“Pray the Rosary and pray it every day. It is the weapon of defense and salvation.” – St. Padre Pio
Pope Leo XIV has invited the faithful to join in praying the Rosary every day during October to invoke God’s gift of peace. Praying the Rosary doesn't have to happen in a quiet chapel before Mass. You can pray it with your family in the car, around the dinner table or right before bed. There are also many opportunities throughout the Diocese of Gary to join with others in reciting the prayer.
Linda Wells, of Portage, said the importance of the Rosary as a powerful tool of prayer was instilled in her first by the Benedictine religious order that ran the Catholic school she attended in central Minnesota. The sisters demonstrated how powerful calling on the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede in one’s life can make a huge difference in the outcome.
“The best example of its power for me was shown in 1877 when there was an enormous grasshopper plague that had infested all of the towns for many miles around, encompassing everything,” Wells said. “The plague had been going on for four years and the pastor went out and talked to the farmers and told them to pray to the Blessed Virgin, and ask her to intercede for them and remove the plague.”
The plague was removed and the farmers built Assumption Chapel, also known as Grasshopper Chapel, which sits atop of what locals call Mary’s Mountain outside Cold Spring, Minn.
Wells also has vivid memories of her mother calling all eight of her children together to kneel in the living room and pray. One such occasion occurred when her father was caught in a terrible blizzard more than thirty miles from home. He was long past due to be home and her mother gathered the family in their pajamas to pray for him to make it home safely.
“We cried through our tears and prayed for his return as we heard the radio reports of all the roads being closed and many cars off the road,” Wells said. “Many hours later, a snowplow driver returned our father, (whom) he had picked up stranded on a road, stuck, after pulling out several cars himself. What a joyful reunion.”
Wells now loves being the president of the Altar and Rosary Sodality at Nativity of Our Savior. She made it her goal when she took office to “just be there to provide love and support and companionship to all the women of our parish who are the backbone of their families and therefore integral to the success of our parish community.”
Wells explained they always start the meeting with the Rosary and everyone gets to bring forth their intentions and write them in a designated book. She feels that starting the evening with the Rosary is what keeps the sodality strong. All the ladies of the parish are invited to join on the first Tuesday of every month.
Helen “Holly” Brandewie, a parishioner at St. Paul, said the Rosary is a prayer that “grounds me.”
“That is to say, if I am anxious or feeling out of sorts, when I pray the Rosary, I feel back in the swing of things, and I have hope that everything will turn out,” she said.
Brandewie continued, “The Holy Spirit, being the spouse of the Blessed Mother, speaks to us through the recitation of the Rosary either chorally or individually, praying silently or vocally. Many prayers have been answered by praying the Rosary. Praying the Rosary gives me hope.”
Brandewie assists in leading the Family Rosary & Discussion Group at the Valparaiso parish, a rosary group that has been meeting for 38 years. She said members support each other in sorrow and in joyful occasions, explaining they have witnessed members go on to eternal life, and births of children and grandchildren. The group meets on Wednesday evenings and all are welcome.
A teacher at Andrean High School, Brandewie, noted that students and staff at the Merrillville school participate in an “International Rosary.” She explained the activity has been in existence for 17 years and was done in October and May; currently, it’s only done in May.
“It is really beautiful with each foreign language taking a decade and also an ‘international decade’ with languages spoken by our foreign students,” she said.
Brandewie said the activity brings together faculty, staff, alumni and students to offer prayers to the Blessed Mother. She believes many of the participants are moved by the beauty of the International Rosary and added she hopes the students are encouraged to then keep praying the Rosary at home.
To anyone who feels they don't have time to pray the Rosary, Brandewie says, “be creative.” She suggested praying in the car, or while shopping or going for a walk. The Rosary is a meditative prayer, she stated, that anyone can pray anywhere, anytime.
“This is what I tell my students: ‘If you make time for prayer, the Lord will multiply your time for necessary tasks. He will give it back to you.’”
For more information on prayer groups and activities within the Diocese of Gary, contact your local parish, https://dcgary.org/find-a-parish.
(OSV News photo/Bob Roller)
