So, I am almost one month into this incredible spiritual journey of a year of prayer. Already, I have gained so much from those who I have talked to about this project, those who have submitted comments and prayer requests, and the prayers and intentions of all who had prayed for the success of this endeavor. I am overcome with gladness at the response that this humble blog has recieved, and find my emotions difficult to put into words (surprisingly!).
So, instead, a few "statistics":
In the last 25 days, there have been over 300 visitors to the site (thank you!). Those who have dropped by to read and reflect have lived in 10 different countries (on 5 continents)! Over 50 readers have submitted personal prayer intentions, which I have been both humbled and privilieged to have the opportunity to lift in prayer. (Please continue to share this site with those you come into contact with!) I'm busy constructing Rosaries, and this week marks the first group Rosary-construction gathering, which I hope to continue over the course of the year. Funded by the grace of God and your donations, I hope to send hundreds (or even a thousand!) Rosaries overseas to missionaries and deployed soldiers in need of spiritual assistance. (It's not too late to donate-- simply visit the donate button on the lefthand sidebar!).
All in all, this is more than I could have expected. I humbly thank God for all He has given, Our Blessed Mother for her continual intercessions on the behalf of a sinful man, and all of you for continuing to visit the site. God bless you all in 2010! Together, we can change the world!
Why pray the Rosary every day for a year?
Each time the Blessed Virgin has appeared-- whether it be to Saint Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes; to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco at Fatima; or to Mariette Beco at Banneux-- she has asserted the importance, saving grace, and power of praying the Holy Rosary on a daily basis. Based upon her words, the Rosary is penance and conversion for sinners, a pathway to peace, an end to war, and a powerful act of faith in Jesus Christ. Pope Paul VI presented the Rosary as a powerful means to reach Christ "not merely with Mary but indeed, insofar as this is possible to us, in the same way as Mary, who is certainly the one who thought about Him more than anyone else has ever done."
To show us how this is done, perhaps no one has been more eloquent than the great Cardinal Newman, who wrote: "The great power of the Rosary consists in the fact that it translates the Creed into Prayer. Of course, the Creed is already in a certain sense a prayer and a great act of homage towards God, but the Rosary brings us to meditate again on the great truth of His life and death, and brings this truth close to our hearts. Even Christians, although they know God, usually fear rather than love Him. The strength of the Rosary lies in the particular manner in which it considers these mysteries, since all our thinking about Christ is intertwined with the thought of His Mother, in the relations between Mother and Son; the Holy Family is presented to us, the home in which God lived His infinite love."
As Mary said at Fatima, "Jesus wants to use you to make Me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to My Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God, like flowers put by Me to adorn his throne."
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