Newsletter 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) 5th October 2025

GOSPEL REFLECTION

This month is the month of the Rosary.

St Padre Pio was the one who called the Rosary ‘The Weapon.’ 

St Padre Pio was an Italian priest who died in 1968.

Padre Pio of Pietrelcina succeeded in reciting the Rosary almost continually. 

He was asked why he prayed the Rosary so many times to which he replied,

Our Lady has never refused me anything.” 

After the apparitions St Bernadette’s sister Antoinette would say,

“Bernadette did nothing but pray and did not know what else to do than to finger the beads of her Rosary…” 

St Bernadette found it difficult to be without Our Mother.

When Our Lady appeared at Lourdes and Fatima,

she asked for the Rosary to be prayed every day,

this is Our Mother speaking to us.

The Popes since the year 1402 have written 504 Encyclicals just on the Rosary. 

Pope Benedict XV and St John XXIII prayed 15 decades a day. 

St John Paul the Great wrote an Encyclical on the Rosary where he said:

“The Rosary is my favourite prayer.” 

This Pope would personally give out Rosaries to people when visiting him. 

He also added another 5 decades of the Rosary,

the “Mysteries of Light” or “Luminous Mysteries.”

It is said he prayed several rosaries a day.

The Rosary is not a prayer to Mary but to Jesus. 

We don’t pray to Mary, instead Mary prays with us to Jesus. 

Whatever intentions we are praying for, Our Lady,

therefore, is also praying for those intentions. 

We know that Our Lord will never refuse His Mother’s prayers. 

For this reason, the Rosary is such a powerful prayer.

Because the Rosary is so powerful it has traditionally been the most popular prayer of the family. 

At times praying the Rosary, a peace and inner strength/joy occurs sometimes. 

I remember praying the Rosary in a home – the children, two boys aged between 8 and 10 had never prayed a full rosary before. 

When we prayed the Rosary, Grace was clearly present. 

The children asked their parents if they could pray the Rosary every evening.

I personally recommend the Rosary as a prayer to be prayed as a family.

Our Lord will not refuse His Mother anything.

Remember the words of Fr Patrick Payton.

“The family the prays together, stays together.

Jesus said, “when you pray do not babble as the pagans do.” 

Some argue against the Rosary because it is repetitious, and therefore, they say it is “babble.”

If the Rosary comes from our heart, Jesus never tires of hearing us.

It is like saying to Jesus ‘I love You’ over and over, and Jesus never tires of hearing that. 

For me personally, the Rosary is part and parcel, indispensable to my life. 

I don’t know where I would be today without the Rosary.

I try to pray continually and the prayer I usually try to pray is the Rosary.

I don’t have to think about what prayer to pray. 

I just pray the Rosary.

I begin with an Our Father and the 10 Hail Mary’s. 

I do this even though I know I might only get through half an Our Father – before I will get distracted again.

Rosary Miracle Story:

The following story is told by a soldier in the air force during World War II.

“It was May 1940, and we had joined the air force.  Our squadron of 30 men were all from Canada.  We were waiting for our new squadron leader.  This squadron leader, Stan Fulton, entered our bunk house.  With that, he threw his bag up on an upper bunk.  Our squadron leader, an officer, sleeping here with us.  Officers don’t sleep in dorms with their men because they have much better accommodation with other officers.  We liked him at once and our liking and admiration grew each day.  The first night he knelt on the floor and prayed his Rosary in silence.  Fulton was not just our military leader, but also our friend.  He was one of us; he never tried to intimidate us with his rank.  The next night he repeated his prayer session.  Although our group had trained together for six months at least, I had never seen anyone kneel in prayer.  On the third night 3 of our companions joined Fulton in saying the Rosary.  As the night went on, eventually we all answered the Hail Mary’s.

On June 1, 1940, we began a series of night raids from England over Germany.  The evening before, Fulton gave each of us a Rosary.  If you will promise to keep the Rosary with you always throughout your life and to say it, I can promise you that Our Lady will bring you all back safe to Canada.

Little did we dream we would be in action for 4 years, many times in dreadful danger with fire all around us.  At such times, Fulton’s voice would ring through each plane, “Hail Mary …”

How many hundreds of Rosaries we must have said.  Ours was the only squadron that had not lost a plane or a single life. 

All returned to Canada in 1945.  So, I never forgot to keep my Rosary with me and say it every day. 

St Lucia of Fatima said on December 26, 1957:

“The Most Holy Virgin in these last times has given “new power” to the recitation of the Rosary in such a way that there is not a single problem no matter how difficult, that we cannot solve, by praying the Holy Rosary.”

The Holy Blessed Virgin said these times are the “last times” and a “new power” is given to the Rosary.