October 7. Our Lady of the Rosary. The Mission Rosary.   While families pray the Rosary at any time, during Mission Month it is suggested to use the World Mission Rosary. It was inaugurated in 1951 to recognise the need to pray not just for ourselves, but for the whole world, and especially for those who are poor and vulnerable  Each decade has beads of a different colour for the different continents of the world:  green for the forests and grasslands of Africa; blue for the ocean surrounding the islands of the Pacific; white symbolizing Europe, the seat of the Holy Father, shepherd of the world; red calling to mind the fire of faith that brought missionaries to the Americas and yellow, the morning light of the East, for Asia. This Rosary is linked to the missionary work of the Church and of the Holy Father. It adds a different missionary perspective to the meditations on the 4 sets of the Mysteries of the Rosary and the lives of Jesus and Mary.  Taking a tour of the whole world or even visiting one continent at a time to consider the conditions of life there can make this special prayer more meaningful too, as families adapt how to pray to their own situation.  

Do not be afraid Mary for you have found favour with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son who will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. Luke 1:26-38. Pope Francis: The journey of fraternity has a mother, Mary.  Having received this universal motherhood at the foot of the cross she cares not only for Jesus but also for the rest of her children. In the power of the risen Lord, she wants to give birth to a new world, where all of us are brothers and sisters, where there is room for all those whom our societies discard.  FT 278.  Reflect, share, act and pray.