October 7.  Our Lady of the Rosary.  “Do those people selling rosaries on the street corner really know what it is?” Ann asked her mom. “Maybe you’d be surprised. We don’t know what their background is. Do you know all about the rosary yourself?” was mom’s reply. “Yes well…… “ “Some families do pray the rosary at home, some in church and probably most people pray as individuals.  ‘The family that prays together stays together’ was the slogan of the Rosary campaign of the 1950s.  We still need to pray and stay, but also to play together, don’t you think?  The Rosary is not only a recitation of prayers but a reflection on events in the life of Jesus and Mary, dedicated to God and at Mary’s request offered for peace in the world.  That remains our mission.  Why not teach that to those street sellers. We all need to work for peace.” 

Scripture:  Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with you.  Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.     John Paul II .   The most diverse messages and the most unpredictable experiences rapidly make their way into the lives of children and adolescents, and parents can become quite anxious about the dangers their children face. At times parents suffer acute disappointment at the failure of their children to resist the seductions of the drug culture, the lure of an unbridled hedonism, the temptation to violence, and the manifold expressions of meaninglessness and despair.  To pray the Rosary for children, and even more, with children, training them from their earliest years to experience this daily “pause for prayer” with the family, is admittedly not the solution to every problem, but it is a spiritual aid which should not be underestimated. John Paul II ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE 2002