They condemn the Sign of the Cross which we make at the beginning. St. Paul says, “God forbid that I glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yet they will never make the Sign of the Cross.
They condemn the invocation of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost which we say when we make the Sign of the Cross.
They condemn the Apostles Creed which is the Creed formed by the Apostles,* which contains the chief mysteries of our faith.
They condemn the Our Father, which was given to us by Our Lord himself, St. Matthew 6:11. If they hear you praying the rosary, they will not even join with you in praying the Lord’s prayer, rather praying their own made-up prayers as if they are better than the Lord’s prayer which He taught us himself.
They condemn the Angelic Salutation, the first part of the Hail Mary, which is the salutation God himself instructed Gabriel to salute Mary with, calling her “full of grace, and blessed among women; St. Luke 1:28’’ And the angel being come in, said unto her: ‘’Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.’’ Drbo.org. And they condemn the second part of the Hail Mary, the words of St. Elizabeth to Mary, which were inspired by the Holy Ghost, St. Luke 1:42; ‘’And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.’’ 1:41, 42. Note, that at the salutation of Mary, Elizabeth and her son John both were filled with the Holy Ghost. Verse 15 the angel tells Zachary that his son will be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. ‘’He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.’’ They also condemn the third part of the Hail Mary, which was added by the Church at the Council of Ephesus in 430, instructing us to ask her to pray for us now, and at the hour of our death. In other words, they are condemning Scripture and the authority of the Church itself, ‘’the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth.’’ 1 Tim. 3:15. What holds up a building? The ground, which is the foundation, and the pillars, which are the support. The Church holds up the truth. Take the Church away, and the truth falls. That’s what Martin Luther did, an apostate priest, like Judas, and now we have thousands of different protestant denominations, who not only disagree with the Catholic Church, but they can’t even agree with each other! They want to say they are Catholic, because it is a glorious name, but St. Augustine said, “If you go into their country and ask them where the Catholic Church is, none of them will point to their own church!”
They condemn the prayer of praise to the Holy Trinity, “Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. ”
They condemn the mercy prayer whereby we beg pardon for the whole world and ask God to lead all souls to heaven, to forgive us our sins, and save us from the fires of hell. This is what I call, “THE BIG MOMENT” in the rosary because we ask God to save us from the fires of hell. ‘’O 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 Thy mercy.’’ From a personal perspective, there is nothing in this life we can do more important than that!
In the Joyful Mysteries they condemn our meditation on the incarnation, birth and childhood of Christ our Lord. In the Sorrowful Mysteries they condemn the meditation of His Passion and Death for our salvation. In the Glorious Mysteries they condemn our meditation on Christ’s Resurrection, Ascension, the sending of the Holy Ghost; His Mother’s assumption into heaven, and her coronation as the Queen of heaven, Psalms 44:7,10 with the 12 stars on her head, Apoc. (Rev.) 12:1. This meditation makes us appreciate what God has done for us, and helps us to grow in our love for him. “In my meditation a fire shall flame out.” Psalms 37:4.
Another important aspect they condemn is our praying to imitate a virtue Jesus and Mary are exemplifying at each mystery. For example, at the Annunciation, we pray to imitate the profound humility of Christ taking flesh, and coming into the world. At the Visitation we pray to imitate Mary’s great charity for her neighbor when she hastens off to help Elizabeth. And so on. Is it not good to imitate the lives of Jesus and Mary? Certainly it is.
