Dominican Friars

“Peace be with you!” 

A few days ago, from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Successor of St. Peter addressed a broken and fragmented world with the words of the Risen Christ: “Peace be with you!” It was an extraordinary moment that filled many hearts with a profound sense of Christian hope and joy.

At the conclusion of his prepared remarks, Pope Leo XIV invited the faithful to join him in the recitation of a Hail Mary. He asked everyone in attendance, as well as the many millions watching by livestream, to pray for his newfound ministry and, perhaps most importantly, to pray for peace throughout the world.

My friends, Pope Leo XIV is quite right. We must pray for peace. Prayer is almost always the first means for acquiring divine assistance (cf. Ps 69:2). It is the certain and indispensable key to opening the treasury of heaven and bending the ear of the eternal Father (cf. Jn 16:23). If we do not pray, especially in times of need, the treasury of heaven risks being unopened and the graces that God designs to give, squandered forever. Today, in a world marked by senseless suffering and seemingly endless war, we have such need for prayer, and in particular, prayers for peace.

On this glorious feast of Our Lady of Fatima, we recall how Mary taught the shepherd children (Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco) to say the Holy Rosary for peace and an end to the First World War. 

Over the course of her apparitions in Fatima, Portugal, Our Lady asked the children to pray the Holy Rosary specifically for peace, not once, but at least three times! On May 13, 1917—Our Lady requested that the children “[s]ay the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.” Four months later, she repeated the same charge, saying, “Continue to [pray] the Rosary to bring about the end of the War.” Finally, on October 13, 1917, she enjoined them a third time, adding, “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to say the Rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes.”

In so doing, Our Lady conveyed the splendid and even privileged place of the Holy Rosary in the communication of divine grace. But even more marvelously, she reminded the world about Rosary’s special relationship to the gift of peace. In Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Leo’s saintly predecessor, Pope John Paul II, wrote of this relationship:

As good sons and daughters of the Church Universal, let us heed the invitation of Our Lady of Fatima, Pope St. John Paul II, and now Pope Leo XIV, and pray for peace throughout the world. Let us pick up our rosaries and tell our beads with renewed fervor, asking Mary, our Mother, to intercede for every nation under God, bringing them (one and all!) the Risen Lord’s gift of peace.

Through the power and efficacy of the Holy Rosary, may we become true channels of Christ’s peace.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

Prayer is often the first means for acquiring divine assistance (cf. Ps 69:2); it remains the certain and indispensable key to opening the treasury of heaven and bending the ear of the eternal Father (cf. Jn 16:23). If we do not pray, the treasury of heaven risks being unopened and the graces that God deigns to give, squandered forever. And yet, in this increasingly secular age, many people do not yet know how to pray as they ought (cf., Rom 8:26). 

Fortunately for us, the Christian tradition boasts a number of perennial teachers on prayer, Our Lady being foremost among them. Pope St. John Paul II observes:

With such an effective teacher, Christians should have every confidence in making real progress throughout their spiritual lives, regardless of their personal history and continued struggles with sin. On this glorious feast of Our Lady, we have reason to believe that the magnificent lessons bequeathed to the shepherd children at Fatima are equally applicable to us today. Sadly, for reasons of time and space, we can only rehearse two such lessons here.

In fact, during the first Marian apparition—that is, May 13, 1917—she entreated the children to “[s]ay the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.” Four months later, she repeated the same charge, saying, “Continue to [pray] the Rosary to bring about the end of the War,” and on October 13, 1917, she enjoined them a third time, adding, “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to say the Rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes.”

In no uncertain terms, Our Lady of Fatima conveyed the splendid and even privileged place of the Holy Rosary in the communication of divine grace. As history attests, it is a formidable and exceedingly powerful instrument of prayer. 

Mary, Our Teacher in Prayer
This latter lesson should please the children and devotees of Mary greatly and incite us all to pray the Rosary more often! But for those of us who struggle to pray, or do not yet know how to pray as we ought, let us wield the Rosary with confidence, asking our mother and our teacher … to help us pray in the manner of our glorious Queen!

It’s Easter! Christ has risen! Alleluia! He has opened the gates of heaven, destroyed death, and welcomed souls into the joy of eternal life.

Yet we’re not quite there; Earth is still our home. And so, we might understandably ask just how Christ’s death and resurrection affect us “here and now.” How does the resurrection change our day-to-day lives?

 “In his dying, he destroyed death; in his rising, he restored life” (CCC 1067). Christ by his death and resurrection has merited for us the grace to sanctify our earthly lives and go to Heaven when we die. But heartaches and headaches, trials and tears all still come and the suffering of each is with us in our daily lives. Why is this so? How are we to understand the continued presence of suffering in the world even after the death and resurrection of our Lord? Was his destruction of death only partial or his restoration of life only temporary?

Not at all! The difficulties surrounding us are not a deficiency in God’s redemption but the result of his super-abundant mercy. By his grace, he uses these difficulties for our good. Just as silver is tried by fire, so our loving God tests and refines us through difficulties (cf. Zech 13:9). The trials we receive purify us. The hardships we are given sanctify us. 

To make sense of this mystery, consider the awesome and mysterious events of this past week. It was through the death of Christ that the effects of sin were destroyed. And now by the mercy of God, through our trials and hardships, we can receive the life of Christ. Suffering is no longer a sign of defeat, but a source of life, for Christ has conquered it. Thus St. Paul said, “I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor 12:9).

You and I have each been given a cross, and it is a wonderful gift. For with this cross, we are able to follow Christ in his passion and beyond to the resurrection. Our crosses unite us to Christ in this life so that we may be perfectly united with him in the life to come. “If we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him” (Rom 6:8). In this way, our personal troubles and pains do not hinder our lives but enhance them. By the mercy of God, they become for us a ladder leading straight to God.

Truly today we have reason to celebrate! For God has so gratuitously blessed us that even our small earthly trials can lead us closer to him in heaven. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).

This article was originally published in dominicanajournal.org and was written by Br. Michael Prize, O.P.

Image: Fra Angelico – Resurrection of Christ and Women at the Tomb, 1438-1440, Tempera on Panel