Follow Him through the eyes and life of Our Mother

With the month of October in our year of grace and favor from the Lord, we celebrate a month dedicated to the Holy Rosary. This most beautiful and uniquely Catholic devotional prayer is at once an excellent summary of Our Blessed Lord’s life on earth, but also an opportunity to look at and follow Him through the eyes and life of Our Blessed Mother.

In fact, October 7 is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, and I would like to review here the four sets of Mysteries of the Rosary. This beautiful devotional prayer may be prayed in private and in public; it may be prayed alone or in a group. If we indeed pray the Rosary with the mind and heart of Our Blessed Lady, like her we come to love Jesus in the way she loved Him, because as He was the center of her life, He will be the center of our lives.

The Joyful Mysteries, recited on Monday and Saturday are the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity of the Lord, the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple and the Finding of the Lord in the Temple. These five mysteries put us in touch with the infancy and youth of Jesus.

The Mysteries of Light, recited on Thursday are the Baptism of Jesus, the Wedding Feast of Cana, the Proclamation of the Kingdom with the call to Conversion, the Transfiguration and the Institution of the Eucharist. These five mysteries invite us to follow Jesus in His public ministry and, like Our Blessed Lady, to hold all that we see and hear from Him in our hearts.

The Sorrowful Mysteries, recited on Tuesday and Friday are the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion. These five mysteries should help us understand how terrible sin is and how terrible our sins are but also, they reveal the depth of the merciful love God has for each of us if we only repent of our sins and return to Him.

The Glorious Mysteries, recited on Wednesday and Sunday are the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Assumption and the Coronation of Mary Queen of Heaven and Earth. These five mysteries should give us the same joy and longing for Jesus in Heaven that Our Blessed Lady had on that first Easter Sunday and for the rest of her earthly life. It is God’s will for each of us that we be with Him for all eternity and our lives here are to be that good preparation to see Him face to face.

Commit to say the Holy Rosary every day in the month of October. No one is so busy or so important that he or she cannot take 20 minutes from every day to pray the Rosary. If you already do this every day, please continue, if you want to start then do so. No one is ever disappointed by taking the time to pray the Rosary.