Unlocking the Power of the Rosary – Podcast

A 16 minute podcast in which Sonrise Morning show host Ryan Lopez asks Dr. Italy some insightful questions about the rosary as a contemplative and Christ-centered prayer, Mary as the first contemplative, fruitful meditation on the mysteries, and practical tips on unlocking the power of the rosary.  For the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, October 7.  Also great for May, the Month of Mary.

Unlocking the Power of the Rosary

The Rosary has been the most honored and best known devotional prayer in the Roman Catholic tradition for the last five hundred years.   In fact, October is an entire month of the Rosary with a special feast of Our Lady of the Rosary occuring on October 7.  Yet few, even those very devoted to it, understand its meaning and unlock its full power.  We know that it is a Marian prayer, and associate it with the simplest and best known Marian prayer, the Hail Mary.

Rosary as Christ-Centered Prayer

What many fail to realize is just how Christ-centered the rosary is.  The very center of the Hail Mary prayer is the name of Jesus.  We begin the rosary with the sign of the cross and the creed, by which we renew our baptism, our total dedication to Jesus.  The center of the Creed is also Christ – who is is and what he has done for our salvation.  We begin each “decade” of the rosary with the Lord’s Prayer, the words that Jesus himself gave us.  We conclude each decade with the Doxology, better known as the Glory Be, which is a prayer of adoration directed to the Lord, his Father, and his Spirit.

Our Lady – Mary as the First Contemplative

The Rosary is Jesus-centered because Mary was Jesus-centered, never self-centered.  She is the model of faith in Luke’s gospel (see Luke 1-2) and the model of effective intercession in John’s Gospel (John 2).  She is depicted by Luke as the first Christian contemplative, “pondering all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:19,51).

In this podcast, you will learn how, in the rosary, to enter into Mary’s contemplative prayer, to pray your way into her faith, to invite her to join you as your prayer partner so that you can come closer to her son.

For more on the importance of the rosary as a prayer of meditation and contemplation, read the excerpt from St. Bernard of Clairvaux MEDITATE ON THE MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY.

To subscribe to Dr. Italy’s weekly podcast and never miss an episode, visit http://crossroadsinitiative.libsyn.com/ or the Catholic Heritage with Dr Italy podcasts on iTunes

Dr. Italy appears weekly on the Sonrise Morning show, a production of Sacred Heart Radio.  You can listen to this show broadcast live Monday through Friday via the EWTN Global Catholic Radio, a network of over 120 local affiliate stations in the US.  You can find podcasts from the Sonrise Morning on both Sacred Heart radio site and www.crossroadsinitiative.com.

This podcast was originally recorded for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7