Learning to Stay With Jesus

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In today’s Gospel the disciples come to Jesus and say, “Lord, teach us to pray.” That is such a beautiful request, because they had already seen Jesus pray. They had watched Him disappear into quiet places, spend time with the Father, and come back with peace and strength. They wanted what He had. And perhaps on this Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, that can be our prayer too: “Lord, teach us to pray.” Because the Rosary is not simply about saying many Hail Marys. At its heart, the Rosary is about learning to stay with Jesus.

There is a reason October has become known in the Church as the month of the Holy Rosary. The feast we celebrate today has roots in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Pope St Pius V had asked Christians to pray the Rosary during a time of war, and after the Christian fleet’s victory, a feast was established in thanksgiving to Our Lady. Over time it became the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Centuries later, Pope Leo XIII strongly encouraged the Church to dedicate October in a special way to praying the Rosary. But the point was never that the Rosary was some kind of magic formula. The Church has always understood it as a prayer that leads us through Mary to contemplate Christ.

Sometimes people say, “But Fr, the Rosary is repetitive.” And yes, it is. But repetition is part of prayer, even in heaven. In the Book of Revelation, the angels and the creatures around God’s throne keep saying, “Holy, holy, holy.” They praise God again and again. So repetition itself is not a bad thing. The important thing is that our prayer comes from the heart. When we pray the Rosary, we repeat the Hail Mary, but while we are saying those words, we are thinking about the life of Jesus. The repetition helps us to slow down, become quiet, and stay with God. It is almost like saying “I love you” to someone. We may have said it many times before, but we still say it again and again because we mean it. In the same way, repetition is part of heavenly prayer, and the Rosary teaches our hearts to pray in that same simple, faithful way.

So perhaps this October we can make the Rosary simple again. Do not begin by promising an hour every day if you know you will give up after three days. Begin with one decade. Pray it in the car, on a walk, before bed, or together as a family. Take one mystery and ask, “Jesus, what are You showing me here?” The goal is not merely to finish the beads. The goal is to become the kind of person who knows how to remain with Christ. When the disciples asked, “Lord, teach us to pray,” Jesus gave them words that would lead them to the Father. Through the Rosary, Mary quietly does the same thing: she takes us by the hand and keeps saying, “Look at Him. Listen to Him. Stay with Him.”

Prayer: Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, teach us to pray with a quiet and faithful heart. When our minds are distracted, lead us back to Jesus. When we are anxious, help us to trust Him. When we are tired of praying, teach us simply to remain. And through every mystery of the Rosary, help us to know your Son more deeply, love Him more sincerely, and follow Him more faithfully. Amen.

– Homily by Rev. Fr. Patrick Agbeko