Thank you father, Good Evening, I am here this evening to ask you all for a favor. I don’t think anyone would disagree that we are living in scary times – disregard for the rights of the unborn, elderly and weak in our society  - attack on the nuclear family, traditional marriage and family values.  We’ve become a Godless society under the guise of “separation of church and state”. - which is a whole another topic for another day.

We may feel hopeless or feel there is nothing we can do.  However there is. The Blessed Mother gave us the Holy Rosary, a very powerful tool.  The rosary has saved lives, saved souls in our world and in purgatory, prevented violence and preserved freedom for an entire country.

In the year 1214, the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Dominic along with 3 angels and said, “Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the World?  I want you to know that in this kind of warfare the principle weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter – the Holy Rosary. 
St. Dominic preached the rosary fervently and the people of Toulouse embraced it.  In a very short time a great improvement was seen in the town and people began leading Christian lives and gave up their sinful ways.

In 1917, the Blessed Mother appeared to 3 shepherd children 6 separate times and asked them to pray the rosary every day to bring peace to the World.

In 1945 during WWII, eight Jesuit priests who lived the message of Fatima and prayed the rosary every day, were living in a parish house less than one mile from where the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, Japan.  The church next to the parish house was completely destroyed and thousands of people were killed and thousands suffered tremendously from radiation exposure. However, the parish house remained standing and the 8 priests not only miraculously survived but none of them suffered from radiation exposure.  In years following the blast they were examined many times without any sign of effects of radiation exposure. 

There are many stories such as these.  Miracles of the Rosary. And so today, we to need to pray the rosary to heal our nation, the world and bring God back into our lives. I am asking all of you to join other Catholics in a Rosary Novena for our Nation.  The Novena will begin on August 15^th, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and will end on October 7^th the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.

There are a few ways to participate in this Novena.  You may simply say the rosary (5 decades) each day for 54 days beginning next Saturday, August 15th.  The first 27 days with the intention of healing our nation and restoring faith in the United States and the final 27 days in Thanksgiving. 

If you would like to be a little more proactive, there are additional prayers that can be said and you can also sign up to receive a daily reflection.  If you would like to do so, please see Charlotte at the Sacred Heart rectory or myself for further details.

I implore you to at least pray the rosary.  Our nation, our faith depends on it.
Thank you and have a Blessed Day.

Anne Mary Cullins