When I trace back my faith journey, one prayer followed me through every chapter: the Rosary. There are two great gifts my grandmother gave me: a love for music and my prayer life.

My grandmother moved her fingers through a collection of rosaries all throughout my childhood and young adult life. She always had a rosary with her. She invited me to pray the Rosary. We would pray together whenever I stayed at her home in the Inner Sunset District. She thumbed through the most simple to the most ornate rosaries. As she prayed, she seemed to be a woman caught up in her prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary. She rarely needed her prayer books as prayers flowed seamlessly from her lips. I prayed this timeless prayer with my grandmother in parishes, prayer meetings, and with her friends. Yet, the most meaningful moment was when I prayed the Rosary with her in her bedroom. Her voice and my voice where one as we prayed the Hail Mary. Midst the array of religious statues in her bedroom, the main focal image before us was Our Lady of Fatima. She hand carried this statue from Portugal when she made her pilgrimage to this popular Marian site. That same statue now resides in my home office, and a photo of her is near it. In my adult life, the memories of praying countless rosaries with my grandmother still move my heart. I will never forget her for instilling this beautiful prayer in my life.

Today, we remember Our Lady of the Rosary, a feast in the Church since the sixteenth Century.

The Rosary holds the entire message of the Gospels. Though Marian in character, it is fundamentally centered in Christ. As we thumb through beads, we meditate on the life of Jesus through Mary. (Pope Saint John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae 17).

The Prince of Peace, is at the heart of the Rosary. This Rosary “is by its nature a prayer for peace” (Pope Saint John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae 40). All who make the Rosary their regular prayer are instruments of peace. In all her apparitions, Mary evoked a message for peace through prayer. Mary evoked a return to Jesus. Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the Rosary as a prayer for peace:

“The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation. It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the centre of each Hail Mary (Pope Benedict XVI, 3 May 2008).

Praying through the mysteries of the life of Christ grafts his very life onto ours. Mary is our companion along the journey of life as we conform our lives to her Son.

This Ave Maria instrumental is fitting in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary. Enjoy! As you listen, remember the monumental faith-filled people who taught you the greeting of the Angel Gabriel. This greeting has become the prayer of every disciple of Jesus: Hail, full of grace …