Let us repeat our love to Mary with our rosary beads!

I am writing these lines on March 8, 2021 at 3:00 pm. It is a sunny afternoon and the countryside is awakening from winter. My father-in-law was just laid to rest. He died on March 3rd at the age of 92 from Covid-19. His devotion to Mary was exemplary: he prayed the Rosary daily, while watching the livestream Rosary from Lourdes Shrine on TV. He loved that place. My wife has often taken him there on the October Rosary Pilgrimage.

Undoubtedly, his relationship with Mary makes me wonder about my own. What was he confiding to her in his last weeks? Surely his anguish, his sadness at knowing that he was leaving this world. Perhaps also a request for strength to make the great passage to the next life? His rosary was one of the few things he had with him in the hospital. It was his indestructible lifeline.

I too like to say the Rosary during the day, while driving or riding on the subway. I offer it to Mary for all the people who are riding on the same train, all those strangers who probably don't know her. I pray to her that their hearts will be opened, and that the Light of God will pierce their souls. I don't pray with the same regularity as my father-in-law did but I feel happy to have my rosary on me. I like to walk down the street holding it in my hand. Since I visited Beirut in 2019, I have hung one on the rear-view mirror of my car as Lebanese Christians often do there.

I’m not proud to admit it, but I tend to pray the Rosary when I go through difficult times. As if my relationship with God depended on the seriousness of my problems! Forgive me Mary for this utilitarian approach to prayer!

To a faithful who criticized the recitation of the Rosary for being too mechanical, the founder of Opus Dei, Saint Josemaría Escrivá, replied: "When a lover sings the same song to his fiancée over and over, who would think of telling him that it is mechanical?"

Perhaps these dozens and dozens of Hail Marys are a simple prayer, from a poor soul unable to find the words for a fruitful dialogue with God? Or they might be the prayer of a child who repeats his love to Mary, as he is sure that he will be heard...

François Morinière, CEO, president of Entretiens de Valpré, author of the book Et le Ciel devient familier (And Heaven Gets Familiar)