You may remember, all the way back at the beginning of the month, I shared how the month of October is traditionally devoted to the Holy Rosary, and how the Holy Father and the Bishops encourage us to pray the rosary daily during this month.
Pope Francis offered a message about the rosary recently. He said, “I invite you to pray the rosary, and to carry it in your hands or in your pockets. The recitation of the rosary is the most beautiful prayer we can offer to the Virgin Mary; it is a contemplation on the stages of the life of Jesus the Savior with his Mother Mary and is a weapon that protects us from evils and temptations.”
Catholics often get frustrated because of the many difficulties that arise in prayer, how difficult it is sometimes to pray. But, the Rosary is easy enough that a child can pray it, profound enough for a mystic to pray it, and they do, and concise enough that a busy person with a lot on their minds can pray it.
I’d like to share with you a method of praying the rosary that I’ve been using for a number of years now. I offer each decade of the rosary, each set of 10 hail mary’s for a particular intention. No matter which set of mysteries I am offering: the joyful mysteries, the sorrowful mysteries, the luminous mysteries, or the glorious mysteries, I offer each decade for a specific intention.
The first decade I offer for my greatest challenges. If I have a difficult decision to make, or if I am having a difficult time being patient or charitable with a particular person, I offer that decade for them. The Lord says, pray, pray, pray for those who persecute you. So I offer that first decade for an expansion of my heart to love those it is difficult for me to love.
The second decade I offer for those who are sick and suffering. As pastor, many parishioners ask for my prayers, and during this second decade I bring to the Lord those of you who are sick and suffering. Those who are lonely, those who are addicted, those who are anxious, those who are preparing for surgery or dealing wit heavy burdens, those who are dying or grieving.
The third decade I offer for a flourishing of spiritual gifts in the parish. In the third glorious mystery, the holy spirit descends upon the church and in the third joyful mystery the christ is born into the world. So I pray for the Holy Spirit’s gifts, and the life of Christ to fill this parish, to make us more effective in our Gospel mission.
In the fourth decade, I pray for priests. Priests need to support each other in prayer, priests need prayer, constantly. For, the devil hates priests and is bent on the corruption of priests and undermining the holy faith of priests. So I take up the mighty spiritual weapon of the Rosary to pray for the protection of priests from evil and temptation and the flourishing of their ministry.
In the fifth decade, I pray for myself. We need to pray for ourselves—to humbly admit what we need from the Lord, and to pray to by docile to the divine will—to be humble and holy. I pray for the grace to be crucified with Christ, like in the fifth sorrowful mystery, to honor our lady as queen of heaven and earth like in the fifth glorious mystery, to be broken and shared like the Eucharist as in the fifth luminous mystery, and to find Jesus in the hidden events of my life as he was found in the Temple in the fifth joyful mystery.
I invite you to use and adapt this method, to see if it work and helps to focus your prayers. Our Lady will assist every soul who prays the rosary to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as we heard in the Gospel today.
On Thursday, I was making my holy hour and about to offer my rosary when I was moved to adapt my method slightly. Since, on holy Thursday, the Lord gathered with his apostles and made them the first priests of the church, and, since this weekend being priesthood Sunday, I thought I would offer my rosary particularly for priests.
So, as I said, I adapted my method a little bit. In the first decade of my rosary, I prayed for the priests that I am challenged to love, the priests who have left active ministry, the priests who have been found guilty of crimes, the priests who spread heresy, the priests whose personalities just rub me the wrong way. I prayed for them by name, and prayed for the grace to love them.
In my second decade I prayed for the priests who are sick and suffering: the priests, I know, who are very sick or dying or diminished by old age, the priests who struggle with substance abuse, addiction, or who are unjustly treated by their bishops, by their parishes, the media, or government. The priests who may be struggling with the promise of celibacy, priests who may be finding it difficult to pray daily as they ought, the priests that may be on the verge of leaving ministry without proper discernment, and priests with clinical depression, and the like.
In the third decade I prayed for a flourishing of the spiritual gifts in the priests of our Diocese. We need priests on fire with the Holy Spirit. We need priests filled with wisdom, who are not timid in speaking the truth, who are tireless in ministry, who are prophetic, who are able to discern and call forth the Spirit’s gifts from their parishioners. We need priests who will preach, like Jesus, in the third luminous mystery, throughout galilee, going to the margins as Pope Francis would say, to bring the Gospel to the farthest ends of the earth.
In the fourth decade of my rosary, I prayed for the priests who died. Like the fourth luminous mystery, where the Lord shines in Transfigured Light, I prayed for the priests I have known who have died, that the perpetual light of christ may shine upon them, and that their time in purgatory, if any, will be lessened. I have known many good and holy priests who have gone onto their eternal reward, and I’m sure you have as well. Please do not forget them in your prayers.
Lastly, as I do in all my rosaries, I offered the last decade, again, for myself, especially that I may good be a holy priest and receive a share of the spirit that has animated the priesthood of so many of our good and holy priests in the diocese of Cleveland. I prayed for the prudence of Bishop Pilla, the keenness of mind of Fr. Jack Murphy, the warm compassion of Fr. Jim O’Donnell, the indefatigable energy of Fr. Pete Colletti, the liturgical reverence of Fr. Mike Woost, and piety of Fr. Sean Donnelly, and the fortitude in suffering of Bishop Richard Lennon, those close to him know how he suffered for the church of Cleveland like very few have suffered.
On this priesthood Sunday, I ask once again for your prayers for priests. If there have been priests who have insulted or hurt you or your families, please pray for them, and pray for the grace to forgive them, that any lack of forgiveness might not keep you from deep engagement in the life of the Church. Please pray too for an increase in vocations to the priesthood. I do not know the last priestly vocation to come from this parish, but we do well to pray that God may raise up good holy priests from the young men in our midst. The Church will need good and holy priests until the Lord’s return, and it is the duty of every Catholic to promote healthy priestly vocations through prayer and encouragement.
Priest seek to help the church love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. So please pray for priests, Pray the rosary, pray for vocations for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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