Article by Kevin Neligan, class of 2014:
On Monday, October 7, Kellenberg had its annual Rosary prayer service during homeroom. This is a special assembly to me since the school puts the time and effort into praying the Rosary as one heart and one mind. Sitting there with my Rosary in the palm of my hand and praying through it bead by bead is tremendous thing.
For those who may not know, the word Rosary translates to mean “Crown of Roses”. Our Lady has revealed to numerous people that whenever they pray the Hail Mary they are giving her a beautiful rose and that each Rosary finished makes her a crown of roses. The rose is considered to be the queen of flowers, and so the Rosary is the rose of all devotions and is therefore seen as the most important one. The Holy Rosary is viewed as a perfect prayer because within it lies the incredible story of our salvation. In fact, with the Rosary we meditate the different types of mysteries like joyful, sorrowful and glorious events of Jesus and Mary. It’s a simple and humble prayer, similar to that of Mary. It’s a prayer we can all say together with Her, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. We invite Her to pray for us when we say the Hail Mary. Our Lady always grants our request. She joins Her prayer to ours. Therefore it becomes ever more powerful, because what Mary asks She always receives, Jesus can never say no to whatever His Mother asks for. In every apparition, the heavenly Mother has asked for us to say the Rosary as a meaningful weapon against sin, to bring us to true and eternal peace.
At the end of the presentation, Father Tom challenged us to say a decade of Hail Marys, then two decades and so on. This challenge is obtainable and would definitely be a triumphant victory if we succeeded in doing so. Just remember when we send up a Hail Mary to Our Holy Mother, we are completing Mary’s crown of roses.