28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Friends,

The month of October has always been my favorite month of the year. It’s when we usually feel that real change of the seasons, bringing us out of the hot months of summer and into fall. With that, we also see the rise of different fun activities, like fairs and festivals. The end of the month almost seems to kick off the holiday season with the celebration of Halloween, which orients us Christians to the great feasts of All Saints and All Souls.

October is also the Month of the Rosary. This past Monday, we celebrated the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. This was instituted by Pope Saint Pius V to honor Our Lady and her intercession in the great naval victory at Lepanto. It’s history worth looking up. The praying of the Rosary has played a major part in the life of the Church over the last thousand years or so. It has sustained peoples’ faith through really troubling times, especially in moments when access to Mass and the sacraments may have been limited. Many people have found great comfort staying close to Our Lady while meditating on the mysteries of our salvation. Regularly praying the rosary can bear a lot of good fruit.

When I was about eight years old, my family and I made a commitment to pray the Rosary together every evening. We did this for the next ten-plus years, until I left the house for college, the last of my siblings. I have no doubt that our commitment to this and our hopeful entrusting of ourselves to Our Lady’s intercession has helped my entire family in so many ways through our lives and vocations.

I strongly encourage all of us, individuals and families, to pray the Rosary regularly. Our Lady’s sole mission is to bring us to her Son, and her maternal intercession before Jesus is very powerful. In the narthex of our church, we have free rosaries, as well as pamphlets which teach one how to pray. Please avail yourselves of these!

God bless you. And may Our Lady of the Rosary pray for us!

-Fr. Kennell