Our Lady would later teach the docile Jacinta how to go beyond merely just saying the complete prayers. She pointed her to the 15 tableaus in their Parish Church of Fatima (Aljustrel), which depicted the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, and helped\u00a0her to learn how to meditate on each of them as the most important part of praying the Rosary.<\/p>\n
Learning how to pray this Christocentric Marian prayer not just correctly but well was central to the revelations of Fatima. In each of Mary\u2019s six appearances in 1917, she insisted on the children\u2019s praying the Rosary each day.<\/p>\n
In May, Mary appeared to them the first time holding Rosary beads in her hand and asked the three kids to \u201crecite the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.\u201d One month later, as they were praying the Rosary, Mary appeared and asked them to \u201csay the Rosary every day.\u201d In July, she stated, \u201cPray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary to obtain peace in the world\u201d and, \u201cWhen you recite the Rosary, say at the end of each decade: \u2018O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.\u2019\u201d The following month she expressed her wish that they \u201ccontinue to say the Rosary every day.\u201d In September, she reiterated, \u201cI want you \u2026 to continue to recite the Rosary to obtain the end of the war.\u201d Finally, in October, she revealed her identity as \u201cthe Lady of the Rosary\u201d and said, \u201cI desire \u2026 that people continue to recite the Rosary every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Could she have been more emphatic about the importance of praying the Rosary daily? Or about relating to her precisely through the Rosary?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always found it noteworthy that Mary didn\u2019t insist that the shepherd children go to Mass each day, even though Mass is the source and the summit of the Christian life. She didn\u2019t demand that people read Sacred Scripture. She didn\u2019t require that they do a Eucharistic holy hour or a certain fixed time of meditation. After all, it\u2019s not possible for everyone to get to daily Mass, to read, or without training easily to do mental prayer. Mary, rather, recommended something basically everyone could do, from young children to popes.<\/p>\n
And she asked that it be done daily and well.<\/p>\n
And she said that the peace of the world depended on it.<\/p>\n
Why? St. John Paul II attempted to answer that question in 2002, in his apostolic exhortation The Rosary of the Virgin Mary.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe Rosary,\u201d he wrote, \u201cis by its nature a prayer for peace, since it consists in the contemplation of Christ, the Prince of Peace, the one who is \u2018our peace\u2019 (Eph 2:14). Anyone who assimilates the mystery of Christ \u2013 and this is clearly the goal of the Rosary \u2013 learns the secret of peace and makes it his life\u2019s project. Moreover, by virtue of its meditative character, with the tranquil succession of Hail Marys, the Rosary has a peaceful effect on those who pray it, disposing them to receive and experience in their innermost depths, and to spread around them, that true peace which is the special gift of the Risen Lord (cf. Jn 14:27; 20.21).<\/p>\n \u201cThe Rosary is also a prayer for peace,\u201d he continued, \u201cbecause of the fruits of charity that it produces. When prayed well in a truly meditative way, the Rosary leads to an encounter with Christ in his mysteries and so cannot fail to draw attention to the face of Christ in others, especially in the most afflicted. How could one possibly contemplate the mystery of the Child of Bethlehem, in the joyful mysteries, without experiencing the desire to welcome, defend and promote life, and to shoulder the burdens of suffering children all over the world? How could one possibly follow in the footsteps of Christ the Revealer, in the mysteries of light, without resolving to bear witness to his \u2018Beatitudes\u2019 in daily life? How could one contemplate Christ carrying the Cross and Christ Crucified, without feeling the need to act as a \u2018Simon of Cyrene\u2019 for our brothers and sisters weighed down by grief or crushed by despair? Finally, how could one possibly gaze upon the glory of the Risen Christ or of Mary Queen of Heaven, without yearning to make this world more beautiful, more just, more closely conformed to God’s plan?<\/p>\n \u201cIn a word,\u201d he concluded, \u201cby focusing our eyes on Christ, the Rosary also makes us peacemakers in the world. By its nature as an insistent choral petition in harmony with Christ’s invitation to \u2018pray ceaselessly\u2019 (Lk 18:1), the Rosary allows us to hope that, even today, the difficult \u2018battle\u2019 for peace can be won.\u201d<\/p>\n In his Centenary, the woman who wants us to relate to her as the \u201cLady of the Rosary,\u201d is reiterating her call for us to take up the Rosary each day almost as a \u201cweapon of peace,\u201d praying it correctly, slowly, and meditatively, so that we might become more like the blessed Fruit of her womb, the Prince of Peace, and allow him to forgive us, save us, and lead us and others to heaven.<\/p>\n The beads await our fingers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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