The Rosary is one of the most famous and quintessential Catholic prayers. Although the precise origins of the Rosary are lost in the mists of time, what is certain is that this prayer of meditative reflection on the life of Our Lord plays a prominent role in the life of the Church, and of many individual Catholics around the world.
Often a point of contention between Catholics and non-Catholic Christians, the Rosary is sometimes derided as “vain repetition”, with the accusation that Catholics mumble their repetitious prayers while fingering their beads. Its proper function, however, is as a meditation on the life of Jesus. One way to remain focused on each mystery as you pray is with the aid of sacred art depicting that mystery.
Father Lawrence Lew, O.P., is the author of Mysteries Made Visible: Praying the Rosary with Sacred Art (Ignatius Press and the Catholic Truth Society, 2022). The book is full of Father Lew’s photographs of beautiful works of sacred art, and reflections that he wrote for each of the 20 mysteries of the Rosary. Saint Dominic is credited with popularizing the Rosary, so the fact that Father Lew is a Dominican priest makes his authorship of this book particularly appropriate. Furthermore, and quite appropriately, he also holds the position of General Promoter of the Rosary for the Dominicans worldwide.
Father Lew recently spoke with Catholic World Report about his new book, his role promoting the Rosary around the world, and the importance of the devotion in the life of Catholics.
Catholic World Report: How did this book come to be?
Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.: Several people have encouraged me to produce a book of my photographs of sacred art, but it always seemed too self-aggrandising to do such a thing. However, my Provincial, the superior of the English Dominicans, asked me to put together a book of my photos as part of a series of publications in 2021 which were being planned to mark the 800th anniversary of the English Dominican Province. So, I agreed.
Around this time, the Publisher of the Catholic Truth Society in London, which is the oldest Catholic publishers in England and which is known as the “Publishers to the Holy See” had also approached me. In my role as Promoter General of the Rosary, he suggested that I write a book on the Rosary. After some prayer, it seemed to me that I could combine both these requests, and so I produced a book with twenty of my photographs illustrating the Mysteries of the Rosary, coupled with short reflections inspired by the sacred art.
A further impetus was the fact that 2021 was the 450th anniversary of the battle of Lepanto, which was so significant in the history of the Rosary and in the mission of the Church. I wanted to honour this milestone, and I hope that this book contributes to the Order’s work of preaching the Holy Rosary for the salvation of souls.
CWR: What role has the Rosary played in your own life?
Fr. Lew: As a convert from a devout evangelical Protestant family, I struggled initially with Marian devotions, and the Rosary seemed to be too complicated and opaque – how to meditate on the mysteries, the intentions I had, the virtues of the mysteries, and say the words simultaneously? So I struggled to say five decades of the Rosary in one go, and I didn’t enjoy praying it in a group because it seemed so perfunctory and rushed. Consequently, the Rosary seemed to be something desirable in theory, and although I did have periods of positive experiences, I often only prayed it because I felt guilted into doing so, perhaps at Lent or on certain feast days!
However, God’s providence and mercy are, thankfully, more abundant than my own inadequacies and weaknesses. So, God led me, through my love for theology and the Truth, to become a Dominican friar. Ours, of course, is the Order which claims the Rosary as our “sacred heritage and birthright” because traditionally we believe that Our Lady gave the Rosary to St Dominic, our founder. The Dominican Order has been associated with the Rosary for centuries and has preached it in art and song and processions and sermons; have formed and guided the Rosary Confraternity; and had for centuries had the exclusive right to bless Rosary beads. It was also a Dominican pope St Pius V who popularised the Dominican Rosary (with the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries) by asking for it to be prayed during the battle of Lepanto and who subsequently established a Rosary-related feast day on 7 October which is now called the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
As a novice and a student brother I still struggled and often failed to pray five decades of the Rosary daily, as we are supposed to do, but during my time in Washington DC, where I was doing graduate studies as a priest, I began to pray the Rosary with my Dominican brothers at the Dominican House of Studies. Supported in this way by a praying community, I learnt to appreciate the rhythm and peace of the Rosary, and I started to enjoy praying the Rosary by myself. God gave me further help when I was assigned to the Rosary Shrine in London after my studies were completed, and I began to pray the Rosary more deliberately and conscientiously. I also began to read more about Our Lady and the Rosary. Finally, in 2019 the Master of the Dominican Order appointed me the Order’s Promoter General of the Rosary, and my reading and prayer had led me to realise that I could pray the Rosary better if I said it one or two decades at a time interspersed throughout the day. Our Lady gave me this grace of thus praying even as many as twenty decades a day with relative ease and joy.
