Diocese of Gary

HIGHLAND – The history, purpose and importance of the Rosary were explored by a devoted group of Catholics at St. James the Less during the Month of the Holy Rosary.
    
“When you pray the Rosary, the beads are a tool for us,” explained Father Thomas Mischler, senior priest and spiritual director of the Cursillo Diocese of Gary, at a Oct. 29 presentation. “What is really important is looking into the Mysteries of the Rosary. Our world today needs to be illuminated by the truth God wants to give us.”
    
Hosted by the parish’s Adult Faith Formation Ministry for its catechists, the program was open to the public and drew close to 70 men and women seeking a deeper prayer life.
    
“I wanted to bring our catechists together for some continuing education, and it seemed that not everyone had a good grip on the rosary and its meaning,” said Lori Vetroczky, director of religious education at St. James the Less. “You can always learn more, and if you know more about a subject, you can share that knowledge.”
    
Leann Grady, a parishioner who co-facilitated the presentation, said she asked Father Mischler to be the co-facilitator on the basis of the “royo” on the Rosary that he presented at the Cursillo Retreat Weekend she attended two years ago. “He gave the best talk on the Rosary; it made my heart feel as wide as the Grand Canyon,” she said.
    
Grady, secretary of the parish’s Women’s Guild, said the group hopes to sponsor a series of future programs on the sacraments, starting with the Anointing of the Sick. “We have a lot of programming for the kids, but after they receive their sacraments, we kind of fall off with our education,” she added. “(The Women’s Guild) wants to keep up with adult faith formation.”
    
Parishioner Cristian Camacho, of Griffith, said he came “to learn more about the Rosary,” which he tries to pray at least four times a week in a quiet place – as suggested by Father Mischler – usually his home office. “I hope to deepen my relationship with God and my prayers.”
    
Camacho said what he learned at the program “is that the Rosary is an outpouring of grace and each time you pray it, it brings you closer to the Lord.”
    
Pinki Gordon, of Highland, said she attended the presentation at her parish “to get a better understanding of the Rosary and why we pray it. I pray a Rosary every day, and I learned tonight that it’s important to focus on the Mysteries, rather than on the Hail Marys themselves,” she said.
    
Sharon Laramie, of Hammond, said she is a new parishioner at St. James the Less following the recent closing of her former parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. “I used to pray the Rosary with the Altar and Rosary Society at OLPH before Sunday Mass,” she noted. “I brought a friend tonight, and I am interested in looking up the Hallow app that Father Mischler suggested, since it offers different people you can pray the Rosary with.”
Father Mischler said he finds the Hallow app helpful,  offering celebrities like Gwen Stefani and Mark Wahlberg, and religious figures including Bishop Robert Barron and Sister Miriam James Heidland, as prayer partners, and even provides the Rosary prayed in foreign languages.
    
“God’s grace is ever flowing, and we can dip our cup into that grace and bring it back to us” through the Rosary, he said. “The truth is, God is good and wants good things to happen to us.”
    
The Rosary was likely an outgrowth of laborers praying in the fields after hearing the monastic bells calling the monks to prayer, and its popularity grew after the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Dominic to praise him for his valiant defense of the Catholic Church against the Albigensian heresy in the 13th century. She gave him the Rosary as a weapon in his efforts.
    
“No matter its origin, the most important thing is that it leads people to pray, grow closer to God, develop a love for our Blessed Mother and illuminate the wonders of the mystery of Christ’s love for us and his desire to save us,” said Father Mischler, who called himself a “visual learner” who benefits from having the beads of a rosary with him in prayer. 
    
“If I don’t have something to see, I’m lost,” he admitted.
    
He told his audience that beyond reciting the Hail Mary, Our Father and Doxology (Glory Be) while fingering the Rosary beads, it is most meaningful to concentrate on the set of Mysteries of the Rosary being followed with each decade. “It’s more than just a miracle of the water into wine at the Wedding Feast at Cana (a Luminous Mystery), it’s about the intervention of God into our lives; he wants to be connected to us,” Father Mischler said.
    
October became the Month of the Holy Rosary, added Father Mischler, after the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, celebrated annually on Oct. 7, was established (originally as Our Lady of Victory) by Pope St. Pius V to commemorate the Christian naval victory at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, which was attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through praying the Rosary.

The Women’s Guild meets in the hall at St. James the Less in Highland at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month, and all women are welcome. Activities include an annual craft show, rummage sales and assistance with parish festivals. For more information, call the parish office at 924-4220.

Caption: A large gathering of men and women listen to Father Thomas Mischler (right) talk about the power of the Rosary on Oct. 29 at St. James the Less in Highland. Sponsored by the Adult Faith Formation Ministry for catechists, the program also welcomed the public. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)