When we pray the Rosary, we receive the gift of strength

In the car on the way back from Rome, where I had just spent three years studying, my father abbot was worried about my reintegration into the community.

How would I handle this return to a simple life, stripped of the multiple activities of a student's life?

I listened to him attentively, but I could not give an answer. I did not know.

Back at the monastery, I was appointed cook and sent to the cheese factory.

One fine morning, which I still remember as if it were yesterday, I was walking along the large road lined with chestnut  trees leading to the Lourdes grotto replica, when I was seized by an irrepressible desire to say the Rosary. The prayer flowed from within, as if it wanted to force its way through my lips. This continued for months.

And everything worked out without difficulty. Mary gave me this strength, which I did not have, and I am managing well - or rather, she makes it possible for me to manage well. Even today, it is for me an extraordinary source of peace in my current role.

Father Guillaume Marie, Father Abbot of the Abbey of Saint Mary of the Mont des Cats - Godewaersvelde, France.

Testimony collected in 2006.