The Awesome Power of the Rosary (to Avert War & Bring Peace) (Homily #75)

St. John Bosco's Dream of Anchoring the Church to Two Columns

Homily #75c (5pm @ St. Catherine's, Vallejo)

Homily #75b (12pm Mass-- 1st minute cut off)

10am (Brookdale Vallejo Retirement Home)

Father Bosco Hears Confessions

Contemporary Priests walk by the body of St. John Bosco.

The Awesome Power of the Rosary to Avert War & Bring Peace

October 9, 2016

(Homily #75)

There is a story about a priest named Father John Bosco who had the charism of prophetic dreams.  He once had a dream of a great ship that was being attacked by a large fleet of ships during a storm.  The captain of this large ship is the Pope of Rome.  The crew are the members of the Church that did everything they could to protect the ship.  The large fleet tried to sink the large ship with bad books and bad ideas and bad teachings. 

In the midst of the naval battle, the Pope saw two huge columns in the middle of the ocean.  He sailed the ship to the two columns and anchored the ship to the two columns.  At the top of the first column was the Holy Eucharist with the words “Salvation of the Faithful” written.  At the top of the second column was an image of the Virgin Mary with the words “Help of Christians”.  Jesus and Mary!  Don Bosco later explained, “Only two means are left to rescue the ship amidst so much confusion: Devotion of Mary Most Holy and frequent Holy Communion (We should do our best to practice these two)”.

This story of the Two Columns is reflected in today’s Gospel.  Out of 10 lepers, only one returns in thanksgiving.  The word “Eucharist” in Greek means “thanksgiving.”  It’s not just a holiday in November that we do once a year.  Rather, this story shows the importance of weekly Sunday Mass attendance.  Six days we labor but on the Sabbath we attend Mass for only an hour to worship God, say thank you, and receive Him in Holy Communion in the state of grace.  We go to tell God that we love Him and thank Him for everything. 

In a sense, it doesn’t matter that the homily or the singing don’t make sense or someone didn’t smile at me at Mass.  As important as those things are, we are there at Mass to worship and give thanks.] Jesus said to the leper, “Go your faith has saved you.”  That’s what he says to us at Mass today, “Your faith has saved you.”

The second column of devotion to Our Lady is appropriate for October which is the Month of the Rosary.  It’s also Respect Life Month, but I’m going to focus on the rosary for now.

Last Friday, Oct. 7, we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Rosary.  This day was originally called the Feast of Our Lady of Victory.  On Oct. 7, 1571, another naval battle took place at Lepanto in the Mediterranean Sea near Italy.  Had the Europeans lost this battle against a larger Turkish Invasion Fleet, Europe would have no longer been a Christian continent and would have been converted to Islam.  The Pope at the time, St. Pius V, called on Christians to pray the rosary.  A miraculous victory was attributed to the power of the rosary.

The power of the holy rosary can be seen in another true wartime story with the atomic bomb in Japan during World War II. Jesuit Father Hubert Schiffer and seven other Jesuits lived in Hiroshima when the atom bomb was dropped directly over them.  They survived.  Over 200 scientists couldn’t figure out how they survived the blast when everyone within a mile radius died.  When asked, Fr. Schiffer replied, QUOTE “We survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that home.” END QUOTE  Fr. Schiffer died only a few years ago into a ripe old age.

I’ve given you 3 true war-time stories of the power of the holy rosary in our lives.  In our time where Pope Francis is calling our situation “Piecemeal World War 3” and where Russia just threatened the world with a Third World War, we must develop a devotion to the rosary for peace.  For those that may not care about this message about praying the rosary every day for peace, there’s a saying by the Marxist Leon Trotsky, “You might not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”  In other words, we might not be interested in the spiritual war taking place around us, but the fallen angels that battle us every day want to bring us to eternal perdition, so be vigilant with prayer and thanksgiving!  

Like the leper in today’s Gospel or the leper from the First Reading, we too say to Jesus, “Jesus Master, have pity on us.”  I’ve alerted us to both spiritual and worldly dangers to our soul.  During our time, when there are attacks on the ship of the Church, and the ship of our families and children which are under attack with bad ideas in society, let the power of the Eucharist and the holy rosary, our spiritual weapon, be used.  We are the one leper.  Don’t worry about the other 9 who don’t say thank you, but be the one leper who returns to give thanks.

There are some practical ways to pray the rosary and here is how: Ever since I started practicing my Catholic faith more as a teenager, I’ve always kept a rosary in my right pocket.  It’s my spiritual sidearm.  So keep a rosary with you. Another way is space out the decades throughout the day. For example, when you drive to work in the morning, pray 2 decades.  Then, pray a decade at lunch, and then finish the other 2 decades on your drive home.  Another way is pray the rosary during a walk or on the treadmill.  Perhaps focus on October for now.

In the Responsorial Psalm, we prayed, “The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.”  How does he do this? Through the power of prayer, esp. the Mass and the holy rosary.  The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.  Let us be like the leper to whom Jesus says, "Stand up and go.  Your faith has saved you."

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At Brookdale, a lady name Carole showed me this video: