The month of October is a Marian month precisely because it is the month of the rosary. October 7 was established as the Feast of the Holy Rosary because this was the anniversary of the naval victory at Lepanto in 1572 of the Forces of Catholic Christendom over the Turks under the leadership of Don Juan of Austria. It was Saint Pope Pius V who urged all of Catholic Christendom to invoke Our Lady's help through the praying of the rosary. When the Turkish commander heard that Pius V was urging prayer, he remarked that he feared the prayers of military forces of Christian Europe.
Should one be surprised at the Turk's remarks? The rosary indeed is the most complete extraliturgical prayer we have as Catholics. We start. We start off with the Apostles' Creed which contains all our main beliefs as prayer Catholic Christians. We then pray the prayer Our Lord Himself taught us, the Our Father. Then we go from Hail Mary's to the meditation and contemplation of the primary events of Our Lord's life in the gospels. It is Mary leading us to Her Son. As the rosary takes us from the Incarnation to the Ascension, it leads us to contemplation of the Paschal Mystery. In fact, it leads us to the liturgy which is the very celebration of the Paschal Mystery.
If the Rosary could be powerful against the enemies of the faith in 1572, how much more should it be so today! The enemies of the faith are not necessarily to be found in the Form of military foes outside our country's borders, but rather are to be found among us, in the Form of spiritual enemies, such as materialism, secularism, indifference, and the "tyranny of relativism" (term used by Pope Benedict XVI the day before he was elected Pope). What better way to strengthen ourselves, our families, our communities, than by the daily recitation of the rosary.
We go to Mary and Mary cannot help but show us the fulness of Her Son's splendor as the following hymn so beautifully points out:
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Mary the dawn, Christ the Perfect Day,
Mary the gate, Christ the heavenly Way!
Mary the root, Christ the Mystic Vine;
Mary the grape, Christ the Sacred Wine!
Mary the font, Christ the Cleansing Flood;
Mary the Cup, Christ the Saving Blood!
(Hymn from Morning Prayer,
common of the Blessed Virgin Mary).
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