The Rosary is now a part of my daily life, and the day seems incomplete without it. It is also one of the first things I turn to when a need arises, or when somebody asks for prayer, or when I feel spiritually restless. Our Lady of the Rosary asked us at Fatima to pray the Rosary daily for peace and for an end to the war, and I know that she grants peace of heart and soul, and an end to the rebellion of our sinful desires, to those who pray the Rosary daily.
CWR: The book is subtitled “Praying the Rosary with Sacred Art”. In what ways can sacred art help us meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary?
Fr. Lew: Because human beings are bodily creatures, our eyes will wander, our thoughts will stray, and our bodies (and other people) will distract us during prayer. St Thomas Aquinas and other great spiritual masters remind us that when we are conscious of being distracted from prayer, we should not be anxious but simply re-focus on the object of our prayer. I have found that sacred art can help me to focus, and it engages the imagination, allowing me to reflect on the Mystery I am praying, and to draw me more deeply into it.
The reflections on the sacred art that accompanies each of the twenty photos in this book are an example of how praying with sacred art, an act of ‘visio divina’ as I term it, might proceed. However, as I say in the book, my hope is that the reader will not be restricted by my reflections but rather inspired to do their own meditations on the mysteries of the Rosary using the photos provided. Ultimately, we must let the Holy Spirit lead us in prayer, and God uses art and imagination to engage us in body and soul.
CWR: You are the General Promoter of the Rosary for the Dominicans. What exactly does that role entail, and how does this book play a part in that?
Fr. Lew: The Promoter General of the Rosary is one of several general promoters who serve in the Curia of the Dominican Order. This means that we work with the Master of the Order and in particular under the guidance of the Socius (or Assistant) for the Apostolic Life to promote and coordinate different aspects of the Order’s apostolic activities. The preaching and praying of the Rosary is therefore seen as an apostolic endeavour. Indeed, the General Chapter of the Order in Mexico this year (2022) affirmed that the Rosary is a fruitful and effective form of preaching and evangelisation. Consequently, Dominicans were exhorted to “to preach through the Rosary, about the Rosary and from the Rosary.” As Promoter General of the Rosary for the Order, therefore, my principal duty is to help my brothers and sisters in the Order to do this.
Secondly, I try to work with lay Catholics around the world who promote the Rosary – and there are truly so many beautiful initiatives and groups. The chief of these is the Rosary Confraternity which is affiliated to the Dominican Order as a spiritual network of people who pray and promote devotion to the Rosary. I learn from the members of the Rosary Confraternity to love the Rosary, to preach the mysteries of the Rosary, and to engage the imagination through processions, art, and popular devotions that are inspired by the Rosary.
My book is part of my work as Promoter General of the Rosary, and so it carries a foreword from the Master of the Order, and speaks about the Rosary Confraternity, and I hope will contribute to our devotional life as well as to a theological understanding of the Rosary. So far, we have sold thousands of copies, and I am always grateful to God for his graces when people tell me that the book has helped them to pray the Rosary or to deepen their love for the mysteries of our salvation in Christ.
CWR: Catholics are often accused of “vain repetition” when praying the rosary. How do we avoid making the repetitive, meditative prayers of the Rosary “vain”?
Fr. Lew: You rightly imply that it is not the repetition of a prayer that is problematic. For as Chesterton is supposed to have said, God delights in the repetition of good and beautiful things and so he is so delighted by the sunrise that each morning he says to the sun, “Do it again”! In a similar vein, our mothers delight in hearing us say to them, “I love you”, and so it is for our Blessed Mother when we repeat our “Hail Marys”.