Do they even listen to what the prayers are saying? They say, “We are saved by faith,” yet the first words we pray are, “I believe in God.” The first words in the Our Father we praise him, “Hallowed be Thy name.” We constantly praise Jesus in the Hail Mary, “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” We praise the Holy Trinity with the Glory Be prayer mentioned above. At the end of the Hail Holy Queen, we bless Jesus again at the end of that prayer, and we conclude the rosary by praying for the grace to imitate what the Mysteries contain, and obtain what they promise. Practically every prayer in the rosary is in praise of God so that we can truly say with the Psalmist, “[16] O Lord, for I am thy servant: I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast broken my bonds: [17] I will sacrifice to thee the sacrifice of praise, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.” Psalm 115. Mary is God’s handmaid, (Behold the handmaid of the Lord, St. Luke1:38) and David in spirit calls himself her son. ‘’Save the son of thy handmaid.” [Psalms 85:16]
When they condemn the rosary in a general way, this is all the things they are condemning. To give them the benefit of the doubt, they do not realize what they are doing. However, they never really pay attention to what we are saying in the prayers. All they hear are a lot of Hail Marys. Nor have they ever made a serious study of the rosary and what it contains. St. John gave us a summary of the rosary in his gospel. “He came unto his own, (the Joyful Mysteries); “his own received him not,” (the Sorrowful Mysteries); “but to all who did receive him he gave power to become the sons of God,” (the Glorious Mysteries). ST. JOHN 1:11-12. The entire rosary has 153 Hail Marys. St. John, at the end of his gospel, numbers the fish they catch, 153. And of course, St. John was the one who was entrusted to take care of the Blessed Mother after Jesus died. St. John knew about the rosary.
I would say to the non-Catholics: “No, we do not worship Mary but we do venerate her in a special way because she is the Mother of God. As a man once said, “If God had chosen your mother to be the Mother of Jesus Christ, wouldn’t you expect people to honor her in a special way?” God gave us the rosary from heaven, to St. Dominic, confirmed it with many miracles, http://bit.ly/113y4sZ and desires all men to pray it. Read THE SECRET OF THE ROSARY by St. Louis de Montfort. And, the next time you see Catholics praying the rosary, do not be afraid to join in. She’s your mother too, if you are a Christian, Rev. 12:17. “ Now the dragon went off to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” We see this enmity foretold in the Book of Genesis between the Woman and her seed and the devil, “I will place enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” 3:15.
“This man and that man were born in her. “Psalm 86;5. St. Louis de Montfort explains that the first man born in Mary was Jesus, and the second man is mere man. The same mother that brings forth the head also brings forth the body and its members. “Christ is head over all the church, which is his body…’ Ephesians 1:22-23. And “We are the members of his body.” 5:30. Yes, we are the seed of Mary the dragon is making war with, and she is our heavenly Mother, and we are supposed to “call her blessed,” because of the great things God has done for her, St. Luke 1:48. We fulfill this precept of calling her blessed each time we pray the Hail Mary, “Hail Mary…blessed art thou among women.” We are also under great obligation to her for her consent to bring our Saviour into the world. God made our salvation depend upon her consent. Some say, “Well, God would have found another way.” Well, He had waited 5,200 years and hadn’t found a way till Mary came along. If she had not consented, we may still be waiting for a Saviour like the Jews were.
St. Alphonsus speaks of Mary’s death: Saint John Damascene relates that Our Lord Himself gave her the viaticum, * saying with tender love, “Receive, O My Mother, from My hands that same body which thou gavest to Me.” And the Mother, having received with the greatest love that last communion, with her last breath said, “My Son, into Thy hands do I commend my spirit. I commend to Thee this soul, which from the beginning Thou didst create rich in so many graces, and by a singular privilege didst preserve from the stain of original sin. I commend to Thee my body, from which Thou didst deign to take Thy flesh and blood. I also commend to Thee these my beloved children (speaking of the holy disciples, who surrounded her); they are grieved at my departure. Do Thou, Who lovest them more than I do, console them; bless them, and give them strength to do great things for Thy glory.” The life of Mary being now at its close, the most delicious music, as Saint Jerome relates, was heard in the apartment where she lay; and, according to a revelation of Saint Bridget, the room was also filled with a brilliant light. This sweet music, and the unaccustomed splendor, warned the holy Apostles that Mary was then departing. This caused them again to burst forth in tears and prayers; and raising their hands, with one voice they exclaimed, “O, Mother, thou already goest to heaven; thou leavest us; give us thy last blessing, and never forget us miserable creatures.” Mary, turning her eyes around upon all, as if to bid them a last farewell, said, “Adieu, my children; I bless you; fear not, I will never forget you.” And now death came; not indeed clothed in mourning and grief, as it does to others, but adorned with light and gladness. But what do we say? Why speak of death? Let