Prayer and Devotions

Register Rosary War Effort by Register Staff It´s the Year of the Rosary, and U.S. troops are amassing in the Middle East. The National Catholic Register has a plan: Pray the rosary for peace - and get the troops praying the rosary, too, just like they did at Lepanto...

March 11, 2003 / Terrorism. Iraq. Church scandals. A culture that could yet become a culture of life. With all of these consequential issues swirling around our Church and our nation, it is providential that Pope John Paul II declared the year from October 2002 to October 2003 as the Year of the Rosary. John Paul began his pontificate saying the rosary was his favorite prayer. He credited Our Lady of Fatima with his rescue from death by an assassin´s bullet. He asked shortly after 9/11 that we all pray the rosary every day for peace, and he has repeated the request many times since. Now, in declaring the Year of the Rosary, he has asked that Catholics promote the rosary urgently, far and wide. Register readers have done just that. Our special Year of the Rosary issue was an enormous success. Our supply of the original issue sold out within four days of publication. We printed 12,000 additional copies of a special reprint version and these quickly sold out, so we printed 10,000 more copies. Requests continue to pour into our office. Readers told us that the meditations we provided inspired them to begin (or return) to the rosary. We´ve heard from people who say our rosary issue helped them fall in love with Christ all over again. A group in Mexico had the meditations translated into Spanish and printed as an insert in a national, secular newspaper. Seminaries and convents have asked for the meditations so they can help form new priests and religious with them. Protestants wrote to say it helped them discover the richness of the Church. One reader asked us, "Do you have any idea of the eternal benefits this special issue will cause?" We´ve begun developing a Register rosary booklet that will be compact enough to carry in your pocket or purse and filled with the same colorful artwork that you saw in the paper. Each mystery will be presented the same way it was in the Register. Think of it as a two-pronged war effort: one at home, the other abroad. We first want to promote daily rosaries for peace: John Paul´s petition for "an end to terrorism and war." And, if war begins, we want to pray for a minimal loss of life and an outcome that brings peace to the Middle East. But, second, we also hope to bring the rosary right to the front lines in the Persian Gulf. It is a tragedy that, because of a lack of military chaplains, many of our Catholic service people will go into harm´s way without benefit of the sacraments. The rosary is hardly a substitute, but it can help inspire and form military Catholics spiritually with its meditations and Scripture readings. It will sustain them in their faith and comfort them in a time of extreme stress. We want to see a specially sized, durable booklet version of the Register rosary in the hands of every deploying and deployed Catholic service member of our armed forces. For many Catholic soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen, this booklet may be their only exposure to Scripture and Catholic spirituality. In order to provide copies to the military, we need the generous support of our readers. The rosary is a very powerful prayer. If we can inspire more Catholics to turn to it, we can have a deep effect in their lives. Just as importantly, as John Paul pointed out, Our Lady has called urgently for rosaries. When she appeared to the shepherd children in Fatima, she said that it´s necessary to say many rosaries to change hearts in our time and avert international catastrophes. The Register rosary booklet is a response to her call and the Pope´s. To join in the Register war effort contact: Mike Lambert Director of Development National Catholic Register 432 Washington Ave. North Haven, CT 06473 mlambert@circlemedia.com (800) 356-9916 Reprinted with permission from the National Catholic Register. All rights reserved.