October is the Month of the Holy Rosary, and on Oct. 7 we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the principal patron of the Archdiocese of Vancouver
It was on Oct. 7, 1571, when Christian forces won a decisive victory over the Turkish fleet at Lepanto. During the battle, Rosary confraternities in Rome were reciting the Rosary asking our Lady’s intercession with God on behalf of the Christian navy.
Sister Lucia of Fatima once said, “There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot solve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.”
Pope Leo XIII said, “The Rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life. It is the remedy for all our evils, the root of all our blessings. There is no more excellent way of praying.”
The first Joyful Mystery of the Rosary is the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), about which the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#494) states:
“At the announcement that she would give birth to ‘the Son of the Most High’ without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that ‘with God nothing will be impossible’: ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word.’ Thus, giving her consent to God’s word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God’s grace: As St. Irenaeus says, ‘Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.’ Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert …: ‘The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.’ Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary ‘the Mother of the living’ and frequently claim: ‘Death through Eve, life through Mary.’”
Ven. Fulton J. Sheen wrote, “As the fall of man was a free act, so too the Redemption had to be free. What is called the Annunciation was actually God asking the free consent of a creature to help Him to be incorporated into humanity.”
It is good to pray for the virtue of humility while meditating on the Annunciation. Our Lady humbly consented to the will of God, saying to the Angel, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
Reflecting on this humble response of Our Lady, St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote: “Thus, says St. Bernard, this innocent Virgin, although by her virginity she rendered herself dear to God, yet by humility afterwards rendered herself worthy, as much as a creature can render itself worthy, to be made the mother of her Creator. Although she pleased by her virginity, by her humility she conceived: ‘Etsi placuit ex virginitate, tamen ex humilitate concepit.’ And St. Jerome confirms this by saying, that God chose her for his own mother more for her humility, than for all her other sublime virtues. Mary herself expressed this to St. Bridget, by saying to her: How much did I merit such a grace to be made the mother of my Lord, if not because I knew my nothingness, and humiliated myself?”
There is a beautiful tradition in the Church to commemorate the mystery of the Incarnation at morning, noon, and evening in the Angelus prayer. St. John Paul II wrote that he “came to understand why the Church says the Angelus three times a day. I realized how important are the words of that prayer. ‘The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit … Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done unto me according to your word … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us …’ Such powerful words! They express the deepest reality of the greatest event ever to take place in human history.”
因厄娃而死亡，因瑪利亞而獲得生命
10月是玫瑰月。每年10月7日是聖母玫瑰瞻禮日。在1571年10月7日在勒班陀戰役中，基督徒艦隊擊敗了土耳其艦隊。在這場戰役中，羅馬各玫瑰善會都誦念玫瑰經請求聖母為基督徒的海軍向天主代禱。
花地瑪的露西亞修女說：『沒有問題，讓我告訴你，無論是怎樣困難，誦念玫瑰經是沒有什麼不能解決的。』
教宗良十三世稱：『玫瑰經是最佳的祈禱方式和是最湊效的方法去贏取永生。它是所有邪惡的補救，是所有祝福的根源。』
玫瑰經歡喜五端的第一端是聖母領報（路1：26-38）
天主教教理（#494）闡述：
『瑪利亞接獲天使報訊，她將要藉聖神的德能生下「至高者的兒子」。 雖然她不認識男人，但她仍以「信德的服從」(羅 1:5)回應，深信「在 天主前沒有不可能的事」：「看！上主的婢女，願照你的話成就於我 吧！」(路 1:37‐38)。這樣，由於同意了天主的話，「瑪利亞成了耶穌 的母親，全心接受了天主救世的旨意，不受任何罪惡的阻礙，並整個 獻身於她的聖子和其事業，與祂一起，在祂權下，藉全能天主的恩寵， 為救贖的奧跡服務」。 正如聖依勒內所說的：「她因服從而成為自己和全人類得救的原因」。不少 古代的教父，也同他一起強調：「厄娃抗命的死結，因瑪利亞的服從而解開； 貞女厄娃因缺乏信心所束縛的，也因貞女瑪利亞的信心而獲得了釋放」。他 們把瑪利亞與厄娃比較，稱瑪利亞為「眾生者的母親」，並多次聲稱說：「因厄娃而死亡，因瑪利亞而獲得生命」。』
可敬的Fulton J. Sheen 寫道：『因為人的墮落是人的自願，所以救贖也是自願的。聖母領報其實也是天主要求一受造物一個自願的同意，去幫助祂去結合人性。』
在默想聖母領報，可以祈求謙遜的德行。聖母謙遜地應允天主的意願，向天使說：『看，上主的婢女，願照你的話成就於我吧!』
有鑒於聖母的謙遜，聖亞爾豐索利高瑞寫道：『所以，聖伯爾納鐸說，這位純潔的貞女，雖然因她的貞潔，她得到天主的寵愛，但因著她其後的謙虛，使她堪當，在受造物中可以使它自己堪當去成為造物者的母親。天主喜悅於她的貞潔，她的謙遜，使她受孕。聖熱羅尼莫同意地說，天主選她為自己的母親在於她的謙遜，多於她其他崇高的德行。瑪利亞向聖彼濟達表示說，如果不是因為我知道自己的虛無，謙卑自己，我怎堪當這份恩寵成為天主的母親？』
教會有紀念天主降生成人奧蹟的美麗傳統，在早上，中午和黃昏誦念三鐘經。聖約望保祿二世寫道：『我…逐漸明白為什麼教會一日三次誦念三鐘經。我察覺禱文中的字句是怎樣的重要。「上主的天使向瑪利亞報喜，她因聖神受孕。…我是上主的婢女，請照你的話，在我身上完成。…天主聖言降生成人，居住在我們中間。…」如此強而有力的字句！它深深表達了人類歷史上發生最偉大的一件事的真相。』