The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1917. THE ROSARY

New Zealand Tablet, 27 September 1917, Page 25

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1917. THE ROSARY

_ t (SKI i* E ?x T week find us in October, which is ' Vl®!| T tke ™ ontll -of the Rosary. The first Sun- I; Jjlraa k da y is specially dedicated to the commemo- ‘ $ Va lation of that beautiful and efficacious prayer which is, as its name indicates, a S Jgv|» crown of roses woven for the Mother of W God. True devotion to her is salvation, T| and in no way can a child of Mary manifest v ! *M his love for his Mother better thaji by the "fit daily recital of the Rosary. That the love of God remained strong and pur© in the hearts of -the French and Italian people is due to their love for Mary 1 The strength which sustained Ireland during the years W of her passion was in great measure 'the; fruit of her ■ fidelity to the Rosary ; for the Coroin Mhuire was the ‘IP consolation of her people through troubled years, and MS very often, when no church was left erect andVthe priests were hunted, the Rosary i became a substitute for the Mass in green Erin. It was the prayer of the ~ . Wild Geese” , centuries ago; it endowed the brave men '■

who died for Ireland a i year ago with the courage and fortitude which made the story , of their deaths like the .ppges of 'a romance:; and-that the glorious faith of the Irish is after all those years as beautiful and as simple as ever is v to be attributed to the fidelity with which fathers, ■ mothers, and children gathered together each evening for the recital of this prayer so dear to their hearts, y Well will it be for us who hold the keys of the future in this new land ,if we are able to hand down to those who come after us our fathers’ tender devotion •to Mary and their love of the Rosary : no more would be needed to safeguard the future of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. i '■■■ " ' - ' * Many centuries ago, in an hour when fear brooded over all Christian Europe, and dread of a powerful pagan - foe' , penetrated into every palace and every cottage from the North Sea to Sicily, and from Venice to the Irish Capital; the Vicar of Christ turned to Mary for help when all human aid seemed unavailing. Responding to the iuvitatidn of the Father of Christendom the ; : Catholic people- of Europe joined in his earnest prayers for, the assistance of Mary, Help of Christians. She who. never turned a deaf ear to the prayers of her children heard them in the moment of their peril. They were inferior in numbers and strength to the Turks • who threatened to overrun Europe, and there seemed no earthly chance of success. They placed all their trust in Mary. Our Lady, Help of Christians, became Our-Lady of Victory. She did not abandon her children who had recourse to her. As they prayed a new spirit went f abroad among them, new courage inspired them, and new hope grew strong where had been no hope, at all a little while ago. So, though apparently none too powerful, it was not a despondent and fearful army that went forth to do battle with the Mahomedan hordes for the salvation of Christian Europe. And hope and high courage sustained them in that momentous struggle which ended in the rout of the Turks and broke for ever their power in Europe. The festival of Rosary Sunday was instituted to commemorate that victory and to enable the faithful to return thanks .'to Oui 4 -Lady for all the favors obtained through her intercession, especially through the devotion of the Rosary. ‘ - * '. There is no need here to dwell on the nature of that devotion to Mary. Every Catholic knows as much about it as we could tell 1 him. It explains itself. The prayers that are said are the simplest and shortest of . our prayers, and as we say them we are asked to keep before us the chief events in the lives of Christ and of His Mother, Mary. And we know how it is a prayer for all /hoods and for all seasons. There are Joyful Mysteries and Glorious Mysteries for days of happiness and thanksgiving there are Sorrowful Mysteries to stay our souls when we are burdened with trials and sufferings : it may be a prayer of hope or a prayer of penance, of petition or gratitude, for others or for ourselves, for the living or-for the dead. Wherever we, are, alone or in a crowd, in the blaze of noonday o? in the darkness of a sleepless night, we can always take up our beads and turn to Our Lady, Help of Christians, Consoler of the Afflicted, Mother of God, and Mother of us .all as well. Our fathers and mothers knew how ■ to do this as theirs did before them. Which of us can not look back to the picture of those dear ones whom , many of us will not meet on earth again with the old brown beads they loved, in their hands and the prayers that sweetened their lives arising like incense from their hearts ? . . And which of us can for a moment doubt what they owed to . the Rosary, and - what we owe to the Rosaries they said ? Here now is another October upon us. The Church'is calling'us again to take our beads in our hands and join with all the Catholic world in the devout recitation of Our Lady’s beautiful , prayer , during the .whole, month. 4 itift 3*’! wuUsl/:.*-'. ■» * . Wy.- • vyf'i’ln the long bygone October there was' as we have seen great need for help from -Mary. Was the; need

’ ' . ■ any greater than it" is in October; of • the year 1917 f Europe'then suffered; ; all the world; now suffers., ; Then power to avert ~ the evil? seemed to have : gone beyond the people f now ,too, the people are not able to do anything to stop a war j which fdr them means • sorrow, and woe, whatever it may mean for others. a : " Then when human hope was dead, and when human comfort ; had fled, the people turned in their weakness and distress to Mary, the Help of Christians and ; the i Comfort of \ the Afflicted; now, when hope against hope • seems .to.' be beyond the power of humanity, and when grief has filled, as with a cloud of gloom, every home in all Christendom, Mary still remains, now and for ever,, the strength of them that are weak and the consoler of them that mourn. And surely, if ever an ■ October became a month of prayer to her, the month that is about to begin will be Mary’s month. a We have all much to pray for for ourselves, for our own. whom the war has taken, for those who suffer around us, for the dead who claim our prayers and' for the dead for whom, perhaps, none pray, and, lastly, for .the crowning gift of peace which Our Lady of Victory can give us when human strength will not. v 5 y - ; , 3r w