By Marc Massery
Do you pray the Rosary every day? Saint Faustina did. She wrote:
… [One time] I saw many demons. One of these tried to vex me; taking the form of a cat, he kept throwing himself onto my bed and on my feet, and he was quite heavy, as if [weighing] a ton.
I kept praying the rosary all the while, and toward dawn these beings vanished, and I was able to get some sleep. (412)
Saint Faustina experienced first hand the power of the Rosary over Satan. In fact, the Blessed Mother often appeared to St. Faustina herself, speaking words of encouragement and asking for prayer and reparation.
One time, the Blessed Mother came to her and said, “My daughter, at God’s command I am to be, in a special and exclusive way your Mother; but I desire that you, too, in a special way, be My child” (1414). Saint Faustina said that when the Blessed Mother came to her, she appeared “inconceivably beautiful" (1414).
Only about 15 years before St. Faustina was receiving these visions from Jesus and Mary, the Blessed Mother appeared to the three shepherd children in Fatima, instructing them to pray the Rosary daily to obtain peace for the world. There are many similarities between what Our Lady told the shepherd children and what she said to St. Faustina. Our Lady told the children, “Pray, pray much, and sacrifice for sinners, for many souls go to hell because there is no one to sacrifice and pray for them.” Saint Faustina filled her Diary with commentary about the necessity of sacrificing for souls.
As a beloved daughter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Faustina naturally prayed the Rosary every day. She mentions the Rosary several times in her Diary. Once while she was praying the Rosary, she had a vision of the Blessed Sacrament in a ciborium. During this vision, Jesus told her, “These hosts have been received by souls converted through your prayer and suffering” (709). Another time, St. Faustina’s guardian angel came to her and told her to pray for the dying, so she immediately started saying the Rosary (see 314).
In her Diary, St. Faustina mostly writes about the Rosary in passing. But that’s because praying the Rosary was as integral to her prayer life as breathing — she simply didn’t think to write much about it.
Now, it takes time and effort to commit to praying the Rosary every day. But don’t be afraid to pray it in the car or in segments throughout the day. Once you learn to make praying the Rosary a daily habit, you won’t ever regret dedicating yourself to this prayer. There’s almost no better way to bring God’s grace, mercy, and peace into our world.
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