Chain Gang

Praying the Holy Rosary daily

Luke 10:38-42

Jesus entered a village  where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.  Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?  Tell her to help me.”  The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

            

           One of the most frequent requests I receive every day is for prayer.  People ask me to pray for their sick grandmother, they ask me to pray when they’ve lost a job, they ask me to pray that they will find a good husband.  They even ask me to pray they win the lottery!  I say, “I’ll only do that on one condition: you must give 10% to the church if you win.”  Apparently, God must not like “conditional prayers” because no one has won yet!  How do I fulfill these prayer requests?  I tell people, “I’ll remember you on my rosary today.”  Then, I make sure I pray the rosary daily.  For me, the links of the rosary are like a huge chain that stretches between heaven and earth – our prayers go up the chain, carried in Mary’s arms, and God’s blessing come down the chain.  Everyone who prays the rosary makes up part of this holy “chain gang.”

            Sometimes, the popes ask for our prayers, too, sometimes they specifically ask we pray the rosary.  The most famous papal prayer request came from Pope Pius V, who asked all Christians to pray for victory in an important battle between Christians and Moslems on October 7, 1571.  The pope asked the whole Christian world to join this holy chain gang!  The Christians were victorious, and Pope Pius established today’s feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary on October 7.  It seems we need Mary’s rosary again today to defend ourselves against the radical Islamists, like ISIS.

            I bet I am not the only one who gets prayer requests; I bet you get plenty, too.  How do you fulfill them?  I hope you don’t just pay lip-service to that need by promising to pray but never really doing anything concretely.  Here’s the perfect answer: join the holy Chain Gang and pray the rosary every day!  I never walk out of the house without tucking the rosary into my pocket – and my cell phone, too, of course!  Some people hang their rosary from their rear-view mirror of their car.  That’s all fine and good, but none of that will be any good if we don’t pray that rosary, and if possible, pray it daily.  I always look forward to Thursdays now because Pope St. John Paul II added the 5 new Mysteries of Light to the rosary on Thursdays.  John Paul loved being on Mary’s chain gang!

            The Holy Rosary is the quintessentially Catholic prayer, only Catholics pray the rosary (or Catholic wannabes).  It’s a great blessing we have received.  It’s a blessing we should share with those who ask for our humble prayers in their need.

            Praised be Jesus Christ!