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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).

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

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

 

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that prepares us for the joy of Easter. Many Catholics observe Lent by abstaining from meat on Fridays, a practice rooted in penance and spiritual discipline. But beyond simply replacing meat with fish, Lent calls us to a deeper conversion of heart.

Fasting and abstinence are not ends in themselves—they are meant to lead us to greater reliance on God. As we walk this Lenten journey, we are invited to reflect on the sacrifices we make and how they draw us closer to Christ. True renewal comes not just from external observances but from interior transformation.

To explore more on this theme, read the full reflection on the meaning of Lenten sacrifice from the Dominicana Journal.

 

A Line of Pilgrims, A Line of Stories

In the south of France, outside the town of Lourdes, stand thousands of pilgrims, waiting in line before pools of water in the ground next to an otherwise inconspicuous cave. Many of them have come seeking a miracle at these pools, having heard stories of many cures and healings that transpired there. A young woman from Spain, with a broken arm, pushes ahead of a group of American pilgrims. As she argues with the people in line and complains about how long the people in front of her are taking, the priest who leads the American entourage looks back on a similar cure that he witnessed, and how he first came to this place…

A Film, A Trip, And A Prayer

During World Youth Day in Paris, a young electrical engineer decides to make a side trip to a place which he saw in a movie. As a child, he had heard of the miracle of Our Lady of Lourdes through the acclaimed film The Song of Bernadette, which his mother had seen in the theater. As he approaches the grotto, he notices several pilgrims in front of him, making various requests for health, wealth, and happiness in prayer to Mary, the Mother of God. All the while, he wonders what sort of prayer he would make, mindful of the fate of the girl in the movie who saw the lady in white…

A Promise Amid War

In the midst of the Second World War, a Jewish author and his wife are running for their lives. Already forced to flee their native Austria for France, they fear the advancing Nazi troops, who are intent on deporting all French Jews to the concentration camps. Hoping to escape to Spain, they meet with resistance, as the Gestapo has just arrived to barricade the border. Without food or shelter, among the thousands of refugees, Franz and Alma Werfel scramble for a place of refuge. A family informs them that their best chance to find relief is the town of Lourdes. The locals, lay and religious alike, take Werfel and his wife under their care, and as he listens to their stories of Bernadette, he promises to God and to Mary that if he ever makes it out of war-torn Europe alive, he would halt all his other writing projects and sing forth these stories as an act of supreme gratitude…

The Girl Who Saw The Lady in White

On a cold February afternoon, a peasant girl of 14 years is gathering firewood with her sisters for her family to keep warm for another day, while their father continues to look for work. Separated from the group, she comes to a cave that is often used as a garbage dump. What follows is beyond the stuff of legends. In an indentation in the rock, the girl Bernadette sees a woman dressed in white, with a blue sash and yellow roses on her feet, matching the Rosary she carries. Bernadette returns time and again to the grotto, not knowing who the lady is. Yet she follows her instructions to drink from the spring, where there was once only grime and mud, and to have a chapel built on the site. As the lady’s appearances generate controversy, despite the miraculous physical healings that begin to occur through the water, she makes her identity known through a message that the barely literate Bernadette cannot fathom:
“I am the Immaculate Conception.”

By affirming this theological point, defined as dogma by the Church just over three years prior, and after centuries of debate, Our Lady of Lourdes demonstrates how God works his power to heal and to save, both through her and through the elements that surround the apparition. The visionary Saint Bernadette receives the calling to the contemplative religious life, and her story, and that of the miraculous waters, spread throughout the land…

A Vow Fulfilled, A Story Told

Werfel and his wife, after their stay in Lourdes, flee Nazi-occupied France and re-establish their lives in America. There, he keeps to his promise. He composes the historical novel The Song of Bernadette within a year, and his retelling of the stories that comforted him during his time of flight soon become a Hollywood film. The movie’s tagline says it all: “For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible…”

A Prayer Offered, A Life Changed

The young man enters the pool, turns to Our Lady, and prays: while others ask for Mary’s help, he offers himself as a gift to the Blessed Mother. The next year, he joins the Dominican Order, whose friars from around the world lead several annual trips to the site of the apparitions and miracles. As leader of the National Lourdes Pilgrimage, he brings many more people the graces of Our Lady of Lourdes, year after year…

Not All Miracles Look the Same

This most recent pilgrimage is no exception, though the graces are not always of the kind expected. After all, more miracles occur during the Eucharistic processions than at the spring itself. Some visitors find insight into their own vocations, and the Spanish woman with the broken arm is healed—not in her bones, but of her impatience—and leaves the grotto with great peace. Her spiritual comfort, despite not finding the cure she had wanted, may be difficult to explain. Yet when the God who operates through humble and unexpected means, such as his own birth in the flesh and the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes, is at work, no explanation is necessary.

Join Us on a Pilgrimage of Grace

As we reflect on the powerful graces of Lourdes and Our Lady’s role in guiding us through difficult times, we invite you to join us on the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage. This annual pilgrimage brings together thousands of pilgrims to deepen their faith, pray for healing, and experience the power of the Rosary. Whether you seek personal healing or spiritual growth, the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage is an opportunity to answer Our Lady’s call and experience the transformative grace that so many have found before the grotto at Lourdes.

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This article was originally published on dominicanajournal.org and was written by Fr. Humbert Kilanowski, O.P..