THROUGH MARY TO JESUS
Jesus and Mary were at a wedding (John 2). Mary observed: "They have no wine.'' Jesus said, "My time has not come yet.'' Mary said to the waiters, "Do whatever he tells you."
My life’s education began in a family of a parish of Our Lady of the Rosary and in a school of Our Lady of the Rosary.
So it is that 7th October each year is special for me. It is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Let me tell you about 7th October 2023 and 7th October 2024 in my new home parish.
OCTOBER 7th in 2023 & 2024
October 7th, 2024, was also the first anniversary of the dread incursion out of Gaza with the troubling aftermath that has since followed. I have been trying to understand it all.
With others in 2024 we spent many Sunday afternoons in study of the history of that part of the Middle East, trying to understand the situation and looking for justice. As for peace, it seemed impossible.
We decided to return to Our Lady.
On the following Monday evening 7th October, a sizable number of people gathered in our Chapel of Our Lady of Fatima – for a “scripture” Rosary.
We selected the five Joyful Mysteries, with all the usual prayers of the Rosary, plus readings from the Gospel and brief meditations at the beginning of each of the mysteries.
That night as I drove home, it was the meditation on the Fourth Mystery that had struck my soul.
Yes! I came home with something striking me quite deeply, the reading before the fourth mystery, the Presentation of the Child Jesus at the Temple, where Simeon first blessed God saying:
Now, Master, you are letting your servant go in peace according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have made ready in the presence of all nations; a light for revelation to the gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel.
Then as the child’s father and mother were wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Look he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed – and a sword will pierce your soul too – so that the thoughts of many may be laid bare".
What I had to admit is that in the hours of reflection that followed, it was my own troubled thinking that these verses had laid bare!
I am looking forward to more rosaries in the times ahead praying with those who ''will go before the Lord" to pray for those "who would guide our feet into the way of peace".
+References above to Luke 2, v. 29-35, prayer and prophecy of Simeon, and Luke 1, prophecy of Zechariah.