Gentlemen,
As you may know, Bill Swing and I are re-crafting the HNOJKC.org web site archives to be more user-friendly and informative. Over time, we will be building and adding content. We hope to eventually post what we are calling, “a Knight’s guide to the Rosary.” It will be for all the public to see (not just KC’s) and tabbed for varying degrees of users between beginners and advanced Rosary users. Feel free to direct friends and relatives to the site, if something jumps out at you that you want others to read. Future articles and Lecturers reports will be written to fill content for that reason. Past articles will be tabbed and posted and a few old articles will be re-written to better serve tab headings.
We will post all the Lecturers Reports in the HNOJ KC council section as they are geared for our council and retrievable if you want to go back and read them. However, some of them will be edited down to just the content or story format and posted on some of the other tabs in the writing section of the site for all to see. Expect to see some duplication, as some of the articles are multi-purpose. Much of the last years Lecturers Reports were written with this big “…..guide” picture in mind. Bill and I are open to suggestions and ideas, as well as new content. We also intend to ask Fr. Steve to invite or let us tender an open and ongoing appeal to invite parishioners to share inspiring Rosary stories for us to post on the site, as they get sent to us.
If you or someone you know, has an inspiring story to share, but lack confidence in writing it, I would be happy to co-author it with you or them. However, we may not run everything that comes our way. It’s not an open forum or a blog for people to crank out endless material or opinions. We’re hoping for inspiring prayer and Rosary related stories. Bill and I will determine what is compatible with our web site goals.
A media page for inspiring Catholic/Christian-related books, movies and printed media articles will also be tabbed and maintained, so we will be in constant search to add good content. Please direct us or email us pertinent links, books or copies of news articles that pertain to our Rosary promotion efforts. Eventually, there will be an education tab for classes or formal presentation notes that some of our members present to various groups like the ninth and tenth graders or other pertinent instruction. If any of you teach a class or present something special and you deem it worthy of being on the site with your outline or notes, forward it to us.
Specifically to Earl, we would like to drag in or build a whole section on the Franciscan Rosaries (both sets of seven-Joys and Sorrows of Mary), so give us a hand with that. We want to encourage and even urge all members to direct people to our Rosary articles hnojkc.org . If you have the right skills and would like to be more involved with our council, Bill would love to train you in on assisting the management of the site. Please volunteer and we will put you to work.
It seems appropriate to start with THE ORIGIN OF THE ROSARY article which will be posted in the Monthly Lecturers Report section of the web site and separated out in one or more other sections for those who surf the site later. Comments made at the Rosary Oct. 14th procession will come from this.
THE ORIGIN OF THE ROSARY
In the year 1208, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Dominic and instructed him how to build and pray the Rosary. If you recall your AP European History classes from high school, all of Europe was in a massive downward spiral of chaos, disease, debauchery, barbarianism and self-destruction. Marauding hoards were raping and pillaging every village in Europe, killing as many as they could. Rats were spreading “the plague”, also killing many people. Rome sent soldiers to intervene before all was lost. Mary wanted Dominic to use the Rosary to calm the masses by praying for real hope and change, for faith, hope and charity. It was also used by the soldiers to protect them in battle. Many miracles were recorded during this time frame, directly related to the use of the Rosary, too many to mention in this writing.
St. Dominic was born in Castile Spain in 1170. While she was pregnant, Dominic’s mother had a vision of Dominic lighting Europe on fire like a hound running with a torch in his mouth. Many of today’s Dominican Institutions depict the Dominican Order with stained glass windows featuring a star-crowned shield with a hound holding a torch in his mouth. After attending the Paris University, Dominic traveled throughout France with his Bishop to teach and share what they referred to as, “the fruits of contemplation”. Later, the Bishop, Dominic and other followers founded the “Order of Preachers” to continue that evangelical work. It later became known as the Dominicans, now serving in over eighty five different countries. “We set the world on fire”, is their motto.
Within that same era, the Franciscans, the Carmelites, the Benedictines, the Jesuits and many other worthy and Holy Orders of the Catholic faith were founded throughout Europe by deeply spiritual priests and Catholic people guided by divine intervention. Coincidentally, but also during that same time frame, the Roman Catholic Church was in turmoil. As Catholics, we all get side-swiped by anti-Catholic historians who remind us of this short time span when we had a 13 year old Medici family Pope and what a corrupt Church we all belong to. Don’t you think it’s interesting how God directed so many different Holy Orders to be formed during that dire time frame, not just for the survival of His Church, but to magnify its world-wide impact and strength? It’s also very interesting how rapidly and wide-spread the Rosary traveled the world and became the conduit for many of those new Holy Orders to gain momentum.
The Rosary is the single most important prayer form for the entire worldwide Catholic community. Unity! More miracles are associated with the Rosary than any other prayer format. If you need a miracle, don’t wait around. Start a daily Rosary regimen right now. By the way, it’s a “two-for” i.e. the Blessed Virgin is praying it with you, every time you go. She is our “advocate” and will hand deliver your petition to God. With all the turmoil over public Catholic issues, abortion, ethnic cleansing, etc. the Rosary can have an impact on resolving overwhelming obstacles and defeating enemies. It worked before, it can work again if we all pray, together, for a miracle.