Consolation during the month of the Rosary

October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary, with the feast day of Our Lady of Rosary, introduced by Pope Saint Pius V in 1571, celebrated on Oct. 7 each year. 

Many saints have expressed the great power of the Holy Rosary. In a 1979 interview in the Osservatore Romano newspaper, Saint John Paul II called the Rosary his favorite prayer, “which allows for meditation together with Mary upon the holy mysteries she meditated on in her heart.” Pope Blessed Pius IX used to say, “Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.” 

In all six apparitions in Fatima, from May to October in 1917, the Mother Mary herself urged people to pray the Rosary daily for the world, conversion of sinners and souls in purgatory.

Priests in the archdiocese also find a special devotion to the Blessed Mother through the Rosary.

Father Donald Wolf, pastor and rector of the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City said, “The Rosary enables us to make our time richer, fuller, sustaining, fulfilling and more productive than any other activity. It integrates our life of prayer into the presence of God and his work in our lives. When I pray the Rosary, I always feel that things are in the right place.” 

He stressed the accessibility of the Rosary for every person, “The Rosary gives us an open doorway to life of prayer that doesn’t demand much of us. Regardless if our intentions are pure, if we possess any sophisticated knowledge, if our discipleship for Christ is exhausted, nothing is required to pray the Rosary regularly and devoutly.”

Father Wolf continued by saying, “With the kind of repetition the Rosary offers, it gives us a chance to understand and enter more deeply and profoundly into the Divine mysteries. I personally cherish the luminous mysteries most as they give us insights and understanding of Christ’s public ministry in a way, we didn’t know it before.” 

Father Jim Goins, pastor at Saint Eugene Catholic Church in Oklahoma City presented his devotion to the Rosary.

“The Rosary is the way to recognize Mary’s great spiritual power. It is a prayer that always leads us to Christ,” Father Goins said.

Speaking about spiritual depth of the Rosary, Father Goins said, “The Rosary addresses the totality of Mary’s life, it allows us to participate in her journey, hear heartbreaks during her life on earth and her glory in Heaven as a great promise for us to come.”


He continued to explain the need for the Rosary prayer, “The power of worldly distractions has captured us so thoroughly, we don’t even realize how much distracted we are. The Rosary is a great way to counter it …” 

Father Goins concurred by stating, “In the world so noisy, unsettled, filled with disquieted spirit, the Rosary is a subtle way to peace with the Divine. It calms your mind and soul and helps you to let go off all distractions of the day.” 

Sharing his personal journey of faith, Father Goins said, “As a convert, I came to the Catholic Church with a usual ambivalence about the Blessed Virgin Mary because devotion to her is not found in other Christian traditions. I came to love Mary as a priest. The Rosary has been a great solace and consolation for me.”

He further stated, “The last lines of the Hail Mary prayer strike me most profoundly, as we ask for Mary’s prayer at the hour of our death. By praying the Rosary, we are comforted to know we won’t be in that moment alone, but the Holy Virgin Mary will be interceding for us. I can’t think of any greater favor one can offer to others, living and deceased, than to pray the Rosary for them. It is a spiritual gift!”

Recalling his early religious memories Father Wolf shared, “The Rosary was always the cornerstone of my faith growing up in Oklahoma. The earliest and most powerful memory of my life of faith was to be in the cellar with my parents during severe weather and tornado events praying Rosary together.” 

Father Wolf continued, “When I was in seminary, I remember a prayer request sent to us for a man dying of cancer. Visiting him in person and seeing the pain in his eyes reminded me of my father who also died of cancer. It was so difficult in that situation. There were no words to say … the Rosary was the only way to respond to these circumstances.” 

Father Goins shared his desire for more people to engage with the Rosary.

“I encourage all Catholics to come to Mass early and bring their Rosary. Bring your intentions you want to offer to God on the altar and entrust them to Mary before the Eucharist. She will offer them to Christ on your behalf,” Father Goins said.

“Find a Rosary that you consider special and that has a meaning for you. Put it in a place where you can easily reach it. Begin slowly to engage it, pray one decade, two decades and taste the peace you experience. At some point you will want to pray more because this heavenly peace is so consoling, Father Goins said.

“The Rosary prayer is an invitation to stewardship for Christ. Try it and see!,” concluded Father Wolf encouraging Catholics to make the Rosary an integral part of their regular prayer life. 

Jad Ziolkowska is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.

Photo: A person prays the Rosary at the monthly Summit night of adoration at The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Photo Avery Holt.