Today's Rosary | Holy Rosary University

Friends of the Rosary: Every Friday during Lent we abstain from eating meat. It's a Christian practice that helps us to discipline ourselves and dominate our superficial hunger for food and drink. And like we did on Ash Wednesday on Good Friday we will eat one full meal, or two smaller meals. "We fast because we have a hunger for God," as Bishop Barrons explains today. Our deepest hu...

Friends of the Rosary: "Lent is a time to look inward and share our deepest desires, worries, and weaknesses with the Lord in prayer," Pope Francis said in his Ash Wednesday homily. "The Lord is inviting us to remove the masks we so often wear and see ourselves as we truly are in the sight of God." In his homily, Pope Francis encouraged everyone to make more space for prayer in silence in Eucharis...

Friends of the Rosary: Today is the feast day of St. Valentine and most importantly, Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the penitential season of Lent — forty days of prayer, abstinence, and fasting in imitation of Our Lord in the desert. During today's Mass, the ashes are blessed and then priests or deacons impart this sacramental on the faithful as a sign of conversion, penance, fragility, and...

Friends of the Rosary: In today's readings, we learn from the first letter of James the Apostle about the value of trials and temptation (Jas 1:12-18). "Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him." "Each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire. Then desire conceiv...

Friends of the Rosary: Yesterday, February 11, was the 32nd World Day of the Sick, a commemoration instituted by Pope St. John Paul II. The World Day of the Sick takes place each year on the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. On this day in 1858 in Lourdes, France, the 14-year-old peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous saw the Virgin Mary, wearing a white dress and holding a rosary. It would be the first...

Friends of the Rosary: Christ Jesus is the healer of the human race, afflicted by original sin. We all, repentant sinners, know our Shepherd. At that time, during His public ministry, Jesus miraculously cured thousands of people. One of those souls was a leper abandoned by society. We see today in Mark's gospel (Mk 1:40-45) both the divine power and the divine compassion of Jesus in an act of...

Friends of the Rosary: On Feb. 10, the Catholic Church remembers St. Scholastica (480-547). She was the twin sister of St. Benedict, the "father of monasticism" in Western Europe. The twins' mother died at their birth.  Under Benedict's direction, Scholastica founded a community of nuns near the great Benedictine monastery Monte Cassino. Inspired by Benedict's teaching, Schol...

Friends of the Rosary: What is the will of God? It is love, as love is His essence—to show love to others and/or will the good of others. That is the way God's goodness manifests itself to us. God is the supreme lover of our soul. His goodness means that He provides what we need for our perfection, not merely what we desire for our pleasure, which very often leads to our destruction. Archbisho...

Friends of the Rosary: Yesterday, we celebrated the memorial day of Blessed Pope Pius IX (1792-1878). Pius IX defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on December 8, 1854. It stated, "It has been revealed by God that Mary was preserved from original sin from the moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the mer...

Friends of the Rosary: Jesus teaches that evil comes from within, from our hearts. “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.” Our Lord summoned the crowd: “Hear me, a...

Friends of the Rosary: Today, on the memorial day of Saint Paul Miki and Companions Martyrs, we see Jesus calling the Pharisees hypocrites because they “disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” (Mark 7:1–13) The Pharisees and scribes were questioning Jesus because His disciples were not following the tradition of the elders but instead were eating with unwashed, uncleaned hands....

Friends of the Rosary: The Catholic Church celebrates today the Memorial of St. Agatha (d. 250), a virgin and martyr who died in defense of her purity, in Catania, Sicily. After Quintanus, the governor of Sicily, tried in vain to force her to consent to sin, imprisoned for a month, and then had her breasts cut off, but that night Agatha was miraculously healed by the apostle St. Peter. When asked...

Friends of the Rosary: In today's Sunday reading (Mk 1:29-39), we see a day in the public life of Jesus: He heals people, drives out demons, prays, and preaches. As followers of Christ, we are invited to pray, serve the poor, and evangelize throughout Galilee. The Gospel of Mark presents as a healer. In him, divinity and humanity come together. "In him, the divine life and divine power ar...