us rather say that Divine love came, and cut the thread of that noble life. And as a light, before going out, gives a last and brighter flash than ever, so did this beautiful creature, on hearing her Son’s invitation to follow Him, wrapped in the flames of love, and in the midst of her amorous sighs, give a last sigh of still more ardent love, and breathing forth her soul, expired. Thus was that great soul, that beautiful dove of the Lord, loosened from the bands of this life; thus did she enter into the glory of the blessed, where she is now seated, and will be seated, Queen of Paradise, for all eternity. Mary, then, has left this world; she is now in heaven. Thence does this compassionate Mother look down upon us who are still in this valley of tears. She pities us, and, if we wish it, promises to help us. Let us always beseech her, by the merits of her blessed death, to obtain us a happy death; and should such be the good pleasure of God, let us beg her to obtain us the grace to die on a Saturday, which is a day dedicated in her honor, or on a day of a novena, or within the octave of one of her feasts; for this she has obtained for so many of her clients, and especially for Saint Stanislaus Kostka, for whom she obtained that he should die on the feast of her Assumption, as Father Bartoli relates in his life.
Example: During his lifetime Saint Stanislaus, a holy youth, who was wholly dedicated to the love of Mary, happened, on the first of August, to hear a sermon preached by Father Peter Canisius, in which, exhorting the novices of the society, he urged them all, with the greatest fervor, to live each day as if it was the last of their lives, and the one on which they were to be presented before God’s tribunal. After the sermon Saint Stanislaus told his companions that that advice had been for him, in an especial manner, the voice of God; for that he was to die in the course of that very month (August). It is evident, from what followed, that he said this either because (God had expressly revealed it to him, or at least because He gave him a certain internal presentiment of it). Four days afterwards Saint Stanislaus went with Father Emanuel to Saint Mary Major’s. The conversation fell on the approaching Feast of the Assumption (15 August), and the Saint said, “Father, I believe that on that day is seen in Paradise, the glory of the Mother of God, crowned Queen of heaven, and seated so near to our Lord, above all the choirs of angels. And if as I firmly believe it to be this festival is renewed every year, I hope to see the next.” The glorious martyr Saint Lawrence (Feast day – 10 August) had fallen by lot to Saint Stanislaus as his patron for that month of August, it being customary in the society thus to draw them. It is said that he wrote a letter to his Mother Mary, in which he begged her to obtain him the favor to be present at her next festival in heaven. On the feast of Saint Lawrence (10 August) he received the Holy Communion, and afterwards entreated Saint Lawrence to present his letter to the Divine Mother, and to support his petition with his intercession, that the most Blessed Virgin might graciously accept and grant it. Towards the close of that very day he was seized with fever; and though the attack was slight, he considered that certainly he had obtained the favor asked for. This indeed he joyfully expressed, and with a smiling countenance, on going to bed, said, “From this bed I shall never rise again.” And speaking to Father Claudius Aquaviva, he added, “Father, I believe that Saint Lawrence has already obtained me the favor from Mary to be in heaven on the Feast of her Assumption.” No one, however, took much notice of his words. On the vigil of the feast his illness still seemed of little consequence, but the Saint assured a brother that he should die that night. “O brother,” the other answered, “it would be a greater miracle to die of so slight an illness than to be cured.” Nevertheless in the afternoon he fell into a deathlike swoon; a cold sweat came over him, and he lost all his strength. The Superior hastened to him, and Stanislaus entreated him to have him laid on the bare floor, that he might die as a penitent. To satisfy him, this was granted: he was laid on a thin mattress on the ground. He then made his confession, and in the midst of the tears of all present received the Viaticum: I say, of the tears of all present, for when the Divine Sacrament was brought into the room his eyes brightened up with celestial joy, and his whole countenance was inflamed with holy love, so that he seemed like a seraph. He also received Extreme Unction, and in the mean while did nothing but constantly raise his eyes to heaven and lovingly press to his heart an image of Mary. A Father asked him to what purpose he kept a rosary in his hand, since he could not use it. He replied, “It is a consolation to me, for it is something belonging to my Mother.” “O, how much greater will your consolation be,” added the Father, “when you shortly see her and kiss her hands in heaven!” On hearing this, the Saint, with his countenance all on fire, raised his hands to express his desire soon to be in her presence. His dear Mother then appeared to him, *as he himself told those who surrounded him; and shortly afterwards, at the dawn of day on the fifteenth of August, with his eyes fixed on heaven, he expired like a saint, without the slightest struggle; so much so, that it was only on presenting him the image of the Blessed Virgin, and seeing that made no movement towards it, that it was perceived that he was already gone to kiss the feet of his beloved Queen in Paradise.
