Because Mary is unbearable to Satan

While not necessary for salvation, the Rosary is a needed and, if I may say, quick and easy way to salvation. Why? Because to pray the Rosary is to be with the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Word of God reminds us that more than any other figure aside from Jesus, Mary is untouchable and unbearable to Satan.

At the Holy Name of Mary the devil, and all his tricks, and tearings apart, and black desperateness–already he is gone, far, far away, as, by the very nature of the way of life he has chosen, he cannot bear the gift of God–which is what the Blessed Virgin is, “full of grace”: in a certain sense, not the incarnation of God–that is her Son–but the incarnation of the gift and goodness of God.

For the devil, and all evil things, and all evildoers, the company of Mary is a blinding pain–a light they have rejected and are revolted by.

The Rosary tells us we can have this–simply by praying that simple prayer. How can anyone then easily push away the opportunity of the Rosary, this chance to be with this Blessed One, wherever I am, whenever I need? This is why in praying the Holy Rosary we pray uniquely and effectively to God: because He is all she is about. It’s for this reason we always begin and finish with the Crucifix of the Blessed Redeemer and the sign of the Cross, the Trinity.

We start by saying the Creed–passing, to God’s body, the whole Catholic Church, on earth, in purgatory, and spread gloriously across and beyond all time and space. Suddenly we remember we were never alone, but with all the heroes of Sacred History, united with us to the Mother of the One Body of her Son.

An Our Father–the prayer Jesus taught us–Three Hail Marys–often for the Pope’s intentions, or for Faith, Hope and Charity–follow, and then a Glory Be–an appropriate prayer for a Marian prayer: “My soul glorifies the Lord.”

Each decade focuses on a mystery: “mystery” doesn’t mean we don’t understand–it means, there is always something more to understand and live of what is revealed… It is for these reasons that the Rosary is an effective balm for the anxious and depressed. The contemplation of the mysteries draws us out of ourselves, and out of the limits we place on ourselves and the world, and into participating in the very mystery we are contemplating. All we live, then, is placed in its true context–God’s love.

Adapted from: Father Joshua Miechels, Community of the Emmanuel in Sydney, Australia – December 10, 2019 Catholic Weekly