The Rosary reminds us of what awaits us after death

Here are four ways the Church puts the four last things before us each day:

-First, the Mass, which is a visit to heaven.

-Second, the Rosary, which warns again and again about hell.

-Third, Judgment and the Examination of Conscience.

-Last, Night prayer is a nightly memento mori, a reminder of death.

In the Rosary, we go through the four last things again and again, asking Mary to “pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death” and placing ourselves in the presence of “Our Father who art in Heaven,” at whose judgment we hope he will “forgive us our trespasses,” and “deliver us from evil.”

It is the final evil of hell we need to be delivered from.

“Following the example of Christ, the Church warns the faithful of the ‘sad and lamentable reality of eternal death,’ also called ‘hell,’” says the Catechism. “Our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back,” it adds.

C.S. Lewis warns, “The safest road to hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

Our Lady of Fatima agreed, and put signposts up for us in the Rosary, teaching three shepherd children to add this prayer after each decade of the rosary: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.”

Then, the last thing we pray each night is the “Salve Regina,” calling upon the Queen of Heaven for mercy. As St. Thomas Aquinas put it, “As sailors are guided by a star to the port, so are Christians guided to heaven by Mary.”

Tom Hoopes, published on November 15, 2021 (Adapted)

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