Therefore, the prayers of the Rosary need to be said with love, and with a delight in the good and the true that is disclosed in the mysteries of the Rosary. So, if we find ourselves praying out of fear or superstition or scrupulous anxiety, then we should beware and maybe stop and recollect ourselves, and remember again the love of God who desires our salvation and indeed has become Incarnate and died in the flesh in order to save us from eternal death and the punishment of sin. This is the central Mystery of divine love that the Rosary and the ‘Hail Mary’ focusses on, and we do well to pause and tarry over our prayers and focus on the goodness and truth and beauty of the saving love of God made visible in Jesus Christ.
One way of praying more reflectively, I think, is to break up the Rosary throughout the day, praying a decade or two at a time, interweaving the mysteries of the Rosary throughout the day so as to surround our activities with prayer, and to “pray at all times” as St Paul encourages us to do. The idea is to pause at moments throughout the day, and to turn to our Saviour in the company of Mary, and to invite God’s saving love into our lives.
Although we do this repeatedly throughout the day, this is surely not in vain if we can hear the Lord say to us, “I love you”, even as we say the same to him in response.
CWR: What do you hope to accomplish with the book? What do you hope people will get from it?
Fr. Lew: I hope to help people love and appreciate the Rosary more, to pray it better through the help of sacred art, and to help them to understand the mysteries of the Rosary with more theological and Christological depth. My reading of the Mysteries of Light as a meditation on the Sacraments of the Church whereby the Christian is incorporated into the saving Mysteries of Christ will, I hope, also help us to recall the necessity and importance of the Sacraments and our life in the Church.
I also hope that these photos of sacred art, which are principally drawn from churches rather than museums, will encourage people to look at the stained glass and mosaics and statues and paintings in our churches with fresh interest.
Finally, I hope to reconnect the popular association of the Rosary with the Dominican Order, and I have included Marian prayers, which are particular to our 800-year-old Dominican tradition because I wish to share the riches of the Order with more people.
CWR: Do you think the book could be of value to non-Catholics?
Fr. Lew: I know it is because several non-Catholic Christians have bought it and told me they’ve enjoyed it. Some have even started praying the Rosary because of it. I trust that the photos will be attractive to look at for many people, even non-believers, and I hope that the texts that accompany the photos will be attractive too, drawing people closer to a knowledge of the Saviour. The popes have all stressed the Christological focus of the Mysteries of the Rosary, and I hope that I have sufficiently done this in my writings and in my photography so that non-Catholic Christians will all benefit from this book.
Certainly, any Christian who can profess the Apostles Creed should not find anything objectionable in this book or in the Mysteries of the Rosary. To this end, I think my book will be of value to our Christian brothers and sisters.
CWR: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Fr. Lew: Several images in this book, and at least one photo out of five in each of the four sets of Rosary Mysteries (Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, and Luminous) that are featured in this book, have come from the sacred art of the Rosary Shrine in London, England. This is the church where I serve as Rector and Pastor, and it is one of the largest Catholic churches in England. It was built in 1883 as a votive church, offered to Our Lady in thanksgiving for favours granted through the Rosary. This Marian Shrine has distinct altars and chapels for each of the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, and each Rosary Altar is adorned with hand-carved stone statues depicting a mystery of the Rosary.
When this church was completed in 1883, it was the first church in the world to have Rosary Chapels for every mystery of the Rosary; there are now 17 side-chapels in total and 20 altars in the church, as well as a Luminous Mysteries Rosary Garden. My hope is that people will be able to come to London and discover this Rosary Shrine for themselves because, in my personal experience, the Rosary comes to life in a new way when it is prayed in these chapels. I call it the “stational Rosary” because we process from one chapel to the next, moving from one image to the next like we would with Stations of the Cross, and then, standing inside each chapel we pray a decade of the Rosary while contemplating the sculpted depiction of that mystery.
If you’re interested, you can visit our website and try the VR tour of the church at the top of this page.
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Great article, appreciate the interview with Father Lawrence and the discussion on his book. When praying the rosary find that using an image/picture associated with the decade is so very helpful in mediating on the meaning of the decade. It really does makes praying the Rosary easier and in a way the praying the Rosary is more fruitful, so to speak. This would also make a nice Christmas gift. Also is there a Rosary Shrine in the US? More emphasis needs to placed on praying the Rosary, we certainly need it in this country.
