Tomorrow is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Originally, this feast was celebrated under the name Our Lady of Victory. (See my other post about the history of this feast.)

The Rosary is a very powerful yet simple prayer. The Creed, the Gloria, the Our Father and the Hail Mary are all you really need to pray it. You don't even need a rosary, per se. (That's why God gave us 10 fingers!)

The Rosary was originally called The Poor Man's Psalter. The clergy prayed the psalms (psalter) as part of their daily prayer life. When the laity wanted to deepen their prayer life, they looked to the monastery for guidance. Not being able to afford (or in many cases, even read) a book of the Psalms, (remember, in those days books were copied by hand) the Rosary, which originally consited of 150 prayers, took the place of the daily reading of the Psalter that the monks engaged in.

The Rosary can be prayed any time, anywhere, broken up by daily work, offered for our intentions, and prayed throughout a busy day. It is still a perfect prayer for busy people looking to come closer to God.

Years ago, I was made aware of a tradition that had fallen out of use by the time I was growing up. That is the Catholic practice of carrying a rosary with you at all times. Although not necessary for praying the Rosary, a physical rosary is a wonderful reminder to pray. The cord rosaries made by the Rosary Army are nearly indestructable and they will send you one for FREE. You can even learn how to make them yourself.

If you haven't said the Rosary in a while, or you never learned how, I challenge you to try. The Rosary, whose prayers come mainly from the Bible, is a powerful weapon against evil and an easy way to include the Biblical stories of Christ in your daily prayer life, through the 20 mysteries from the Annunciation of the Birth of Christ, through His life, death and resurection.

I saw a bumper sticker a couple of years ago that I have not been able to find a picture of that says it all:

Angry? Need a Weapon? Pray the Rosary!