THE ROSARY: A WEAPON OF LOVE

Saint Padre Pio was once quoted as saying; “The rosary is a weapon for our times.” I quote this because an article was written in The Atlantic that said “….the rosary has acquired a militaristic meaning for radical-traditional Catholics.” This, according to the writer of the op-ed, says that the rosary is seen “as a weapon” to those calling themselves traditional Catholics. It goes on to say that basically Catholics—extremists and traditional Catholics— have literally weaponized the rosary. Visually or literally, Catholics are using violence against groups, our faith may not agree with. The article is not worth reading, but it ends with the following statement: “The sacramental rosary isn’t just a spiritual weapon but one that comes with physical ammunition.

It is true in one sense, in that we are the Church Militant. We are a group of believers in the Church fighting at any given time, against the evil of the devil, and in that regard the rosary is truly a weapon. The article basically depicts that the rosary is so many times used by extremists and traditional Catholics for hatred, in the literal sense. We all know that the rosary is never for hatred. Yes, it is a weapon, a weapon of love, a weapon of spiritual combat.

According to Phil Lawler, the intent of the article was to bring out a feeling that the traditional Catholic prayer of the rosary is a sign of extremism; that those who pray the rosary should be looked at with suspicion, thinking wrongly that this weapon, the rosary, has been turned into something dangerous. Hence the original title of the article, “How the Rosary Became an Extremist Symbol.”

Saint Pope John Paul II encouraged all of us to pray the rosary every day. Whether that be heading to work, when we wake up, or before Mass, as we do each day here at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Parish. There is plenty of evil in the world. Catholics are very much a part of the group which is being attacked. We stand up for life, we stand up for gender identity, how God made you from birth, male or female. We do stand for marriage between one man and one woman. Who can find nothing better than to take the beauty of the rosary, truly a symbol of love, for centuries, and tie it to a dangerous extremist cult.

As Catholics do say “We must be battle ready.” We, who are still on this earth (the Church Militant) must fight this type of so-called reporting. We do fight with the rosary in our hands, carried in full view, as some of our religious do. We have concealed carry, ready at any moment where it is needed.