Happy Twenty-Eighth Sunday! Among the many rich traditions of our Catholic life, you may know that the Church dedicates each month to a particular devotion. For example, March is dedicated to St. Joseph, May to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and June to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary because of the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, which we celebrated this past week, as we do every year on October 7.

The dramatic history of this feast dates to 1571, but the history of the Rosary goes back to the Middle Ages and the life of St. Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans, known for their white habits). According to tradition, in 1214 the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Dominic and gave him the Rosary as a spiritual tool to counter the heresies of his day and promote orthodox Christian belief. He and his fellow Dominicans spread devotion to this prayer throughout Europe, helping the faithful meditate on the divine mysteries revealed in the lives of Jesus and his mother, Mary.

The distinctive feature of the Rosary, of course, is the string of beads that shares its name. These beads come from an ancient monastic tradition tied to the Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours. In the Divine Office, monks offered the hours of each day to God by praying the biblical psalms.

As part of monastic life, the monks recited and memorized all 150 psalms. Most lay faithful could not read, so they joined in the Divine Office by praying 150 Hail Mary’s instead, keeping their place on knotted cords. Some used shorter cords of 50 for convenience. The Rosary transformed this daily prayer by turning our gaze to the mysteries of the Incarnation. As we ponder the many ways Jesus showed his human love, which we name in the mysteries of the Rosary, we come to know the divine love of God himself.

Centuries later, the Rosary took center stage during the pontificate of Pope Pius V. At that time, the Ottoman Empire was the leading power of the Islamic world and was pushing west into Europe by force. The Ottomans assembled a great fleet that threatened Rome and the heart of Christendom. Pope Pius V formed the Holy League, an alliance of Catholic states, and its fleet sailed east to meet the Ottomans. As the battle approached, the pope urged the sailors and all the faithful to pray the Rosary for protection and deliverance. The two fleets met off the coast of Greece at Lepanto, and the Holy League won an overwhelming victory.

Pius V then declared October 7 the Feast of Our Lady of Victory. His successor, Gregory XIII, renamed it the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Ever since, this feast has reminded us of the Rosary’s power to sustain and deliver us, especially in our hour of need.

From Fr. Brian

The Good Shepherd Advent Service is back! After a multi-year break, we are thrilled to welcome everyone back for our cherished annual gathering! All parish ladies are invited as guests or hostesses. The service will be held on Sunday, November 29, from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. in the Family Life Center. Registration forms are available at the front entrance of the church and on the table outside the parish office. RSVP is required. Seating is limited. Deadline to register is Sunday, November 22.

Please join us for a Rosary Rally on Saturday, October 17 at 12:00 Noon. We will meet on the sidewalk across the street from the Riverside Market in Montrose. Prayers are for our communities and country.

Men of the parish are invited to come and enjoy growing in their spiritual walk with others. We will meet in the Knights of Columbus Hall from 6:30—7:30 on Wednesday, October 14 for our next Cor Meeting. We always have snacks and refreshments! Invite a friend or family member. We look forward to seeing you!

See what men are saying about it in the film below:

The mission of the Cor is to refocus Catholic men on Jesus Christ and to form and strengthen them in faith and virtue through a brotherhood committed to prayer, formation and fraternity.  The goal of each Cor gathering is to provide the opportunity for men to encounter Christ, to pray together, to be formed in their faith, and to strengthen their bonds of brotherhood, preparing them for courageous leadership and the mission of Evangelization for their families and communities.

If someone were to ask you, “Why should I be Catholic? Or, what is Catholicism?” What would you say? If you were asked right there on the spot and had two seconds to respond to a complete random stranger, what would you say to pique their interest? Or to get them interested enough to keep asking questions and doing more research. Explaining the faith should not be difficult. Why? Because we simply talk about the one who saved us from death. We share with them the greatest love story ever told. We want to introduce them to a person we are absolutely infatuated with, because He has gifted us with a gift that is infinite.

As Catholics and disciples of the Lord, we should all be prepared to have an answer to questions like this. We must be ready to share the great news of salvation. Think of this entry as a personal invitation to join Fr. Brian and me as we deepen our understanding of the one we love, God. Every Tuesday evening, beginning October 6th, we will be having a Catechesis series called Credo. This series will help all of us understand more about who God is (the Creed), why we worship Him the way we do (the sacraments), the importance of communal life (morality), and our own spiritual lives (prayer).

Our faith is not just an academic course. It’s infinitely more than that. We teach catechesis and religious ed to children because it is important for them to have a good moral foundation for living their lives, but if a child thinks that Catholicism is just another subject to be learned like math and science, then we have failed. Our faith cannot be reduced to a series of intellectual thoughts and ideas to be mastered or fully comprehended. It is actually the exact opposite. God is a mystery. His saving work in Jesus Christ is a mystery. How the Holy Spirit sanctifies us and how God dwells in us is a mystery.

As disciples of Christ, we are not Sherlock Holmes trying to figure out what makes God tick. We do not try to confine God to a box and conduct experiments on Him in order to fully comprehend Him. Rather, we look at His mysteries of love with awe and wonder at His mercy and goodness. We approach the faith with an eager longing to always want more from this infinite spring of wisdom.

Our intellectual truths of the faith are supposed to lead us to one thing, and one thing only: an encounter. This encounter with love itself is the sole purpose and reason why we are able to respond to the invitation which Christ extends to all of us, just as He did to His disciples two thousand years ago: “Follow me.” The more we know about the one who extends the invitation, the more likely we are to respond with a yes and keep following Him. Where does this invitation lead? Straight to Calvary. Eventually, we will all have to face our own Calvary. But this Calvary does not have to be scary. There is a reason why Jesus says “Do not be afraid” so often: because without the source of love and wisdom, it feels as if we are alone. However, if we remember exactly who God is and what He has done for you and me, we embrace our cross and desire to always be with Him, no matter where He leads us.

Join us as we begin to learn more about this tremendous and majestic love story that leads to the greatest adventure any person can embark on.