Rosary is contemplative prayer and weapon against evil, says pope

Francis says that we will increasingly see the Face of God by praying the Rosary and encourages us to carry the Rosary with us.

“In her apparitions, Our Lady often exhorted the recitation of the rosary, especially in the face of looming threats to the world,” Pope Francis said October 7, feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, at the end of the general audience.

The Holy Father exhorted the faithful to pray the rosary, especially in his greetings to various language groups at the audience.

He noted her apparitions in his greeting to the Polish-speaking pilgrims, adding: “Even today, in this time of the pandemic, it is necessary to hold the rosary in our hands and pray for us, our loved ones and all people.”

Addressing Spanish-speaking pilgrims, the Holy Father prayed that through the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary, the Lord might allow us to “grow in our journey of prayer, to live in intimacy with him” and to make “our life, in the midst of this time of the pandemic, a loving service to all our brothers and sisters, especially those who feel abandoned and unprotected.”

A prayer of contemplation

Greeting the Arabic-speaking faithful, he invited them to pray the rosary and carry it in their hands or pockets. The rosary, he explained, is the most beautiful prayer that we can offer to the Virgin Mary. “It is a contemplation of the stages of the life of Jesus the Saviour with his Mother Mary and it is a weapon that protects us from evil and temptation.”

The Pope also spoke about the rosary as a “contemplative prayer,” saying that, in meditating on the mysteries of salvation, “the loving face of God Himself, whom we are called to contemplate in eternity, is increasingly revealed to us.”

The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated October 7, the anniversary of the decisive victory of the combined fleet of the Holy League of 1571 over the invading Ottoman navy at the Battle of Lepanto. Pope St. Pius V attributed the victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was invoked on the day of the battle with the rosary.