St Padre Pio is one of the greatest saints of all times. He is well known in the world for the spiritual gifts he had: Stigmata, healing, prophecy, reading of hearts, levitation, bilocation, apparition, and “odour of sanctity”. He is a great miracle-worker and a powerful intercessor. Often he has been referred to as “the greatest mystic of the 20th Century.”
St Padre Pio called the rosary a weapon because that’s exactly what it is. It’s not just some fuzzy-feeling meditation – the very gates of hell tremble when the rosary is prayed fervently. As Catholics, we know that the prayers of the rosary are more than just vain repetitious words. Saint Padre Pio said: “The rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.” If we truly focus on the meditations of the mysteries, we examine deep into the heart of the Gospel of truth. Some might still be thinking “Why the rosary?” The simple answer is because it’s powerful. Because it fosters a love for the Immaculate and asks for her powerful intercession. Padre Pio always wore the rosary around his arm at night. Concerning the rosary, Our Lady herself said to Padre Pio: “With this weapon you will win.” Convinced of the power of the rosary, Padre Pio always held the rosary in his hands. When his death was approaching, he recommended the rosary to his spiritual children saying: “Love Our Lady and make her loved. Always recite the rosary.” Padre Pio had an astonishingly unconditional, total, perennial, unwavering love for the Virgin Mary. He used to tell a story: “One day Our Lord making rounds of Paradise saw some strange faces. He asked Peter: ‘Who let these people in?’ Peter replied: ‘There is nothing I can do.’ The Lord said, ‘But you have the key.’ Peter said: ‘There is nothing I can do, and you can’t do either.’ The Lord said: ‘What do you mean?’ ‘It’s your mother. She has another key. She lets them in.’”
The secular culture is also powerful and is built on lies and the twisting of good and evil. If we are ever going to shake the very foundation of falsehood that secularism is built on, we must arm ourselves with the truth. Praying the rosary is such a powerful way in which we will begin to take down the secret walls of hidden shame in our homes; praying the rosary for those nailed down by addictions of this world is the silent prescription for this disease.
The rosary is the Gospel on a chain. The prayers of the rosary help us gain insight into the One who is the Divine Truth and Truth Giver. Not only do we arm ourselves with the truth, but we also implore the one who is the Mother of Truth to act with us. In the rosary we ask the model of purity herself, Mary, to pray for our purity. We have a Goliath to take down and just as David had five stones in his arsenal, we have five decades in ours. The rosary has been the chain or the seat belt that we need in these times of turbulence.