God is delighted by the sunrise that each morning he says to the sun, “Do it again”. Really? God created the sun (read Genesis). He’s the one who spoke it into existence….it does exactly what it was created to do, nothing more, nothing less.
If Mary can hear all the rosaries from people from all over the world, that would mean the creature has attributes only the Creator possesses. Where is scripture is that spelled out?
A little light something from the Department of Folklore!
Man is incurably religious, even when we have Jesus as Saviour and Lord! God must smile at our little peccadillos and minor infractions even though they all require the shed blood of the lamb to cleans us and make us righteous in His glorious sight.
What is plausible can succumb to the mystic, yet through it all Jesus Christ is Lord.
God bless you my namesake!
I think you need to elaborate Brian. I pray the Rosary every morning and every night. Did God not give Mary, Queen of Heaven those attributes?
No, God did not give her those attributes or all those titles…….sinful man did.
Show me the scriptures that solidly back up your assumptions.
Isaiah 42:8 “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.”
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Luke 1:46-47 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Even Mary gives God all glory (also, sinless people do not need a Savior).
From Genesis to Revelation is God’s plan of redemption for the elect through the shed blood and resurrection of Jesus…..VERY little ink is given to Mary.
Still waiting for your biblical reasons.
From the Bible:
Hail MARY
Full of Grace
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary
Mother of God,
pray for us
sinners now
and at death’s hour.
Amen.
Say it 10 times and you have a decade. If it makes you feel weak and crushed and/or rebellious, pause and ask the Holy Spirit to help you through the BVM.
Brian, Luther rejected St Paul’s doctrine of participation “in Christ.” Acts 9:4 “saul, Saul why persecutest thou me?”
Catholics don’t. By honouring the Theotokos – earliest surviving texts from 200s – the honour that Christ requested of St John from the Cross for his mother is fulfilled. For it is through His request to St John that Jesus requested this of Catholics in AD 33.And it has never been otherwise until the Secret Societies and Luther.
What is the book, chapter and verses? Can’t seem to locate it. Thanks
Anyone with a basic knowledge of the New Testament will recognize that every line of the “Hail Mary” is Scriptural.
Now, Brian, you can answer two questions: 1) Where does the Bible say that we should not believe anything not found in the Bible? 2) Since the NT itself doesn’t tell us which books belong/don’t belong in the NT, can you explain why you accept the canon of the NT?
Homework basics. If you don’t want to do it you will get the appropriate mark.
When I was at A Levels (English system) I found History essays the hardest to do. The history books were densely written and, for me, at that age, without an extended time-consuming effort researching them, I couldn’t otherwise penetrate into the thickets that they were describing about the past and about complex situations. You then had to come out with an original composition about what you had surveyed, that also 1. captured the sense of what was occurring in those times and 2. distinguished the views among the historians.
Truly exhausting.
But I persevered in that work and it brought its reward including a method of approach and a way to take notes. Who would not put in the effort for the Bible and course of instruction in the true faith.
Dear Carl:
“Brian” is doing an able job of asking important questions and doesn’t need me, however who doesn’t like to join in a weekend tackle football game, all amongst friends? Snap!
Our faith (belief) is vital, just as our prayer life. The Lord has much to say about prayer, yet a paucity regarding prayers through Mary. Someone will ask why and God provides us with direction. First, some scripture regarding Mary.
Luke 11:27-28 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Luke 1:43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luke 1:27 To a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
Luke 1:48 For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
Some verses on prayer that we may consider:
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Matthew 6:7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Luke 11:9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Ephesians 6:18 Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
Jeremiah 29:12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
We haven’t scratched the surface, al the same, an invitation is extended to see where we invoke the name of Mary!
God bless all, for we are one in Christ.
Brian Young
No, the other Brian (just like yourself, on many occasions), makes assumptions based on a false belief (sola scriptura) that the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches have never followed, mostly because they’ve been around since the beginning, unlike the Protestant Fathers (Luther, Calvin, etc). Ironically, Luther and Calvin had a much (much!) higher view of Mary than does Brian.
