May, the Month of Mary!

May is one of my favorite months. Spring finally comes to Minnesota. It is one of the months where we give special honor to our Heavenly mother. Who would not want us to love their mother? When you get to know someones mother, do you get to know them better too? This is why Jesus wants us to love His mother. Loving her, knowing her, will bring you closer to Him.

I have to say the Rosary is my favorite prayer. I can pray it anywhere at anytime. I can pray just a decade or the whole thing. I can pray for a specific intention, or just pray out out of love. I can give my prayer of the rosary as a gift and I can spread this love.

Growing up, my family would try to pray a rosary during lent. After supper we'd kneel down and my dad would lead. When I grew up and finally decided it was time for me to learn how to pray a rosary on my own, I had to teach myself. (another conversion story for another time) I bought a tape and started praying along with the tape. I fell in love with the mysteries, which are a meditation on the life of Jesus. The rosary is such a gift. It is not a set of repititious prayers, it is an act of love. Love for Jesus and His mother.

For free, yes FREE tapes/CD's of how to pray the rosary and other great tapes/CD's go to www.catholicity.com

For instructions on how to pray the rosary, go HERE.

This month I hope to bring the rosary to someone out there reading who maybe has never prayed a rosary, maybe wants to learn or maybe is just curious why us Catholics pray the rosary. I do challenge you, though, to try praying the rosary this month. Just this month, give it a try, have this short goal of only one month. Just be prepared to see your life change and be filled with many blessings. Most of all be prepared to be closer to Jesus, through His beautiful Mother.

These promises are amazing. When I re-read them, I am reminded of God's love and Mercy.

The Fifteen Promises of the Virgin Mary
to those who recite the Rosary given to St Dominic


1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces.
2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.
6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.
7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise.
9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.
11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.
12. All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
14. All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.


Blessings of the Rosary
1. Sinners are forgiven.

2. Souls that thirst are refreshed.

3. Those who are fettered have their bonds broken.

4. Those who weep find happiness

5. Those who are tempted find peace.

6. The poor find help.

7. Religious are reformed.

8. Those who are ignorant are instructed.

9. The living learn to overcome pride.

10. The dead (the Holy Souls) have their pains eased by suffrages.

Benefits of the Rosary
1. It gradually gives us a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ.

2. It purifies our souls, washing away sin.

3. It gives us victory over all our enemies.

4. It makes it easy for us to practice virtue.

5. It sets us on fire with love of Our Lord.

6. It enriches us with graces and merits.

7. It supplies us with what is needed to pay all our debts to God and to our fellow men; and finally, it obtains all kinds of graces for us from Almighty God.