Topic: Prayer Requests
Please post any prayer requests here. I ask anybody viewing these prayer requests to pray a Hail Mary for each one you read.

First Post
Mood:  happy
Topic: The Rosary means to me...
Hey there everybody! This is the first post to this blog. I figured I'd talk about what the Rosary means to me, and encourage you to do so too.
Just as I say on the homepage, I see the Rosary as a weapon. Our Lady of Fatima recommended it to Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia as a way to combat the growing evil of the world. Our Lady of Fatima holds a special place in my heart...I remember reading an old SOUL magazine (the Blue Army's publication) which first introduced me to the message of Fatima and played an important part in my converson. The fact that God would intervene through Mary in such an awesome way (I believe it to be God's most powerful intervention since Biblical times) and give us the message to pray the Rosary should really tell us something. The Rosary unites us to Jesus and Mary. It's mysteries are true mysteries- I have been praying the Rosary for nearly 9 years and I still find new depths to the mysteries no matter how many times I have reflected upon them. For example, the other day I reflected upon the 4th Joyful mystery, the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, and how signifigant it was that Simeon addressed Mary given the culture of the time. There's so many seemingly little details that we tend to think nothing of but are in fact rich in meaning.
Why does the world need the Rosary today? We need to take time out of our lives to united ourselves to Jesus in prayer and contemplation. By focusing on the lives of Jesus and Mary, we make our lives more like theirs. I forget what Pope it was who said it, but they said that a Christian cannot continue to sin who prays the Rosary- either he will stop praying the Rosary or he will stop sinning. While I certainly have not stopped sinning, I have definitely grown closer to God since i started praying the Rosary, and many things that I'd often do years ago I don't even think of now. We face a crisis of holiness in our world today- the Rosary will bring us back. There are several times in history when disaster was averted (such as Loretto) when Christians united and prayed the Rosary. So now more than ever we need to take up that call. "One day through the Rosary and the Brown Scapular I will save the world."- Our Lady to St. Dominic.