Updates on “A Crown of Roses A Day”

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 29 Oct 2011)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

On 2 February this year, our parish’s 50^th anniversary, we started weaving “A Crown of Roses A Day”. It is our Golden Jubilee gift to Jesus and Mary; also a gift to our poor brethren who received the rosaries we have made with our very own hands. We have pledged to pray the Rosary to make at least a complete crown of 20 decades a day collectively, and ultimately, one little crown or 5 decades of the Rosary for each person who received our rosaries. Our main objective, besides soliciting prayers for the poor beneficiaries, our parish and priests, our nation, the Church and the world, is to encourage daily praying of the Rosary. Why so? Because it has been known to be the surest way to holiness. It fits into our Parish Priest’s call to renewal of holiness in this Jubilee Year of grace for our parish.

Coming to nine months now, it is high time for some updates on our prayer effort, and to answer questions asked.

When we started, we were still counting the number of rosaries to be given away. Now, we know that we have given away 3015 hand-made rosaries, to the genuinely poor, who certainly deserve our prayers. So too the makers and contributors, whose faith, perseverance and hard work, with God’s grace and help, saw the project through. More information on the project will be made available later.

So we are to weave 3015 little crowns of roses. We will pray for the special intentions until we have fulfilled our pledge but our intentions are not limited. We are free to pray for other intentions, especially for the Pope and his intentions, alongside the special intentions. This prayer effort will extend well beyond our Jubilee Year, but it does not matter. Why? Because our main aim is to pray the Rosary daily. This habit is not to end with the closing of our Jubilee Year, for holiness is our life-long call as Christians. Thus, praying the Rosary daily would be a life-long endeavour. This so-called project is only to provide a platform as a stepping stone for more people to start praying the Rosary daily, even if only to be part of our Golden Jubilee celebration. Hopefully, the habit will stick on. Hence, extending this endeavour beyond our Jubilee Year reflects our desire to continue striving for holiness by praying the Rosary daily.

As of yesterday, 28 Oct, we have weaved 1729 little crowns of roses. We want not only to fulfil our pledge, but also more parishioners to participate. So far, our prayer warriors have been faithful chapel-goers who have been valiantly helping us keep our pledge by completing a crown a day. Surely our parish is much larger than that. Therefore, brothers and sisters, do encourage your dear ones, especially those who have not done so, to pledge and pray for the special intentions of “A Crown of Roses A Day”. If you’re Internet-savvy, do help those who are not to register their pledges online.

No time for the Rosary? St. Louis De Montfort wrote that it is alright to pray while doing work that permits vocal prayer. (De Montfort, 1954, p. 111) Fathers Faroni and Crisostomo pointed out that even if we go to Mass everyday, praying the Rosary daily is still required, as it is the medicine advocated by our Mother to keep our faith strong and healthy (Faroni & Crisostomo, 2006, p. 22).

We also encourage group prayers, for where two or more are gathered in the Lord’s name, He will be there amongst them (cf. Matthew 18:20). Moreover, as St. Louis de Montfort wrote in The Secret of the Rosary (De Montfort, 1954, p.112), we give Almighty God the greatest glory, do the most for our souls and scare the devil the most when we say or chant the Rosary publicly in two groups or choirs. Although the Month of the Rosary is drawing to an end, you can still join our Rosary prayer in the church at 5.20 p.m. every Saturday, before the Novena. There are numerous Rosary prayer groups in our BECs, cell groups and amongst parishioners which you can also join.

Last but not least, this prayer effort comes from a firm believe in what the Rosary can do to and for those who pray it faithfully. Let us not waste time to start on or to firm up our steps on this sure path to holiness, especially in our Jubilee Year of grace.

References:

De Montfort. (1954). Forty-Fifth Rose in The Secret of the Rosary

Faroni & Crisostomo. (2006). The Five Warnings

Mary as Our Intercessor

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 22 October 2011)

Blessed Virgin Mary as our Advocate, Helper, Benefactress and Mediatrix.

Though various /many different terms are used / Whatever the term used it all brings us to call or address Mary as our Intercessor, and thus that brings me to the topic of my sharing this evening – Mary as Our Intercessor. 

I believe, for the very fact that each of us are here today in itself, shows /demonstrates/ testifies that we do recognize Mary as our Intercessor.

There is no doubt that it is because we believe that we can ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for our needs and the needs of others that, time and again, we go to her seeking her intercession.

Intercessor, as we know, originates from the word intercede – the act of interceding or offering petitionary prayer to God on behalf of others OR “to interpose on behalf of one in difficulty or in trouble, as by pleading or petition...". In the gospel, an intercessor is a go-between or advocate who represents and pleads our case to God.

To illustrate Mary’s role as our intercessor, I would like to focus on the second Luminous Mystery of the Rosary – The Wedding Feast at Cana. 

In John Chapter 2, Jesus, his mother, and his disciples are invited to a wedding banquet in the town of Cana in Galilee. At that time a wedding celebration lasted not just for a day like our celebrations but for almost a whole week. When all the wine provided for the celebration had been served and they ran out of wine, the Mother of Jesus said to him “They have no wine.” (John 2:3). It must have been a big embarrassment in Cana when the wedding party ran out of wine. Mary then interceded and sought Jesus to turn the situation around.

After Mary’s intercession and advocacy to remedy the situation at Cana, Jesus replies by saying “Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4)

Mary’s response to Jesus was to tell the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5) It shows us Mary’s total trust in the Word of God. She is the first person in John’s Gospel to show total trust in the Word of God. Mary is therefore a model Christian for us as she says, “Do whatever he tells you.”  When Mary says, “Do whatever he tells you” once again we see Mary’s importance as our intercessor, pleading on our behalf.

Her role as an intercessor is also illustrated further in the Lumen Gentium    document – quote:

“This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix. This, however, is so understood that it neither takes away anything from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficacy of Christ the one Mediator.” (Lumen Gentium Vatican II §62)

In was also in this document that the Vatican II gave Mary the title Advocate because she intercedes before God on our behalf as our advocate.

In the prayer which we pray after the Rosary, the “Hail Holy Queen”, we ask Mary to intercede before God for us. We ask Mary to be our “gracious advocate” before God.

Hence let us remember the many times each day we ask Mary to intercede before God for us, to be our Advocate, as we pray the “Hail Mary” and say,

Lastly, let us ask Mary to help us to do whatever Jesus tells us. As Mary says, “Do whatever He tells you to do.”

There are so many images of Mary as intercessor that it is impossible to detail them all here. But it is helpful to understand that all images of Mary are connected. Her role as intercessor is also connected to her role as Mother of the Church, demonstrating to all what it means to live a life of prayer, love, and action.