Mary Queen of the Rosary artist Br. Mickey McGrath, OSFS

Icon Artist: Br. Mickey McGrath OSFS, for Trinity Stores. Thank you to Colorado-based Trinity Stores for sharing this art and reflection.

We welcome those of all faiths to deepen their spirituality through Dominican Center. Discover what prayer practices feed your soul. May you find hope and encouragement and return again and again to the sacred spaces and practices that lead to deepening spirituality and transformation.

My dearest Mother Mary, behold me, your child, in prayer at your feet. Accept this Holy Rosary, which I offer you in accordance with your requests at Fatima, as a proof of my tender love for you, for the intentions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in atonement for the offenses committed against your Immaculate Heart, and for this special favor which I earnestly request (mention your request).

Tradition holds that Our Lady gave the Rosary to Saint Dominic Guzman in 1206 as a form of gospel-preaching and popular prayer. For more than seven centuries, the Rosary devotion has been one of the most popular devotional practices in the church. Its combination of vocal and mental prayer has made it a prime tool for contemplation.

Jesus is the author and source of grace; Our Lady's Rosary is the key to opening the treasury of grace to us. The Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary is October 7.

800th Jubilee Reflection

October is such a beautiful month and very important to Dominicans, particularly with the tradition that early Dominicans used the rosary for preaching. With this tradition in mind, we continue to celebrate “At table with Dominic” during this 800th jubilee year of his entrance into eternal life, knowing full well of his living in right relationship with Jesus and Mary.

The feast of the Queen of the Holy Rosary calls us to remember and celebrate the life of Mary and Jesus, experienced through the lens of the mysteries of our faith. Each mystery, each moment in their lives, holds amazing insights into right relationship. Like Mary and Jesus, we are beckoned to hold light and darkness as one, joy and sorrow, glory and luminous realities in the preaching mission. Living out of right relationship is a daily commitment that Mary and Jesus displayed throughout their lives, a commitment to lighting the world with the gospel of love and reconciliation by being and doing in the world.

At a time like the present, it is ever more pressing that we contemplate the mysteries of the rosary as anchors in the storms we are currently facing:

Joyful

Where do I find joy in the midst of daily life? Challenges? Darkness?

Sorrowful

How do I let sorrow deepen the space within me? Strengthen me? Widen my heart?

Luminous

How do I allow light to shine within, among, and beyond me?

Glorious

What are the signs of new life around me? How am I new wine for the world?

May Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary, pray for us.

This reflection originally appeared in DomLife, an online publication of the Dominican Family.

-----

Interested in learning more about right relationship?
Explore Pope Francis' messages in Laudato Si'.

Everything is Connected

Pope Francis grounds Laudato Si’ in the classical understanding of justice: a state of affairs in which we relate to God, others and the natural world in a proper way. We are all called to relate to God as beloved sons or daughters, offering praise in love to our Creator; to others as to Christ, seeing in them the face of our Lord; and to the natural world as God would have us act in his place, that is, as stewards caring for a created universe that testifies to the Creator’s majesty by virtue of its very being (cf. Gen. 2:15).

More about Laudato Si'

 

Dominican Center Marywood at Aquinas College is a ministry of Dominican Sisters ~ Grand Rapids.