A Powerful Prayer
The Catholic Church designates the Month of October to be the Month of the Holy Rosary. Why October? There are some historical factors that come into play. On October 7, 1571, a combined fleet of Venetian and Spanish ships thwarted an invasion of Europe by a fleet of ships under the Ottoman Turks at Lepanto, despite being greatly outnumbered. Pope Pius V called for all of Christendom to pray the rosary that day and had a premonition that the Christian fleet had won. He declared that Our Lady be given a new title to honor her, which was “Our Lady of Victory.”
On October 13, 1917, Our Lady appeared for the final time to three Portuguese peasant children to whom she introduced herself as “The Lady of the Rosary.” She called for a devotion to this prayer so that the world would be restored to peace. In 1960, Pope St. John XXIII, changed the Feast of Our Lady of Victory to the Feast of Our Lady of Rosary.
The rosary has been at the heart of several miracles throughout history. From the seemingly hopeless Battle of Lepanto, which may have saved Christendom, to three Jesuit priests being protected from the atomic bomb attack at Hiroshima, to a young college girl at FSU being saved from serial killer, the rosary has proven to be a powerful weapon against evil.
There is no more powerful intercession to our Lord Jesus than His Blessed Mother. The rosary has changed the course of history on more than one occasion. Devotion to this prayer can be a powerful ally against those forces which seek to separate us from our Lord Jesus. During this Month of the Holy Rosary, I invite you to find something in your life that seems to be working against your relationship with Jesus, and direct the intercession of Our Lady toward it while praying the rosary.
During this month we are offering the opportunity to pray a decade of the rosary every Monday during homeroom. Students can also visit the Campus Ministry Office during their lunch period to pray a decade as well. Our Lady never disappoints!
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.