Dear MI Crusader
     Peace and all good things! This edition of the MI bulletin I want to reflect with you on the role of Mary as our familiar companion in the spiritual life and in ordinary lives as we live out our Consecration.
     The month of October is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary so as crusaders we need to have rain check in this very Marian Devotion. Mary feels as we feel, she is with us day and night with her gentle and motherly presence urging us to come closer to her Son Jesus.
     Each of us who tum to Her she offers a special intimacy with Her that is old as Christianity .Men and Women have cried out to her in their need and sung with her in their joy. They see her as the model of the perfect disciple and a companion with them on their joumey of faith. We know so well that St. Francis and St. Maximilian saw Mary in this light in their relationship with her.
     One of the most famous paintings by the artist Cezanne painted around 1898 shows an old woman from an asylum sitting with bent head. Her weathered face and emphatic pose gives the impression of great solidity .Her hands hold a Rosary , she clasps the beads as if giving herself to prayer with the simplicity of a long habit. She embodies in her quiet concentration that part that the Rosary has played in the lives of countless men and women. It is the prayer of mothers and children, of sailors at sea, of philosophers and artists, or as the weapon to overthrow govemments as we witnessed in the Philippines. For so many the Rosary is the last prayer they hear as they lay dying, or it is recited by groups prior to or after a Parish Mass. We see it entwined in the fingers of a loved one as they lay in their coffin. The Rosary WAS and IS for everyone.

     The word "Rosary" is derived from the flower of that name, the Rose being the most beautiful and fragrant bloom. The custom of weaving roses into garlands of honour at special celebrations like weddings made this "spiritual garland" an ideal gift that seemed appropriate for Mary. Also the garden is a place of labour as well as relaxation: The offering of the Rosary can be a work of love when we have determined to give this time to God and do not feel like doing so.
     It is a good thing to see that the practice of saying the Rosary is experiencing a wonderful revival in the Church. It is a way of honouring Mary by meditating with her on her Son's life, death and resurrection. It involves the senses, mind and spirit.

     It is a prayer for everyone, young and old. It demonstrated that contemplation is accessible to all, and is as simple as fmgering a string of beads. The Rosary is lingering in the world of Mary, whose essence is Christ.
     The Great Pope John XXIII now Blessed once said: "O Mary, you are praying for us, you are a1ways praying for us. We know it. We feel it. Oh what joy and truth, what sublime glory, in this heavenly and human interchange of sentiments, words and actions, which the Rosary always brings us: the tempering of our human afflictions, the foretaste of the peace that is not of this world, the hope of etemal life." The Church developed the Rosary as a means of helping Christians to meditate fully on the life and mission of Jesus Christ: birth, childhood, ministry , death and resurrection. It has been a special part of Christian devotional life for some eleven centuries. When we pray the words of the Rosary and meditate on what mystery we do not see Mary so much as we see Jesus and we see Jesus in a very special and loving way. We see Him through the eyes of His Mother .
      Our devotion to Mary by means of the Rosary should lead us to a deeper commitment to Christ her Son. Mary spoke so clearly at Fatima in 1917 that her role is to make Jesus her Son shine and lead to Him and welcome Him into our hearts. The Rosary is not just confined to a place of worship but it can be recited and offered anywhere, from a bus or car to the quiet of a bush walk. I remember travelling on a train from Albany New York to New York City and I was praying the Rosary when a man kept looking. at me as I thumbed the beads through my fingers and offered the decades quietly. As I was near finishing the last decade he got up from his seat and began to come towards me. I thought the worst I thought I was going to be mugged or assaulted. He sat beside me and asked me if I was priest to a which I replied yes. He then asked me if I would hear his confession as he was leaving to go to South America on a Crusade as he was a singer of religious music. I asked him what made him come and ask me. He told me that he had seen my Rosary and how I was praying. Our Lady is always full of surprises.
     The Rosary is not just a quaint prayer or pious words it is rooted in the Sacred Scriptures and in the evangelical and ecclesial life of the Church. Let us try to spread deeper devotion to Mary by promoting the Most Holy Rosary in our lives and the lives of others.
     St. Bonaventure wrote a beautiful Te Deum in praise of Mary I offer it to you all as a source of inspiration that we deepen our love for the Mother of God and Her Son Jesus and the graces that come the Rosary.