and beyond. These are traditionally grouped by fives into themed sets known as the Joyful (or Joyous) Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the Glorious Mysteries  and more recently,  the Luminous Mysteries which were added by Saint Pope John Paul II in 2002.

The Isle of Inisfree has always been one of my favourite songs.  I especially love the beginning of the closing verse where the man recalls his home and “the folks I love” gathered around the fireplace where “on bended knee their Rosary is told”.  Not prayed, said, recited but “told”.  I think it is such an accurate verb to take us to the heart of the Rosary for, at best, it is telling us the story – the Sacred Story – of Christ from the moment of Annunciation to Resurrection and Ascension.  The story of our Faith is contained within the fifteen and now twenty mysteries of the Rosary

Fr. Vincent Sherlock – Author ‘Telling The Rosary’

You will find many helpful resources from books on how to pray the Rosary to daily meditations on our online shop here.