- Viaticum is Holy Communion, receiving the real body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion at the hour of our death, for our passage into eternity.
- * This author had a cousin named Shirley. She was most devout to the Blessed Mother, and most devoted to Jesus in the Eucharist, a grace which Mary obtains for her devoted children. Her sister confided to this author that she was with Shirley when she died. She said that right before Shirley expired, she sat up in the bed and said, “Yes Blessed Mother, I’m ready!’’ and laid back down and died. No doubt our Blessed Mother came to visit Shirley on her death bed, and accompany her soul to the judgement seat of her Son.
“THE ROSARY IS A PRICELESS TREASURE INSPIRED BY GOD.” –ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT
SEVENTEENTH ROSE: THE HAIL MARY – -FRUITS
Blessed Alan De La Roche, who was so deeply devoted to the Blessed Virgin, had many revelations from her and we know that he confirmed the truth of these revelations by a solemn oath. Three of them stand out with special emphasis: the first, that if people fail to say the Hail Mary (the Angelic Salutation which has saved the world) out of carelessness, or because they are lukewarm, or because they hate it, this is a sign that they will probably and indeed shortly be condemned to eternal punishment. The second truth is that those who love this Divine salutation bear the very special stamp of predestination of going to heaven.
The third is that those to whom God has given the signal grace of loving Our Lady and of serving her out of love must take very great care to continue to love and serve her until the time when she shall have had them placed in heaven by her divine Son in the degree of glory which they have earned. (Blessed Alan, chapter XI, paragraph 2)
The heretics, all of whom are children of the devil and clearly bear the sign of God’s reprobation, have a horror of the Hail Mary. They still say the Our Father but never the Hail Mary; they would rather wear a poisonous snake around their necks than wear a scapular or carry a rosary. Among Catholics those who bear the mark of God’s reprobation think but little of the rosary (whether that of five decades of fifteen). They either fail to say it or only say it very quickly and in a lukewarm manner.Even if I did not believe that which has been revealed to Blessed Alan de la Roche, even then my own experience would be enough to convince me of this terrible but consoling truth. I do not know, nor do I see clearly, how it can be that a devotion which seems to be so small can be the infallible sign of eternal salvation and how its absence can be the sign of God’s eternal displeasure; nevertheless, nothing could possibly be more true.
….My Hail Mary, my Rosary of fifteen or of five decades, is the prayer and the infallible touchstone by which I can tell those who are led by the Spirit of God from those who are deceived by the devil. I have known souls who seemed to soar like eagles to the heights by their sublime contemplation and who yet were pitifully led astray by the devil. I only found out how wrong they were when I learned that they scorned the Hail Mary and the Rosary which they considered as being far beneath them. The Hail Mary is a blessed dew that falls from Heaven upon the souls of the predestinate. It gives them a marvelous spiritual fertility so that they can grow in all virtues. The more the garden of the soul is watered by this prayer the more enlightened one’s intellect becomes, the more zealous his heart, and the stronger his armor against his spiritual enemies….
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