Why pray the Rosary every day for a year?


Each time the Blessed Virgin has appeared-- whether it be to Saint Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes; to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco at Fatima; or to Mariette Beco at Banneux-- she has asserted the importance, saving grace, and power of praying the Holy Rosary on a daily basis. Based upon her words, the Rosary is penance and conversion for sinners, a pathway to peace, an end to war, and a powerful act of faith in Jesus Christ. Pope Paul VI presented the Rosary as a powerful means to reach Christ "not merely with Mary but indeed, insofar as this is possible to us, in the same way as Mary, who is certainly the one who thought about Him more than anyone else has ever done."

To show us how this is done, perhaps no one has been more eloquent than the great Cardinal Newman, who wrote: "The great power of the Rosary consists in the fact that it translates the Creed into Prayer. Of course, the Creed is already in a certain sense a prayer and a great act of homage towards God, but the Rosary brings us to meditate again on the great truth of His life and death, and brings this truth close to our hearts. Even Christians, although they know God, usually fear rather than love Him. The strength of the Rosary lies in the particular manner in which it considers these mysteries, since all our thinking about Christ is intertwined with the thought of His Mother, in the relations between Mother and Son; the Holy Family is presented to us, the home in which God lived His infinite love."


As Mary said at Fatima, "Jesus wants to use you to make Me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to My Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God, like flowers put by Me to adorn his throne."



December 23: Saint John of Kanty

Posted by Jacob

“Fight all error, but do it with good humor, patience, kindness, and love. Harshness will damage your own soul and spoil the best cause.”


Today, December 23, we celebrate the feast day of Saint John of Kanty (also know as Saint John Canteco, Saint John Cantius, 1390-1473), Polish priest, Scholastic philosopher, physicist, theologian, and one of the principal patron saints of Poland.

John was born in Kęty, a small town near Oświęcim, in the diocese of Kraków, Poland. A brilliant student, he attended the Kraków Academy at which he attained bachelor’s degree, and eventually his doctorate in physics and theology. Felt called to the priesthood, upon graduation he spent the next three years preparing for the holy life, at the end of which he was ordained.

Upon ordination, John was offered professorship at a nearby university, which he happily accepted. For some time, he served as a parish priest, a responsibility he took with the greatest seriousness. Soon thereafter, he was offered a professorship of Sacrae Scripturae (Sacred Scripture) back at the University of Krakow. This post he served until his death many years later.

Saint John lived his life in accordance with the Scriptures, and maintained both humor and humility. He was generally liked by all, and was regarded as an excellent teacher and scholar. John embraced mortification and suffering, visiting Rome and Jerusalem on foot, wishing for nothing more that to suffer martyrdom. During one such trip, he was accosted by thieves, who stripped him of his valuables. Upon asking if he had anything else, and the saint denying it, the theives left him. Soon after, John remembered that he had sewn some gold into the lining of his robes. He hurried after the theives, confessing his “lie” and offering the gold to them. So moved by his truthfulness, the theives are said to have returned all his posessions.

In his daily life, he subsisted only on what was strictly necessary to sustain his life, giving alms regularly to the poor. It is said that he frequently would take his dinner plate into the street, offering it to the poor, rather than eating it himself

To guard himself and his household from evil gossip, John is said to have written upon the wall of his room: Conturbare cave, non est placare suave, diffamare cave, nam revocare grave: "Guard against causing trouble and slandering others, for it is difficult to right the evil done."

When he reached the end of his life, sensing that his death was near at hand, he distributed whatever possessions he still had to the poor and died peacefully at an advanced age. His remains were interred in the Church of St. Anne, Kraków, where his tomb has become a popular pilgrimage site.



Grant, we pray, almighty God, that by the example of the Priest Saint John of Kanty we may advance in knowledge of holy things and by showing compassion to all, may gain forgiveness in your sight. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.




Year 2: Day 357 of 365
Prayer Intentions: Humility: Lives dedicated to our neighbors and those in need; Clean hearts and tongues;
Requested Intentions: Healing (M); Safety, security, and sanctity for a family (A); Healing (N); Successful relationship (N); Healing of a friend; growth in the Lord (M); To hear and answer the Lord’s call (M); Healing of a friend undergoing chemotherapy (L); For the peace, safety, and holiness of a sister (J); Financial security (C); Conversion of a newly married couple (M); Peace in a family (S); Peaceful repose of departed mother (J); Blessings on a relationship (J); Financial security, successful employment (J); Obedience to God’s will (A); Conversion of souls (A); Success of business venture; faith of daughter (S); Safe return home (J); Recovery of mother and son; repose of the souls of the dearly departed (A); Blessings upon a relationship (M); Sobriety and recovery for a son (M); Employment and successful marriage (A); Employment, healing, freedom from anxiety (T); Financial security (C); Conversion (T); Peace in difficult times at work (E); Financial security and blessings for mother and children (T); Financial security for a mother (M); Health, finances, successful marriage (A); Successful resolution of court case for son (K); Continued sobriety (N); Healing of a chronic health condition (B); Successful employment (A): Peace in a family, recovery of a niece from substance use (L); Blessings on a marriage, healing of a husband (P); For the health and recovery of sisters (B); For a daughter and granddaughter (D); Blessings on overseas employment (M); Healing of mother (L).

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