Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Catholic devotions are usually popular prayers, rituals and pious practices used by individuals or groups to worship God or venerate Mary and the Saints. Often devotions express a particular conviction about the object of the devotion. For example, Eucharistic devotions, Adoration of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic Processions, and Benediction all express our Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

There are also devotions to Mary and the Saints. These devotions may express a relationship to these Saints and their role as spiritual companions. We celebrate feast days of Saints usually on their birthday into eternal life. The Catholic Church also dedicates each month of the year to a particular devotion. The month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary, one of the best known of all Catholic devotions. The month includes the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary which is always on October 7th.

Maybe you have never prayed the Rosary because you are not sure how to go about it. Pope Leo XIII, once said, “The Rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life. It is the remedy for all our evils, the root of all our blessings. There is no more excellent way of praying.”

There is no doubt that the Rosary is one of the most important Catholic prayers (behind the Sacraments and the Divine Office). If you have not prayed the Rosary before, now would be a great time to start. There are many apps and websites that can help a person to grow in their understanding and appreciation of the Rosary.

So where did the Rosary originate? The Rosary probably began as a practice by the laity to imitate the monastic prayer called, The Divine Office. During this monastic prayer, monks prayed the 150 Psalms. In imitation of the monks, lay people, many of whom could not read, substituted 50, or even 150 Hail Marys for the Psalms. Ancient writings at Christian sites suggests that the Hail Mary, the first half of which is biblical, dates from as early as the 2nd century. In time, a cord with knots was used to keep an accurate count of the Hail Marys.

The first clear historical reference to the Rosary, however, is from St. Dominic who died in 1221. Historians tell us that St. Dominic preached a form of the Rosary in France when heresy was devastating the faith there. One of St. Dominic's future disciples, Alain de Roche, began to establish Rosary Confraternities to promote the praying of the Rosary. The form of the Rosary we have today is believed to date from his time.

Over the centuries the saints, popes and an army of Catholic people have promoted and highly recommended praying the Rosary. Praying the Rosary has been a part of my daily prayer for as long as I can remember. The Rosary was an especially important prayer for me as I discerned God’s will in my life. Through praying the Holy Rosary every day and spending time in Adoration, Our Blessed Mother helped me to discern my vocation to the priesthood.

I always carry a Rosary in my pocket and find myself praying it in all sorts of places. The Rosary can be prayed with the family in the car or walking or with a group in church before Mass. I have found that praying the Rosary has brought me so much peace and strength especially in times of temptation and frustration. The Rosary is one of the most powerful prayers to pray in front of an abortion mill… praying for those mothers (and fathers) and those babies as they enter the abortuary frightened and often feeling alone!

Rosary means a crown of roses, a spiritual bouquet given to the Blessed Virgin Mary who intercedes for us. I hope that the Rosary will remind you of this powerful way to fall deeper in love with Our Lord, His Blessed Mother, the Saints, and one another.

I invite you to join the Catholic Community to Honor Mary Under Her Title Our Lady of Guadalupe on Sunday, October 19, 2025 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. The event will take place at the Phoenix Convention Center 33 S. 3rd St., South Building, Halls F & G. The Most Reverend John P. Dolan, the Bishop of Phoenix will be presiding. Father John Nahrgang will be the keynote speaker. He is a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix. Since 2023, he has been pursuing licentiate and doctoral degrees in Mariology (the theological study of the Virgin Mary) at the Marianum in Rome. His current research focuses on Mary's ancient title Theotokos ("Mother of God") and its articulation in the Message of Guadalupe.

God Bless,

Fr. Don Kline

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