Here’s the thing: trading verses has limited value unless there is some agreement on how one interprets Scripture, which has more than a little to do with one’s understanding of the Church, Church authority, early (and later) Church history, theological development, the nature and history of the canon, etc., etc.
Until then, it’s just the two Brians lobbing Scripture grenades without apparently understanding or (far worse) caring to understanding what Scripture is, how it is to be read, it’s relationship with the Church and Tradition, and so forth.
Dear Carl:
Where are the trading of verses? Holy Scripture is God speaking to His creation. This you know better than most, Accept that I have regard for your extensive learning and commitment to God!
For Mary to be held in high esteem is understandable and correct, yet to go beyond what God has presented to us, takes us into the realm of speculation. I don’t see this as a matter of our salvation, but rather a well held point of view. The object is not to destroy ones faith, rather to obey God’s stop signals!
Your conviction is a well held one that has been a comfort to millions over the centuries and that is to be respected.
Our focus is to honour God and enrich ourselves through His teaching. i have been corrected many times and that will be the case again. Is God not the best rebuilder of ideas?
What Brian and I are asking is for is for validation of the position that has been presented, through the means of God’s word. If our concern is mistaken, God’s sacred text will be the basis on which we will be corrected.
With esteem and appreciation for your God honouring work at CWR. The Lord uses your talents well.
Brian Young
Brian Young you can’t use Scripture to cancel Scripture. Then you want to do a tackle game using Scripture to lead into temptation against the Mother of God and those whom she has claimed for herself; when you are not from the Bible when you say, “We are all one in Christ.”
Hello Elias:
Some things we can agree on and yet, we tend to differ from time to time! What scripture is being cancelled? Also what scripture validates your position in regards to the blessed virgin Mary, mother of our saviour?
Yours,
Brian
How is it the Hail Mary is “my position”?
If you say that the Hail Mary is my position, because I believe in it from beyond myself, that, in that sense, would be true. Still you mislead yourself confining it to me. Brian Young do you secretly nurture a binary streak in yourself? You want me to resolve a schizophrenia I can not confirm you have in you and at the same time it doesn’t make sense to the issue.
Take this example. You vandalize someone else’s wall with paint and the image projecting after the vandalism, is ugly. Then you say, “This proves the Catholic view of Mary is wrong and they don’t know what beauty is.”
Does the assertion make the wall your own to command? Does it repair the defacement? Does it render the painted configurations, pretty and authentic art?
And does it have anything to do with the BVM?
Then you say, “Okay, okay, what’s a little tackle game between friends. Ease up guys.”
Dear Elias:
Was something I said! Nevertheless, thank you for the complimentary psychiatric evaluation! Who knew?
Fortunately your diagnosis was laden with appropriate scriptural references (as a panacea). I’ll stop by the pharmacist directly for a little pick me up!
Yes you are wedded to your view with regard to Mary and please know that I respect your position. A well held POV should be buttressed by tradition or other factors, yet you tackle the problem with a remedy that falls outside of the discussion, if you will allow me to say.
Can you imagine us having this discussion at the dinner table? No indeed. My intent is not to ruffle anyones feathers, rather explore a closer relationship with our creator and saviour.
Despite our differing view on the matter, please know that I care for you and want to see you make the touchdown.
Yours fraternally,
Brian Young
Brian Young you want a tackle game that turns out not to be a tackle game but will have a touchdown nonetheless in the end. I think you mean well but it is a puzzle and somewhat a test.
And you don’t want to have the complementary talk about it at the dinner table yet you are trying to affirm others? I notice it is not just me. I find it very complex.
I have had these kinds of talk at the dinner table. Fact is not everyone will go away satisfied and typically what I see is the unhappy ones get gripes for a long time with no remedy.
You are very hot after Scripture but you will not say what your faith or religious affiliation is. No scripture was intended in my anecdotal; what scripture you see, is speculation.
I said the Hail Mary is from Scripture and actually this is not a greatness about me, it is a simple trust in Catholic catechism alone irrespective of Tradition or other grounding.
