MONTHLY UPDATE
by Monsignor James T. McDonough
DIRECTOR, PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES-PHILADELPHIA

May, Mary, the power of Prayer and the World Mission Rosary

May, in the season of Spring, is often a month associated with beginning of new life. The resurrected life of Jesus who Mary bore has been commemorated in this month since the early thirteenth century.   During May, Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In May “ . . . the benefits of God's mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance.” according to Pope Paul VI in his Encyclical on the Month of May, (no. 1).

Called the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Rosary is one of the most excellent prayers to the Mother of God. This may have been inspiration for Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, who brought his lifelong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary to his tenure as National Director of the Pontifical Mission Society for the Propagation of the Faith from 1950 to 1966. When Bishop Sheen served as Director, he would gather all the workers [and any visitors] in his New York office at 3:00 pm and recite the Rosary.

Bishop Sheen on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1951 inaugurated a World Mission Rosary in his “Catholic Hour” radio broadcast. “Peace will come only when the hearts of the world have changed,” Bishop Sheen told listeners. “To do this we must pray, and not for ourselves, but for the world… To this end, I have designed the World Mission Rosary.”

The different colored beads of each decade of the World Mission Rosary call to mind an area where the Church continues her evangelization Mission: green for the forests of Africa; blue for the ocean surrounding the islands of the Pacific; white symbolizing Europe, the seat of the Holy Father; red, calling to mind the fire of faith that brought Missionaries to the Americas and yellow, the morning light of the East, for Asia.  As Bishop Sheen told his radio audience, “When the Rosary is completed, one has circumnavigated the globe and embraced all continents, all people in prayer. Our Rosary has this triple advantage.  Each color reminds you of the part of the world for whom you offer the decade.  Secondly, it fulfills Our Lady’s petition at Fatima to pray for world peace through the Rosary.  Thirdly, it will aid the Holy Father and his Pontifical Mission Society for the Propagation of the Faith by supplying him with practical support, as well as prayers, for the poor distressed Mission territories of the world.”  [FS 2/11/51 Radio Address]

Today, prayers for the Missions are just as vital as it was almost 60 years ago. Catholics growing in faith in over 1,000 Mission Dioceses depend upon the prayers and sacrifices of believers in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. 

This can be seen in Katmandu, Nepal, a country recently paralyzed by three days of strikes by the Maoist party. Christians pull out their “special weapon” – the Rosary beads. “We pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede that peace may prevail and bloodshed be avoided, that our rulers may be illuminated and reach a political compromise to end the crisis,” Reverend Pius Perumana, pro-Vicar Apostolic of Nepal, told the Fides Agency on May 5, 2010. The local Catholic Church has called on the faithful to “live these days with serenity, and with the optimism of faith and hope, to recite a daily Rosary throughout the month of May, traditionally dedicated to Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary”, the priest said. “Community recitation of the Holy Rosary,” Father Pius continued, “is an excellent means of deepening relations with family and neighbors, and also helps to form more groups for Bible reflection and prayer.” The Apostolic Prefect, Monsignor Anthony Sharma, has rallied Catholic parishes, schools and religious communities in Nepal to hold daily recitations of the Holy Rosary throughout the month of May and at least one hour of Eucharistic Adoration every week, with a special prayer intention “for national peace, and for a successful drafting and approval of a new Constitution without violence.”

In asking the faithful to adopt the World Mission Rosary, Bishop Sheen stated, “It all comes down to this: the world will change when we change. But we cannot change without prayer, and the power of the Rosary as a prayer is beyond description.”

If you are not already doing so, you may want to begin praying the Rosary in honor of Mary, our Mother, and this May. Remember the wise advice of Reverend Patrick Peyton, devout promoter of the works and inspiration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who made famous the slogan: “the family that prays together stays together.” Accept the challenge of finding time to pray the Rosary together daily or at least once a week. And to pray the Rosary on your own brings immense blessings from the Lord.

World Mission Rosaries are available through the Pontifical Mission Societies at a cost of $3.00/Children’s Rosary and $10/Adult Rosary. Brochures in English or Spanish explaining how to pray the World Mission Rosary can also be ordered through the Pontifical Mission Societies. Mail in the form on this website at World Mission Sunday or contact our office at (215) 587-3944 or pofaith@adphila.org. The brochure is available as a PDF file on this website, go to Society for the Propagation of the Faith, World Mission Sunday, World Mission Rosary. Also pray the World Mission Rosary on line at www.onefamilyinmission.org.

Remember, through prayer and acts of sacrifice, by your words and actions, you become a Missionary for the Lord. 

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