* October 3 – Our Lady of Graces (Italy, 1697)  * “The Rosary helps me to relax” —

An initiative of the Mary of Nazareth Association October is the Month of the Rosary. This year A Moment with Mary has chosen to dedicate each daily meditation to the holy Rosary that Pope Benedict XII (d.1730) called: “The supreme remedy for errors and vices.” October 3 – Our Lady of Graces (Italy, 1697) “The Rosary helps me to relax” “The rosary is the prayer that accompanies all the moments of my life. It’s also a simple and holy prayer… It’s a prayer that comes from my heart.” It is with these words that Pope Francis prefaced the book The Rosary, Prayer of the Heart written by Father Yoannis Lahzi Gaid, a Coptic priest of Catholic rite, who in recent months has been part of his private secretariat. The book of Father Yoannis was released in Arabic a few years ago, and has already been distributed to more than 130,000 copies. The originality of this booklet is that it allows the reader to pray the rosary in two traditions, the Eastern and the Western. We know how much the Pope loves the Virgin Mary. His attachment to the Rosary is not a secret. In March, to mark the first anniversary of his pontificate, his personal secretary at the time told Vatican Radio: “The Pope does not waste a single minute! He works tirelessly. And when he feels the need to take a break, he doesn’t close his eyes without doing anything: he sits and recites the rosary. I think he recites three a day. He says: ‘It helps me to relax.’ Then he returns to work.” www.aleteia.org Statue of Our Lady of Fatima to Travel to Syria to Protect Christians The month of October, a month when we especially like to pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary, is traditionally called the Month of the Rosary. The holy Rosary is composed of twenty decades. Each decade is recited in honor of a mystery in the life of Christ and that of Our Lady. It is customary to recite five decades at a time while meditating on one set of mysteries. We usually pray one specific set on each day the week in the following way: – On Monday and Saturday we pray the Joyful Mysteries: The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Nativity, The Presentation of Jesus, and The Finding of Jesus in the Temple. – On Tuesday and Friday we pray the Sorrowful Mysteries: The Agony of Jesus, The Scourging, The Crowning with Thorns, The Carrying of the Cross, and The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus. – On Wednesday and Sunday we pray the Glorious Mysteries: The Resurrection, The Ascension, The Descent of the Holy Spirit, The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and The Coronation of the Virgin Mary. – On Thursday we pray the Mysteries of Light: The Baptism of Jesus, The Wedding at Cana, The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God, The Transfiguration, and The Institution of the Holy Eucharist. The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated on October 7th. This feast was instituted by Pope Pius V in 1573, to thank the Virgin Mary for the victory of Lepanto (1571).