I tried recommending to the other Brian to do a homework, then you stepped in to do those things “snap!” and tell me I provided an outside remedy? You can not honestly play any game on both sides!
I’m still waiting for comments of Isaiah 42:8, 1 Timothy 2:5 and Luke 1:46-47 I’ve put out there many times concerning Mary.
There are a lot of great Christian commentaries out there, but their words fit the narrative of scriptures, where a lot of Catholic theology twists the scriptures to fit their narrative.
Even Satan tried to use scripture in his temptations to Jesus. Jesus himself pointed out his twisted narrative and then used scripture in the correct format to rebuke him.
Jesus’ answer to the devil in Luke 4:8 can also apply to people who worship Mary:
Jesus answered, “It is written: “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'”
Pray the Hail Mary.
If I spoon-feed you the Hail Mary it will offend Almighty God and some cow-poke will say I was worshiping you.
Check it out.
Cowpoke by Tyler Wall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmxKsK90L14
Sorry Colter Wall
Dear Brian:
Once again your questions are pertinent and should be delved into by those who worship God through Jesus Christ!
The Catechism states the preeminence of Holy Scripture so church tradition should be in accord with the word of God.
No answers have come forward to your queries because the penultimate can not trump the ultimate, which is the word of our Creator and Saviour. Where are the references to church tradition so that that matter might be properly scrutinized? Generalizations are not specifics and we pose particular questions that do find their answers in Holy Scripture.
As we grow in Christ, we grow in knowledge and understanding. Truth and God’s grace go hand in hand. We must strive to His parameters to be useful servants and guides to His righteousness.
Thank you for pursuing this virtuous matter for it is not argument for arguments sake, but discerning God’s word and bowing our knee to Him.
Brian Y
Brian Young you first misdirect yourself trying to raise arguments to your own conclusion, to later accuse others of arguing for sake of arguing, so as to tell Brian not to be a sore loser on account of your self-assurance. And somehow to you Scripture would substantiate that whole rigmarole 3-act beginning, middle and end. That is how come I could already tell you your workmanship was shoddy. You are neither greater than nor equal to the Mother of God and it will never be otherwise. You will always and forever be something much less then she. Your pomp, crave, horror and futility in it, are because God has you so. There is no amount of get-up or specifics or Scripture or bowing going to change that.
Dear Elias:
Our conversations appear to bring out the best in you. No mudslinging from your quarter! I readily admit Mary’s superiority to yours truly and I am never satisfied with my “workmanship” nor does it give me pleasure to sound disagreeable, yet wasn’t the Lord full of disapproval for the religious leaders of His day?
You have a strong religious bent, yet may I be so bold as to ask if you are born again, born of the Spirit of God? You may deem the question outrageous and yet, does not God rebuke religiosity and proclaim Jesus Christ as saviour?
Dear friend, Mary can not save us any more than deceased saints can save us. The sacraments honour the Lord, yet they do not bring salvation. Rebuking without God’s word is an exercise in futility, Jesus proclaimed that to the Pharisees.
Reproach I accept, shortcomings I have many, yet my strength is the Lord and my joy is in what he has done for a wretch like me. The church is the bride of Christ yet, not our saviour either.:
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
1 Peter 1:23-25 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
Matthew 13:11-16 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
Blessings of peace; for the Lord is the prince of peace,
Brian Y
Dear Elias:
Yesterday I responded to your most recent comment, though it appears to in in the moderators hand still!
As we approach the birthday of our Lord and Saviour, allow me to wish you a Merry Christmas together with a prayer for God’s richest blessings,
Yours,
Brian
I wished everyone Merry Christmas in the link and it would embrace yourself Brian Young.
It’s gracious of you Brian Young, to convey a Christmas greeting. Is that an act of faith?
If I exaggerate my importance whether to you or anyone else myself included, what does it serve. And therefore if I can not convince you of the true merits of what I have indicated, I am satisfied that I have done what I could, trying to succeed.
To wish you Merry Christmas is to accompany the Virgin as the Church and faith has taught me and nothing less, in the invocation. It repeats the true act of faith.
But at this time I see you do not believe.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/12/21/extra-extra-news-and-views-for-december-21-2022/