Catholic faithful urged to pray rosary amid pandemic

He said the faithful should pray the Rosary daily for the “conversion of sinners back to God’s fold which is very important to also flatten the scourge of Covid-19 and for the world to attain a genuine peace”. (File photo: Christopher Riggs/Unsplash)

MANILA – As the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the Catholic faithful have been urged to pray rosary in October, the Holy Rosary Month.

“Praying the Rosary is very crucial during these troubled times of Covid-19 which our medical experts have yet to develop a vaccine,” Fr. Kit Ramirez said in a phone interview.

Ramirez, parish priest of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Rizal, Palawan, said the Holy Eucharist or Holy Mass which Jesus Christ taught to his disciples is the most powerful and effective prayer through the power of the Holy Spirit, while the Rosary is next.

He said the faithful should pray the Rosary daily for the “conversion of sinners back to God’s fold which is very important to also flatten the scourge of Covid-19 and for the world to attain a genuine peace”.

Ramirez quoted St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, who said the rosary is the “weapon of our time” to fight evil forces.

“It is the form of prayer of the faithful to allow God to work on us,” he added.

Ramirez added that the Blessed Mother, during the apparition at Fatima, Portugal to three little shepherds – Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco, urged “the people around the world to pray the Rosary daily, not only in the month of October to allow God’s power to enter in our life so that love will prevail in our hearts”.

“We have to move and ask God to save us in these troubled times,” he said.

“Since we have free will, man is free to choose between good and evil so that it is very important for us to pray, especially the Rosary to ask God’s help to find the way of righteousness.”

He expressed hope that Filipino Catholics “in their individual home will pray the Holy Rosary every day for the world to attain peace, and we will be delivered from dangers”.

The Rosary relates to the entire life of Jesus Christ on earth – His birth, teaching, passion, death, resurrection, and glory.

Ramirez said the Holy Rosary is composed of four Mysteries – Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous.