Rosary Sunday Pilgrimage Sermon

We thought you might like to read the sermon Fr. Augustine Reisenauer, OP, gave at last week's Rosary Sunday Pilgrimage. "The rosary has a long history and deep roots as a method of contemplative prayer. As Blessed John Paul II has reminded us, when we pray the rosary, we entrust ourselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary in seeking to contemplate the face of Jesus Christ. To contemplate the face of Christ and to meditate on the mysteries of his life and death, his illumination and glorification, deepens our relationship with the Trinitarian God whose divine face our human hearts desire to contemplate forever. One of the aspects of the rosary—an aspect that in large part accounts for its widespread popularity down through the generations and across cultures—is its plasticity and adaptability. The rosary resonates with many people in many diverse ways. In particular, on this Rosary Sunday in this year of faith, perhaps we can contemplate together one of these ways: the rosary as a way of faith. How can the rosary function as an instrument of faith and how can it contribute to solving some of the crises of faith that we see in our world today? Perhaps we can consider three significant problems in particular: first, ignorance of the faith; second, apathy towards the faith; third, withholding of the faith. First, it seems that our world continues on its path towards becoming progressively secular. More and more people are becoming more and more forgetful of God. In turning their minds to other considerations and other concerns, people tend to ignore God and fall into ignorance of God. Things consume the minds of many of our contemporaries. The trends and the excitements and the fascinations of the world captivate people’s attention. People tend to look down rather than up, to focus on the temporary present rather than the eternal future. And so, they ignore those sublime realities of truth and goodness, beauty and love, which ennoble our human existence. They direct their minds away from the God who is at once both more interior than their deepest depths and more superior than their highest heights. But without knowing in faith who God is, how can people come to realize their purpose of their lives? Without knowing God and being known by God, how can people come to perfect peace?"

To read the whole homily click HERE.