Today's Rosary | Holy Rosary University

Friends of the Rosary, In today's Gospel reading (Lk 4:31-37), we see Jesus' authority and power to cast out unclean spirits to the crowd's amazement. The Lord finds in the synagogue of Capernaum, in Galilee, "a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, who cried in a loud voice.": "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who yo...

Friends of the Rosary, Today's passage of the New Testament (LK 4:16-30) features Christ Jesus in Nazareth, where he had grown up, in the synagogue on the sabbath day, unrolling the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and revealing this Divine origin: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives a...

Friends of the Rosary, The Scribes and Pharisees—the religious leaders of the Jews—prided themselves on their strict observance of the Mosaic Law and human traditions. They performed many acts of virtue, developing a proud superiority complex and keeping themselves apart from ordinary people. Christ's mercy, kindness, and understanding for sinners made them oppose the Son of God. During his pu...

Friends of the Rosary, We hear the "Parable of the Talents" in Matthew 25:14–30 today. It tells of a master who was leaving his house to travel and, before leaving, entrusted his property to his servants. According to each man's abilities, one servant received five talents, the second two, and the third only one. The first man trades with the five talents. The second does the same, a...

Friends of the Rosary, Today's Gospel (Mt 25:1-13) features the parable of the Kingdom of Heaven and the ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five were foolish, and five were wise. Through the parable, Christ Jesus invites us to "stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour." At that time, following the Jewish customs, the bridesmaids would w...

Friends of the Rosary, Today, August 29, is the Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. On June 24, we celebrated the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, and today, we honor the anniversary of his martyrdom. Besides Our Lord and Our Lady, St. John the Baptist is the only one whose birth and death are thus celebrated. Since the fourth century, the...

Friends of the Rosary, Today, August 28, we honor St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (354-430). Born in 354 in Thagaste (now Souk-Ahras in modern-day Algeria), St. Augustine became one of the most significant and influential thinkers in the history of the Catholic Church. As a result of his mother's incessant prayer and tears, he converted from a former life of loose living, which...

Friends of the Rosary, Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Monica (333-387), the mother of St. Augustine — whose feast is tomorrow. Through prayer and tears, St. Monica quietly gave the great Augustine to the Church. Born in Tagaste, northern Africa, Monica was given in marriage to a pagan named Patricius, a man of loose morals with a very irascible nature. It was in this sch...

Friends of the Rosary, Today, we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Częstochowa, also known as the Black Madonna. The icon in Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, Poland, is traditionally believed to have been painted by St. Luke the Evangelist on a cypress wood panel from a table used by the Holy Family in Nazareth. St. Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine and collector of Christian relics in...

Friends of the Rosary, At that time in Galilee, many of the disciples returned to their former way of life, and no longstanding accompanied him when they heard about the divinity of Christ reflected in the invitation to eat his body and drink his blood — the doctrine of the Blessed Eucharist, well-known today. The passage—included in the Gospel of John that we read today (John 6:60-69)—continues:...

Friends of the Rosary, Today, August 24, we celebrate the feast of St. Bartholomew, one of the twelve Apostles of Christ. St. Bartholomew, also known as Nathaniel, was a doctor in Jewish law and a dear friend of St. Philip the Apostle. Because Bartholomew was a man "in whom there was no guile," his mind was open to the truth. He went willingly with Philip to see Christ and recognized the...

Friends of the Rosary, Today, August 23, we celebrate the memorial of St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617), Virgin, the first canonized saint of the New World. She consecrated her life to God very young, vowing her innocence to the Divinity. She practiced intense prayer and penance daily, living a heroic life of virtue and penance. Inspired by St. Catherine of Siena’s example, Rose became a Dominican lay...

Friends of the Rosary, Today, the faithful celebrate the Memorial of the Queenship of Mary. On her Assumption to Heaven, our Blessed Mother was solemnly reunited with her Son, and Our Lord Jesus has crowned Our Lady as Queen of Heaven and Earth. The Church celebrates Mary’s, Mother of God’s, queenship as a share in Jesus’s kingship. This title of Queen is applied to the Mother of God since she was...

Friends of the Rosary, Today, we celebrate the Memorial of St. Pius X, Pope (1835-1914). He was a defender of the purity of Christian doctrine and worked for the restoration of the Church's worship. Today is also the anniversary of the apparition of  Our Lady of Knock in Ireland. On August 21, 1879, Our Lady appeared with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist in Knock in County Mayo. 15 peopl...

Friends of the Rosary, Jesus reveals to us that anyone following him will receive a hundred times more in this life and eternal life. As we read today, he said to his disciples ( Mt 19:23-30 ): "Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And...

Friends of the Rosary, Christ Jesus revealed to us (John 6:51–58), as we read yesterday in the New Testament, "My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him." When we eat this flesh and drink his blood in the Eucharist, we unite with Him and become his image on Earth. Or, at least, that is or should be our goal. W...

Friends of the Rosary, Jesus said to the crowds ( Jn 6:51-58 ): "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks...

Friends of the Rosary, Christ Jesus invites us today ( Mt 19:13-15 ) to adopt a childlike behavior. "Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like children. Bishop Barron writes: "Children are like stars or flowers or animals, things that are what they are, unambiguously,...

Friends of the Rosary, Today, in the reading of the New Testament (Mt 19:3-12), Christ Jesus explains the mystery of marriage. "From the beginning, the Creator made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined togethe...

Friends of the Rosary, Today, August 15, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation for Catholics. In 1950, Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma of the Catholic Church in these words: "The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven.&q...

Friends of the Rosary, Today is the Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941), a martyr and priest. Born in Zdunska Wola, Poland, as Raymond Kolbe, he consecrated himself to the Lord in the Franciscan Order. Filled with love for the Virgin, he founded the Militia of the Immaculata movement of Marian consecration. To better "win the world for the Immaculata," with his preaching and w...

Friends of the Rosary, The Catholic faith is a divine gift that surpasses our understanding. Just take a look at loved ones who are not faithful. Consider how much pain they endure in their darkness. We, too, feel pain because we love them. Vatican II explained the faith this way: "God, out of the abundance of his love, speaks to men as friends and lives among them so that he may invite and t...

Friends of the Rosary, A friend of the Rosary Network, Chris W. from Ohio, recently shared a method for prayer. It’s “Pope Francis’ five-finger prayer.” This prayer assigns a specific group of people to each finger on your hand. It provides a structured way to focus your prayers on different groups of people, reminding you of the interconnectedness of your community and personal needs. This is how...

Friends of the Rosary, As we read today Sunday (Jn 6:41-51), Christ announced the doctrine of the Eucharist by stating that He gives his body as spiritual food to those who believe in Him and want eternal life. "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews of th...

Friends of the Rosary, Today, August 10, is the Feast of St. Lawrence, the highly venerated Roman deacon and saint of the mid-third century who suffered a heroic martyrdom. This Christian hero's feast is next to St. Peter and St. Paul’s. He was arrested during the persecution of Emperor Valerian (253-260), laid upon a gridiron, and slowly roasted to death. At that time, Pope Sixtus II and his...