Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy

Women and Men Seeking Holiness as the Answer to Abortion

  • Welcome
  • Seeking Holiness
  • Membership
    • Directors
    • Special Prayer Partners
  • Sacraments
    • Holy Mass
    • Eucharistic Adoration
    • Frequent Confession
  • Prayer
    • Morning Offering
    • Devotion to Mary
    • The Holy Rosary
    • Lectio Divina
    • Chaplet of Divine Mercy
    • Examination of Conscience
    • Annual Retreat
  • Mercy
  • Patron Saints
    • Our Lady of Mercy
    • St. Augustine
    • St. Margaret of Cortona
  • Resources
    • Articles from other websites
      • Horror of Sin & the Mercy of God
    • Recommended Books
    • Brief Quotes from Saints
  • Contact
  • Prayer Requests
You are here: Home / Spiritual Teaching / Powerful Spiritual Weapon

Powerful Spiritual Weapon

October 21, 2020 by Fr. Ben Cameron 4 Comments

The most powerful prayer that we have, after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (which is Christ Jesus’ own sacrifice offered to the Eternal Father) is the Holy Rosary. We might think of the rosary as a series of repetitive prayers, but it is far more than that: it is an introduction into Christian meditation.

When we think of “meditation” today, many people think of “Eastern meditation” which is rooted in Buddhism and Hinduism. It is an emptying of the mind, seeking to unite, in some way, with the divine through emptiness, through the void. Christian meditation, on the other hand, involves an emptying, but for the sake of a “filling.” We do need to try to empty ourselves of self-love, self-centeredness, in order to be able to receive the Love and Mercy of the Most Holy Trinity. So we place ourselves in the presence of Almighty God, invoking the Holy Trinity with the Sign of the Cross, and then we begin to repeat the inspired prayers.

“Inspired Prayers”! Yes, the Lord’s Prayer (the “Our Father”) was given to us by Jesus Christ Himself, and it is the perfect prayer, the model for all prayer. And the Holy Spirit inspired St. Matthew and St. Luke to include it in their Gospels. The “Hail Mary” is also divinely inspired (at least, the first two-thirds of the prayer is): The first part is the words of the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, and the second part is the words of St. Elizabeth who, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” uttered them in praise of the Virgin Mary for her Divine Motherhood. And God inspired St. Luke to include both greetings in his Gospel (chapter 1).

But the Holy Rosary goes deeper than the inspired prayers: we also meditate on the mysteries of the infancy, public ministry, passion and death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We fill our hearts and souls with the Life of Jesus, “pondering these things in our hearts,” just as Mary did (cf. Luke 2:51). The more that we ponder and ruminate on the life of Christ, the more that we are inspired and encouraged to imitate Him, to pattern our lives after Him.

So why call the rosary a “weapon”? We are in a spiritual warfare! We are the Church Militant, the Church engaged in the battle for souls here on earth. Whenever the saints of the last 800 years (roughly the time that we have had the rosary in its modern form) have needed strength and courage for the battle, they have turned to the rosary. When the Christian fleet sailed into the Battle of Lepanto, vastly outnumbered by the Ottoman (Turkish and Muslim) fleet, they and the Christian peoples of Europe prayed the rosary, and a great victory was won. We are now engaged in a battle for the “soul” of America and of Western (Christian) civilization — we need to pick up our weapon, the Holy Rosary, and pray it every day! As our minds and hearts are drawn more and more deeply into Christ Jesus, we will be strengthened for the challenges that we face now, so that we can be authentic witnesses to the Lord Jesus before an increasingly unbelieving and secular world!

Filed Under: Spiritual Teaching Tagged With: Church Militant, Meditation, Rosary

Comments

  1. Susan Fetta says

    October 21, 2020 at 11:09 AM

    Excellent, Father Ben! Let’s join our rosaries to combat evil and to win over souls!

    God bless you,
    Susan Fetta

    Reply
  2. Susan Mckelvey says

    October 21, 2020 at 12:34 PM

    Thank you Fr. Cameron. Thank you for putting the beauty and power of the rosary into perspective. I have always struggled to pray the rosary in the past but I am grateful to the pandemic that I now must an DO pray the rosary everyday. The rosary is indeed a “Thank You, Jesus”. In my life. Thank you for sharing this article which you have beautifully written.

    Reply
  3. Wayne says

    October 21, 2020 at 5:27 PM

    Excellent article, Father, the world needs us praying the rosary now more than ever.

    Reply
  4. Maria McManus says

    October 22, 2020 at 2:24 PM

    Hello Fr. Ben – I have prayed the Rosary for about 15 years. I truly know Our Lady was instrumental with my husband Brian, returning to our marriage after over 5 years separation and for his entry into the Catholic Church. He was Baptized, Confirmed and received his First Holy Communion on April 28, 2018. Praise the Lord! I have been begging Our Holy Mama to fill his heart with the desire to pray the Rosary with me, and Praise the Lord, he has begun to pray daily with me. Thank you for the reminder of the power of the Rosary to draw us closer to Jesus and to draw others to the Lord through Our Lady.
    Blessings
    Maria

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

Reflections on Grief, following the death of my father

On October 8th of this year, I lost my father (Walter Eugene Cameron) to lung cancer. It was the second great grief of my life, the first being the death of my brother, Matthew, to lung cancer four years ago. Granted, I have felt grief at other deaths both before Matthew’s passing, and since then, […]

Special Grace of Divine Mercy Sunday

In the Diary of St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, the Lord Jesus said that He would give special graces on the Feast of Mercy, the Octave Sunday of Easter.  On that day, Our Lord promises that those who have been to the Sacrament of Confession (and, of course, made a good confession of […]

A Priest working in Rachel’s Vineyard

Our Spiritual Director, Fr. Ben Cameron, CPM, was interviewed by Kevin Burke from Rachel’s Vineyard Ministries about how he became involved in post-abortion healing, his ministry in Rachel’s Vineyard, and how it has impacted his priesthood.

Thoughts on the March for Life 2022

St. Helen Youth group at the Lincoln Memorial Last week, I was blessed to accompany five teenagers (and another adult chaperone) from our parish Youth Group (St. Helen, Glasgow & Our Lady of the Caves, Horse Cave, Kentucky) to the annual March for Life in Washington, DC. Due to the pandemic, it had been two […]

Blogroll

  • Testimony from a Woman Healed from Abortion
  • The Power of God's Mercy to Heal even the Deepest Wounds
  • Women of Grace: Part one of interview with Fr. Ben Cameron

Devotional Links

  • Chaplet of Divine Mercy
  • How to Pray the Rosary
  • Miraculous Medal
  • The Green Scapular

Post-abortion healing

  • Entering Canaan Retreats
  • Hope After Abortion – Project Rachel
  • Rachel's Vineyard – International Site
  • Rachel's Vineyard Kentucky
  • Rachel's Vineyard Kentucky Facebook page

Religious

  • Fathers of Mercy

Posts: Listed by Topics

  • Art in Honor of the Unborn (2)
  • Latest News (29)
  • Liturgical Prayers (2)
  • Prayer requests (1)
  • Radio/TV interviews (3)
  • Reflections from Saints and Holy Persons (34)
  • Spiritual Teaching (77)
  • Testimonies (4)
  • Uncategorized (5)
  • Works of Mercy (17)

Post Archives: By Month

Copyright © 2022 Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy · All Rights Reserved · Website built by Spears Marketing · Admin