BLESSING OF OCTOBER 2^ND, 2004. 1^ST SATURDAY OF MONTH
AT PRADO NUEVO. EL ESCORIAL (MADRID)

This month is dedicated to the Rosary, which is a good reason to reflect upon a message that deals with such a worthy devotion.

How beautiful the Hail Mary is! and how much it pleases Our lord and Our Lady! For this reason it is not strange that Our Lady came that first Saturday of month covered with a golden cloak, symbol of the joy She felt when we say this Marian greeting, " Look, my daughter, today I come with the golden cloak of so many hail maries I’ve received from this place" (June 2^nd, 2001). Our Lord says it himself, in a truly deserved homage to his Mother, when He recommends saying the Rosary in family.

Since its source is Heaven, the Hail Mary is a divine prayer, as well as celestial, angelic, evangelical and ecclesiastical. The archangel Saint Gabriel gave us the beginning (it appears in the Gospels), and the Church suggested the last part when Holy Mary was proclaimed Mother of God in the Council of Ephesus (431 a. C.).

Beatus Alano of Rupe says beautifully: "Because of the angelic greeting, God was made man, a virgin was made Mother of God, the souls of the Just were released from the Limbos, the ruins of Heaven were rebuilt and the empty thrones were occupied, sin was forgiven, grace was given back to us, illnesses were healed, the dead resurrected, the exiled were called to come back, the Holy Trinity was appeased and men were given the eternal life. Finally, the angelic greeting is the rainbow, the sign of clemency and grace given to the world by God" (2)

Hail Mary is so excellent and it produces so many fruits that we should pray this crown of fifty roses – the Rosary- everyday: " Say the Rosary everyday, don’t go to bed- not even one night- without having prayed such a beautiful prayer" Our Lord advises us in this message. It is actually his favourite prayer, and his Mother’s too, as it has been demonstrated along these years in different messages: " The Holy Rosary is what pleases me most. My Rosary, my daughter. I want them to pray my favourite prayer" (Our Lady, January 15^th, 1982). Even our current Pope has said from the beginning of his pontificate, " The Rosary is my favourite prayer. What a wonderful prayer! It is wonderful because of its sobriety and depth"(3). Recently, he has written an Apostolic Letter called " Rosarium Virginis Mariae" where he says that through it " Christian people sit at the school of Mary and are led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer"(4)

Likewise, Saint Dominic of Guzman was beautifully told by Our Blessed Virgin, " My son, don’t be surprised if you don’t succeed when you preach because you are working on a land where the rain has not fallen down on yet. Remember that firstly God sent the rain of the angelic greeting when he wanted to renew the world. Thus, the world was renewed. In your sermons exhort people to say the Rosary, and you will harvest a lot of fruits for souls"(5).

Therefore, not separating the Lord from his Mother is very important; nevertheless, common people have unfortunately been taught this division and besides,their marian devotions have often been ridiculed. For this reason, Our Lord points out in this message (after saying the Hail Mary himself), " The Mother and the Son are there, and both took part in the Redemption. If you love Mary, you love Jesus. Mary and Jesus are one Heart"

Apart from that, the teachings about prayer and works, and prayer together with charity towards our neighbour are very interesting, and they are related to the

Gospels and other Books of the New Testament: "Prayer without works is useless. If any soul prays and hates, his prayers are useless (…) if you make sacrifices and then you see your neighbour, sad and helpless, and you tell him " God bless you", what are your prayers good for if your heart is paralysed?"

This is actually connected to Saint James’ Letter (Chapter II), where he eloquently confirms that faith works through love (as Saint Paul also teaches in Galatians 5, 6). Therefore, to avoid being paralysed by selfishness, we should be able to infuse our hearts with a true prayer, which should encourage us to practise charity and mercy to our neighbour.

Moreover, Saint John of the Cross points out, "At dusk we will be inquired about love". That is to say, we will be inquired about how our heart has "worked": love towards God and love towards our neighbour. In fact, Christ says that men will be judged by their merciful works, not by their great works: " For I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me into your house…" (Mt 25, 35). He also mentions the consoling words that will be heard by those who do it: "Truly I say to you: whenever you did this to these little ones who are my brothers and sisters, you did it to me" (Mt 25, 40).

Finally, the catechism teaches us that there are works of mercy (seven are corporal and seven are spiritual): to feed the hungry, to visit the sick, to admonish sinners, to pray for the living and the dead, etc. My beloved brothers and sisters, how many of them do we practice? As this message suggests to us, are our prayers so rich that they lead us to action? If not, let us start as soon as possible because life walks quickly its path to eternity… Will our hands be empty when we reach God’s presence? If we say it deeply and with devotion, the Rosary will undoubtedly encourage us to do good works.

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1 The sense of the sentence is “All will be blessed for your protection by means of your guardian angels".

2 De Dignitate Psalterii, p. 4, c. 49; Antonio Thomas, Mystic Rose, 1 dec. C.3

3 John Paul II, October 29th, 1978

4 -Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 1

5 Maria Deipara Tronus Dei, P. A. Spinelli c. 29, n. 38