St. John Bosco
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St. John Bosco had a future vision of the battles we would face.
On May 30 1862, he saw an immense sea battle between two opposing armadas. One represented the Church; the other, to forces that seek to destroy faith in God. On the ship representing the Church he saw a captain who was the Pope. Many smaller ships surrounded that ship and defended it from the opposing fleet trying to destroy the Main Ship. Bosco then relates what he saw: As the battle raged two mighty columns of great height arose out of the sea, a short distance one from the other. On the top of one, stood the Immaculate Virgin Mary; on the other, which was much higher and bigger, stood the Eucharist.
The Pope steered the ship representing the Church between the two columns of Mary and the Eucharist. As long as it remained anchored to those columns it was safe from the forces seeking to destroy her. Then Don Bosco Explains: The enemy ships are persecutions. The most serious trials for the Church are near at hand. What we have faced thus far is almost nothing in comparison to what will come… Only two means are left to save the Church amidst so much confusion: DEVOTION TO MARY MOST HOLY and FREQUENT COMMUNION, making use of every means and doing our best to practice them and having them practiced everywhere and by everybody.”
As long as we place ourselves between the Eucharist and the Rosary we are safe.
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St John Bosco saw that frequent communion and devotion to Mary would save the Church and our faith in the time of so much confusion.
The first place we find refuge and strength against our enemies is in frequent communions.
The Council of Trent, Pope St. Pius X and the CCC remind us that it is the desire of Jesus Christ and of the Church that all the faithful should daily receive the Eucharist. Pope St Pius X wrote:
“That the faithful, being united to God by means of the Eucharist may derive strength to resist temptations, cleanse themselves from the stains of daily sins, and avoid graver sins to which human weakness is liable…The Eucharist "the antidote whereby we may be freed from daily faults and be preserved from mortal sin." The will of God in this respect was well understood by the first Christians; and they daily hastened to this Table of life and strength. They continued steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles and in the communion of the breaking of the bread which was the first title of the Mass.”
But just when the attacks of Satan have grown the boldest, we stopped going to receive the strength of Jesus daily.
In the 12 promises of the Sacred Heart Jesus expressed the power of the Eucharist: I will be their secure refuge during life and, above all, in death… I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace or without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.
Come, come my friends and find refuge, strength and healing in the Eucharist, the Sacred Heart of Jesus at daily Mass.
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Our second line of defense and place of refuge is the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Did you know that much of Austria was under the Iron Curtain after WWII? The most Catholic section of Austria, which included Vienna, was given to Communist Russia. The Austrian people desperately desired to find a way to escape their Marxist oppression. The answer came through the rosary. In 1946, Fr. Petrus Pavlicek was reminded of what the rosary had done for the Christian world during the Battle of Lepanto and heard an interior voice instructing, “Do as I say and there will be peace.”
Fr. Pevlicek organized a Holy Rosary Crusade of Reparation in 1947, consisting of the Viennese people conducting a public rosary procession in the streets of their city. The explicit intention for the rosary crusade was to bring about an end to Marxism in their country and the entire world. Initially, the processions were small, but over time, the numbers grew to enormous proportions. By 1955, the public praying of the rosary drew more than a half million people. Then, to everyone’s surprise, on May 13, 1955, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, the Soviets announced that they were leaving Austria of their own accord. Everyone attributed this miraculous turn of events to the rosary. In 1962, the German mystic and Servant of God Theresa Neumann (1898–1962) was asked why Russia had left Austria. She said it had taken place because of the public rosaries prayed by the Austrian people.
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In 1964, Brazil the Communist-leaning president João Goulart was rallying support for a Communist revolution in the city of Belo Horizonte.
Rosary groups were formed to break up Communist rallies by marching in the streets and praying the rosary loudly.
The archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Cardinal de Barros Camara, spoke against the President by going on national radio to ask the people of Brazil to live the message of Fatima as a means of overcoming the Communist threat. President Goulart was so enraged by the archbishop’s messages that he insulted the people of Brazil in a public speech and ridiculed the rosary, saying that it was his Marxist ideas that would reform and save Brazil, not the rosaries of simple women.
In response more than 20,000 women marched into the streets with rosaries in their hands to engage in spiritual battle! They marched right into the midst of the Communist rally and prayed the rosary so loudly that it shut the rally down. On March 19, only six days after the women broke up the Communist rally, more than 600,000 people marched through the streets of São Paolo praying the rosary in the famous “March of the Family with God toward Freedom.” Many non-Catholics joined in, prayed the rosary with the Catholics as they marched in defiance against the Communist vision of the president. Goulart was so intimidated by the rosary army that within two weeks he had fled the country!
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Just as the first Christian community received Jesus daily in the Eucharist, Acts 1:14 tells us they were continuously gathered around Mary.
We must anchor our lives between two pillars: Frequent Communion and daily meditation through the Rosary.
But let us be like the early Christians, let us gather around Mary together to pray the Rosary.
There is strength in numbers.
It is good that you pray the Rosary. It is even better when you gather with your spouse, your kids, and grandkids to pray.
But what Our Lady wants is what all mothers want. She wants to be with all her children.
But that requires our action because many of her children are not listening.
It is our job to invite other families and friends to gather around Mary to pray the Rosary. In our homes, on our driveways, in our cull-d-sacs, at our parishes and schools and in the public square as we are today.
The devil would have no power in the world if the children of Mary gathered everywhere to pray the Rosary together.
It is time for you to do your part!