The "Weight" of the Rosary at the Judgement Seat of God.

“Whatever you do, do not be like a certain pious but stubborn lady in Rome, so often mentioned when speaking about the Rosary.

She was so devout and so fervent that she put to shame by her holy life even the strictest religious in the Church.

“Having decided to ask Saint Dominic’s advice about her spiritual life, she asked him to hear her confession.

For penance he gave her one whole Rosary to say and advised her to say it every day. She said that she had no time to say it, excusing herself on the grounds that she made the Stations of Rome every day, that she wore sackcloth and a hair shirt, that she carried out so many other penances and fasted so much.

Saint Dominic urged her repeatedly to take his advice and say the Rosary, but she would not hear of it. She left the confessional, horrified at the tactics of this new spiritual director who had tried so hard to persuade her to take on a devotion that was not at all to her liking.

“Later on, when she was in prayer, she fell into ecstasy and had a vision of her soul appearing before Our Lord’s Judgment Seat. Saint Michael put all her penances and other prayers onto one tray of the scales and all her sins and imperfections onto the other tray. The tray of her good works was greatly outweighed by the tray with her sins and imperfections.

“Filled with terror she cried for mercy, imploring the Blessed Virgin Mary’s help. Her gracious Advocate took the one and only Rosary that she had said for her penance and dropped it onto the tray of her good works. This one Rosary was so heavy that it weighed more than all her sins as well as all her good works. Our Lady then reproved her for refusing to follow the counsel of her servant Dominic and for not saying the Rosary every day.

“As soon as she came to she rushed and threw herself at Saint Dominic’s feet, and told him all that had happened. She begged his forgiveness for her unbelief and promised to say the Rosary faithfully every day. By this means she arose to Christian perfection and finally to the glory of everlasting life.

“You who are people of prayer— learn from this how tremendous is the power, the value and the importance of this devotion of the Most Holy Rosary when it is said together with meditation on the mysteries.”

*An excerpt from Saint Louis de Montfort’s The Secret of the Rosary (Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1999), 63–64.

The Joyful Mysteries

THE ANNUNCIATION

The Virtue— 
That we may accept that even the purest joy we experience in this life necessarily entails suffering. It is with full reliance and trust in God that we are able to accept our suffering in order to fulfill our mission and forward God’s plan of salvation with humility and love.

C onsider that an Angel was sent from Heaven to declare to the Blessed Virgin, the choice which God had made of her, to be the Mother of the Eternal Word: She receives this declaration with the most profound humility, and the Son of God becomes incarnate in her by the invisible operation of the Holy Ghost.

Hail Mary, ten times — Glory Be— O My Jesus

The Prayer— 
O Holy Mary, Queen of Virgins, through the most high Mystery of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, wherein our salvation was begun, obtain for us, through thy most holy intercession, light to understand the greatness of the benefit He hast bestowed upon us, in vouchsafing to become our Brother and in giving Thee, His own beloved Mother to be our Mother also. Amen.

THE VISITATION

The Virtue— 
That our hearts may be visited by The Blessed Mother’s Divine Son, and through His grace, we may always practice brotherly kindness.

C all to mind how The Blessed Virgin, goes with haste into the mountains of Judea, to visit her cousin St. Elizabeth, where, at her arrival, St, John the Baptist, yet unborn, rejoices in the presence of his Redeemer, and is sanctified in his Mother’s womb.

Hail Mary, ten times — Glory Be— O My Jesus

The Prayer— 
Most Holy Virgin, who in this mystery didst eminently display the greatest humility and charity; obtain for us of God, that our souls may be frequently visited by thy dear Son, and in some degree experience those impressions which his presence once made on his blessed precursor. Amen

THE NATIVITY

The Virtue— 
That we may love God in return for His love of us, by becoming detached from the things of this world.

T hink about how The Redeemer of the world was born in a stable, and laid in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn at Bethlehem. Rejoice in the advantages of this humiliation, and endeavour to practise the lessons He teaches here.

Hail Mary, ten times — Glory Be— O My Jesus

The Prayer— 
O most pure Mother of God, we sincerely rejoice in thy having given birth to the Desired of Nations, to the Saviour of the World. Beg him, we beseech thee, that he would now graciously vouchsafe to be spiritually born in our hearts, enabling us by his grace, to imitate the virtues of his childhood ; particularly his simplicity, innocence, docility, and contempt for the vanities of this world. Amen

THE PRESENTATION
OF THE BABY JESUS
IN THE TEMPLE

The Virtue— 
That we may live the purity bestowed upon our souls by the Sacrament of Baptism and that we may imitate Christ in the practice of that holy virtue.

P rostrate ourselves with the wise men, to adore Jeans Christ in the arms of his blessed Mother: instead of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, we may offer him our minds, our hearts, and our whole being, without reserve.

Hail Mary, ten times — Glory Be— O My Jesus

The Prayer— 
Most Holy and Immaculate Virgin! by the unspeakable comfort thou didst feel in the homage paid to our Redeemer, we entreat thee to present him in our name the offering we make of ourselves, that he may receive it more favourably through thee; that we may ever walk faithfully by the light of his grace, until we arrive at the possession of himself in heaven. Amen.

THE FINDING
OF THE CHILD JESUS
IN THE TEMPLE

The Virtue— 
That we may seek Jesus and find Him in His Holy Catholic Church and never to be separated from Him.

L et us participate in the joy which the Blessed Virgin must have felt, when, after having lost, without any fault of hers, the child Jesus in Jerusalem, and having sought him in much affliction during three days, she found him at length in the Temple amidst the Doctors, hearing them and questioning them

Hail Mary, ten times — Glory Be— O My Jesus

The Prayer— 
Most tender Mother of God! Comforter of the afflicted! we earnestly call upon thee, by thy extreme delight on finding the child Jesus and over the anguish of having lost Him, to obtain for us the grace never to lose Him by consenting to mortal sin nor to enjoy either pleasure or repose, while we thus oblige him to withdraw from us. Amen