The Secret of the Rosary - Forty-eighth Rose

Forty-eighth Rose - Perseverance


5. As a fifth point I must add also perseverance in prayer.
Only he will receive, will find and will enter who perseveres
in asking, seeking and knocking. It is not enough to ask
Almighty God for certain graces for a month, a year, ten or
even twenty years; we must never tire of asking. We must
keep on asking until the very moment of death, and even in
this prayer which shows our trust in God, we must join the
thought of death to that of perseverance and say: "Although
he should kill me, I will trust in Him" (Job 13:15) and will
trust Him to give me all I need.
Prominent and rich people of the world show their
generosity by foreseeing people's wants and ministering to
them, even before they are asked for anything. On the other
hand, God's munificence is shown in His making us seek
and ask for, over a long period of time, the grace which He
wishes to give us and quite often the more precious the
grace, the longer He takes to grant it. There are three reasons
why He does this:
1. To thus increase this grace still more:
2. To make the recipient more deeply appreciate it;
3. To make the soul who receives it very careful indeed not
to lose it----for people do not appreciate things that they can
get quickly and with very little trouble.
So, dear members of the Rosary Confraternity, persevere in
asking Almighty God for all your needs, both spiritual and
corporal, through the Most Holy Rosary. Most of all you
should ask for Divine Wisdom which is an infinite Treasure:
"(Wisdom) is an infinite treasure" (Wisdom 7:14) and there
can be no possible doubt that you will receive it sooner or
later----as long as you do not stop asking for it and do not
lose courage in the middle of your journey. "Thou hast yet a
great way to go." (3 Kings 19:7) This means that you have a
long way to go, there will be bad times to weather, many
difficulties to overcome and many enemies to conquer
before you will have stored up enough treasures of eternity,
enough Our Fathers and Hail Marys with which to buy your
way to Heaven and earn the beautiful crown which is
waiting for each faithful Confraternity member.
"(Let) no man take thy crown": (Apoc. 3:11) take care that
your crown is not stolen by somebody who has been more
faithful than you in saying the Holy Rosary. It is "thy
crown"----Almighty God has chosen it for you and you have
already won it halfway by means of the Rosaries that you
have said well. Unfortunately someone else may get ahead
of you in the race----someone who has worked harder and
who has been more faithful might possibly win the crown
that ought to be yours, paying for it by his Rosaries and
good works. All this could really happen if you stand still on
the beautiful path where you have been running so well:
"You did run well." (Galat. 5:7) "Who hath hindered you?"
(Galat. 5:7) Who is it who will have prevented you from
having the Rosary crown? None other than the enemies of
the Holy Rosary who are so numerous.
Do believe me, only "the violent bear it away." (Matt. 11:l2)
These crowns are not for timid souls who are afraid of the
world's taunts and threats, neither are they for the lazy and
indolent who only say their Rosary carelessly, or hastily, just
for the sake of getting it over with. The same applies to
people who say it intermittently, as the spirit moves them.
These crowns are not for cowards who lose heart and down
their arms as soon as they see Hell let loose against the Holy
Rosary.
Dear Confraternity members: if you want to serve Jesus and
Mary by saying the Rosary every day, you must be prepared
for temptation: "When thou comest to the service of God . . .
prepare thy soul for temptation." (Ecclus. 2:1) Heretics and
licentious folk, "respectable" people of the world, persons of
only surface piety as well as false prophets, hand in glove
with your fallen nature and all Hell itself, will wage
formidable battles against you in an endeavor to get you to
give up this holy practice.
To help you to be better armed against their onslaught I am
going to tell you some of the things these people are always
saying and thinking. This is to put you on your guard
against them all, but not so much in the case of heretics and
out-and-out licentious people, but particularly those who are
"respectable" in the eyes of the world, and those who are
devout (strange as it may seem) but have no use for the Holy
Rosary.
"What is it that this word sower would say?" (Acts 17:18)
"Come, let us oppress him, for he is against us." That is to
say: "What is he doing saying so many Rosaries? What is it
he is always mumbling? Such laziness! And what a waste of
time to keep sliding those old beads along----he would do
much better to work and not be bothered with this
