The Fruits of the Rosary

Don Marco (Father Mark Daniel Kirby, O.Cist) writes: ... What are the fruits of the Rosary in the life of one who perseveres in praying it? They are, I think, among others, the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit enumerated in the Catechism: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self–control, and chastity.

The Rosary is a sure means of abiding in communion of mind and heart with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Where the Holy Mother of God is, there too is the Holy Spirit. One who, praying the Rosary, over and over again repeats Ave, Maria is, by the repetition of that greeting, imploring the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.

It pleases the Holy Spirit to fashion the saints through the Blessed Virgin. Mary is the minister, the dispensatrix, the mediatrix of the Holy Spirit's gifts. It is a matter of record that where Mary is absent, there is nought but sterility and hardness of heart. Where Mary is present, on the other hand, there is spiritual fecundity and compunction. Where Mary is present, there the Holy Spirit is mysteriously and prodigiously active.

If you would open the door of your heart to Mary, pray her Rosary. She will enter in and with her will enter the Holy Spirit. "And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?'" (Lk 1:41–43).

* * * And I say: Amen!