Angelus: Rediscovering the Rosary in the Year of Faith
(Vatican Radio) - In his Angelus address, delivered at the close of Mass Sunday in
St Peter’s square, Pope Benedict XVI invited faithful worldwide to rediscover the
gift of the Holy Rosary, Mary’s school of prayer:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
we
now turn in prayer to Mary, whom we venerate today as Queen of the Holy Rosary. At
this time, at the Shrine of Pompeii, the traditional "Supplication" is being elevated
to which countless people throughout the world are joined. While we associate ourselves
spiritually in this choral prayer, I would like to suggest to everyone to renew the
prayer of the Rosary in the upcoming Year of Faith. With the Rosary, we allow ourselves
to be guided by Mary, model of faith, in meditating on the mysteries of Christ, and
day after day we are helped to assimilate the Gospel, so that it shapes all our lives.
Therefore, in the wake of my predecessors, especially the Blessed John Paul II, who
ten years ago gave us the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, I invite
you to pray the Rosary personally, in the family and in the community, learning at
the school of Mary, which leads us to Christ, the living centre of our faith. I
greet the English-speaking pilgrims here today! I ask all of you to pray for the
work of the Synod on the New Evangelization, beginning today. Later this week, on
the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the Year of
Faith begins. May these events confirm us in the beauty and joy of our faith in Jesus
Christ which comes to us through the Church! Entrusting these intentions to our Lady
of the Rosary, I invoke upon all of you God’s abundant blessings!