Friends of the Rosary: Today, February 3rd, we celebrate the memorial of St. Blaise (or Blase), a fourth-century saint and martyr who enjoys widespread veneration in the Eastern and Western Churches due to many cures attributed to him. On this day the Church gives a "Blessing of the Throats" in honor of St. Blaise, who was a physician and Bishop of Sebaste, Armenia. From the eighth centu...

Friends of the Rosary: Today, forty days after the birth of Jesus, we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also popularly known as Candlemas Day — since it takes place the Procession and Blessing of Candles at Mass. Christ Child is revealed as the Messiah through the canticle and words of Simeon and the testimony of Anna the prophetess. The Presentation of the Lord concludes the ce...

Friends of the Rosary: Jesus is astonished by our lack of faith. As we read this week (MK 6:1-6), He cured many sick, drove out demons, and performed mighty deeds. Despite these miracles, people refuse to trust in Him. Though we, the faithful, possess an understanding of the Eternal Word, our faith remains lacking. Christ Jesus dwells among us, yet we fail to recognize Him. In the sacrament of the...

Friends of the Rosary: Every January 31, the Catholic Church honors St. John Bosco (or “Don Bosco”), a 19th-century Italian priest who reached out to young people to remedy their lack of education, opportunities, and faith. He was an enlightened educator and innovator. St. John Bosco was the founder of the Salesian Society, named in honor of St. Francis de Sales, and of the Daughters of Mary, Help...

Friends of the Rosary: This week we read in the Gospel how Jesus drives out demons and unclean spirits from possessed men. Reflecting upon it, there are powerful things we can do to win the battle against evil in our lives, according to Fr. David Rider, a Catholic priest in Monroe, New York . • Never engage in the occult or abstain from habitual mortal sin. It invites them in. • Cleanse our homes...

Friends of the Rosary: Christ Jesus demonstrated His authority during His public ministry, notably exerting power over the spiritual realm. This included causing men with unclean spirits to convulse and expel their demons, as described in St. Mark 1:21-28 and St. Mark 5:1-20. Christ gave us the power to be like Him so that we are free from sin because sin makes us like the devil. Reflecting on thi...

Friends of the Rosary: In today’s Gospel (St. Mark 1:21-28), Jesus finds in a synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, who cries out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!" Jesus rebuked him and said, "Quiet! Come out of him!" The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. Peop...

Friends of the Rosary: In today's reading (Mark 4:35–41), Jesus calms the storm that confronts our lives and threatens our peace. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up, rebuked the wind, a...

Friends of the Rosary: St. Paul's soul-shaking conversion has a parallel in our life. Christ came to dwell in us during our baptism. It was our first conversion, although in most of us were unaware of the gift received as we were baptized as infants. If we are lukewarm or Christians merely from habit or tradition — unconscious Christians — we must be converted to a zealously faithful life. Our...

Friends of the Rosary: On January 25, the faithful celebrate the Conversion of Saint Paul, one of the great events of the early Church. This feast celebrates St. Paul's turning away from persecution of Christians to promoting Christianity. Saul was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, born in Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia, and a Roman citizen. He was a student of the Pharisee rabbi Gamaliel and surpas...

Friends of the Rosary: In today’s Gospel (Mark 4:1–20), Christ Jesus tells the parable of the sower. A man goes out to sow and throws the seed on the path, on rocky soil, on thorny soil, and finally on good soil. There are different types of soil, which apply symbolically to ourselves. God is a farmer, sowing the seed of His word and His love on the path, the rocks, and the thorns, pouring out His...

Friends of the Rosary: This week we continue praying for the unity of the Christians and the legal protection of unborn children. All human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. All of us are called to His eternal and loving company in Heaven. No one is excluded. However, through their willingness and actions, many decide to reject the Truth and exclude themselves. God is the model...