The Rosary is the “Battering Ram”
This is what Our Lady told St Dominic in 1214 as he was fighting against the Albigensian Heresy. The heretics were not only denying the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but were attacking the family and the civil institutions of the state, thus undermining the spiritual and temporal orders of Christendom. And in this battle against the powers of evil, Our Lady told St Dominic that the Rosary was the “battering ram” against all this. A battering ram was used to knock down the gates of a castle by repeated blows. Similarly, in the spiritual warfare of conquering error and heresy, the Rosary is the battering ram. It takes many faithful Catholics, praying all those Hail Marys to knock down the gates of Hell. As Blessed Pope Pius IX put it, “Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.”
Today, the first Sunday of October is Rosary Sunday and is also the actual Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (7th October), and October is the month the Church specially dedicates to the Holy Rosary. As Pope Benedict XVI said a few years ago, the Church is under attack from within. As well as the recent revelations of gross immorality and evil among some of the clergy, there are also many errors being proposed which distorts the truth revealed by God, making out evil to be good and good to be evil (Isaiah 5:20). The media fiercely fights against the virtue of purity. The family and marriage are under attack, all of which Our Lady prophesied would happen in our times. She has given us the remedy – we need our battering ram! The message of Our Lady of Fatima (1917) is as relevant for today as ever. She said, “Say the Rosary every day… People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins.”
I would like to suggest that families once again take up the recitation of the Holy Rosary together in the evening for protection. With the world in its present state, we need this more than ever. Why not begin this now in October? You might be surprised at how easily children take to it! The famous Fr Peyton (whom many of you will remember) coined the phrase, “The family that prays together stays together.”
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us! Queen of Families, pray for us!
Fr Paul Gillham IC
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