Our Lady of Fatima urged, "I want you to pray the Rosary every day for peace in the world, the conversion of sinners, and an end to wars." Let's make an effort to obey Mary's call and pray the Rosary daily. In our parish, the Rosary is prayed every day after the Holy Mass, and on Sundays, it is prayed before the Mass.
The Rosary prayer is a prayer that unites everyone, as everyone can find something for themselves in it. A mystic may devote themselves to meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, a contemplative may imagine Gospel scenes, and an activist may pray the Rosary quickly, ten by ten. The prayer is simple and suitable for the poor and the rich, for children, adults, and the elderly. We all learned it as children, and in adult life, we may reach for the rosary in difficult moments, problems, troubles, and doubts. Soren Kierkegaard said: "A man without faith stumbles over a blade of straw, with faith he moves mountains." This also applies to the rosary prayer – those who use it speak about miracles, strengthened faith, and achieving the impossible.
The origins of the Rosary prayer date back to the times of the Desert Fathers in the third and fourth centuries. They used strings to count repeated prayers. The word rosary is not only associated with the prayer itself but also with the characteristic chaplet (prayer rope) used to count the number of repeated parts of the prayer. The spread of the Rosary prayer is attributed to the Dominican Blessed Alain de la Roche (†1475), who initiated the Church's tradition according to which the Blessed Virgin inspired St. Dominic Guzman to pray the Rosary for the conversion of heretical Albigensians and sinners.
The Rosary prayer, which consists of the repeated 'Hail Mary', is a call to Mary, the Mother of God, asking for support. A humorous analogy on Facebook compares the rosary prayer to little Jesus pulling Mary's robe, shouting: "Mom, mom, mom..." In a similar way, we call to Our Lady for help as we move the beads of the rosary. Although God is the one who works miracles, Mary intercedes for us and asks with us, as if she were crying out to God on our behalf. Mary cares for us when we feel bad, like a real mother. Each of us carries a different image of a mother in our hearts based on our experiences, but Mary surpasses even our imaginations. St. John Paul II often spoke about the intercession and role of Mary, entrusting his life and pontificate to her.