foolishness. I know what I'm talking about, . . .
"All you have to do, I suppose, is to say your Rosary, and a
fortune will fall from Heaven into your lap! The Rosary
gives you everything you need without your lifting a finger!
But hasn't it been said: "God helps those who help
themselves?" There's no need then of getting mixed up with
so many prayers. "A brief prayer is heard in Heaven," one
Our Father and Hail Mary will do provided they are well
said.
"God has never told us to say the Rosary----of course it's all
right, it's not a bad devotion when you've got the time. But
don't think for one minute that people who say the Rosary
are any more sure of Heaven than we are. Just look at the
Saints who never said it! Far too many people want to make
everybody see through their own eyes: folk who carry
everything to extremes, scrupulous people who see sin
almost everywhere, making sweeping statements and saying
that all those who don't say the Rosary will go to Hell.
"Oh yes, the Rosary is all right for old women who can't
read. But surely the Little Office of Our Lady is much more
worthwhile than the Rosary? Or the Seven Penitential
Psalms? And how could anything be more beautiful than the
Psalms which are inspired by the Holy Ghost? You say you
have agreed to say the Rosary every day; this is nothing but
a fire of straw----you know very well it won't last! Wouldn't
it be better to undertake less and to be more faithful about it?
"Come on, my friend, take my word for it, say your morning
and night prayers, work hard during the day and offer it up-
---God doesn't ask any more of you than this. Of course
you've got your living to earn; if you were a man of leisure I
shouldn't say anything----you could say as many Rosaries as
you like then. But as for now, say your Rosary on Sundays
and Holy Days when you have lots of time, if you really
must say it.
"But really and truly----what are you doing with an
enormous pair of beads? You look like an old woman
instead of a man! I've seen a little Rosary of only one decade-
---it's just as good as one of fifteen decades. What on earth
are you wearing it on your belt for, fanatic that you are?
Why don't you go the whole way and wear it around your
neck like the Spaniards? They carry an enormous Rosary in
one hand---and a dagger in the other.
"For goodness sake drop those external devotions; real
devotion is in the heart . . . etc. etc. . . ."
Similarly, not a few clever people and learned scholars may
occasionally try to dissuade you from saying the Rosary (but
they are, of course, proud and self willed). They would
rather encourage you to say the Seven Penitential Psalms or
some other prayers. If a good confessor has given you a
Rosary for your penance and has told you to say it every day
for a fortnight or a month, all you have to do to get your
penance changed to prayers, fasts, Masses or alms, is to go to
confession to one of these others.
If you consult certain people in the world who lead lives of
prayer, but who have never tried the Rosary, they will not
only not encourage it but will turn people away from it to
get them to learn contemplation----just as though the Holy
Rosary and contemplation were incompatible, just as if all
the Saints who have been devoted to the Rosary had not
enjoyed the heights of sublime contemplation.
Your nearest enemies will attack you all the more cruelly
because you are so close to them. I am speaking of the
powers of your soul and your bodily senses----these are
distractions of the mind, distress and uncertainty of the will,
dryness of the heart, exhaustion and illnesses of the body----
all these will combine with the devil to say to you: "Stop
saying your Rosary; that is what is giving you such a
headache! Give it up; there is no obligation under pain of
sin. If you must say it, say only part of it; the difficulties that
you are having over it are a sign that Almighty God does not
want you to say it. You can finish it tomorrow when you are
more in the mood, etc. . . . etc. . . ."
Finally, my dear Brother, the Daily Rosary has so many
enemies that I look upon the grace of persevering in it until
death as one of the greatest favors Almighty God can give
us.
Persevere in it and if you are faithful you will eventually
have the wonderful crown which is waiting for you in
Heaven: "Be thou faithful until death: and I will give thee the
crown of life." (Apoc. 2:10)

The Canada54 National Novena includes a daily reading from the Secret of the Rosary.

There are exactly 54 readings. 
  • A white rose for priests;
  • A red rose for sinners;
  • A mystical rose tree for devout souls;
  • A rosebud for little children;
  • Plus 50 roses representing each Hail Mary recited during 5 decades of the Rosary

JesusMarie.com  - Le Secret du Rosaire - ICI

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