The Rosary: Our Lady's Weapon Against Heresy
Summary of Headings
- The Threat of Invasion
- The Call to Arms Ignored
- The Power of the Rosary
- Our Lady of Sorrows and Victory
- Turning to Our Lady
- A Call to Action
The Threat of Invasion
I don't think we can appreciate fully just how terrifying the specter of invasion was back in the 16th century. Those of you who don't know the history, the Muslim invasion started way back in the 7th century. It started with Mahomet, but then it expanded very quickly. He became a warlord, and he conquered vast amounts of area. He conquered Mecca, which is now the center of everything. He expanded his empire all throughout everywhere. He conquered the entire Mediterranean era, the north of Africa. He extended his empire all the way even into Spain. He got pushed back by Charles Martel, the hammer.
He got pushed back and stayed on that side of the mountains and stayed in Spain. And only a certain, only a tiny part of Galicia was actually spared from the Muslim invasion. The Muslims dominated so much area. And then finally, after centuries, they were able to push, the Christians were able to push them back, and the Crusades were able to free the Holy Land once again so that pilgrimages could take part and that the Muslims would not pose a threat for a time. But then, the Muslims started trying to invade Europe again. And the case of Lepanto, they took advantage of the splintered Christendom to be able to attack Rome itself.
They were going after Italy itself. And the Papal States, they were going after the entirety of the, what is now the country of Italy. And with the fleet that they had amassed, they would have been able to do it. The Sultan was exulting in the power that they had at their disposal. And he had harnessed all of the power from all of their areas and nations to be able to direct it toward this one attack. And when the Pope sent out an urgent plea for people to come to the aid and to the protection of Christendom itself, unfortunately, he was met with a deafening silence.
Chesterton, in his magnificent poem of Lepanto, which I'm obsessed with, again, is, explains that the Queen of England, Elizabeth I, was so obsessed with everything else that had to do with not Rome and not Christendom. She was so focused on herself, she ignored the call to arms. The King of France, in his vanity and with his boredom with the mass and boredom with everything else, ignored the call to arms. Spain had all of its interests in the New World. They, they ignored the call to arms. Germany was fractured and split apart by the Protestant Revolution. And if any of the Catholic principalities sent their power or sent their soldiers
The Call to Arms Ignored
over to fight the Muslims, then the Protestant principalities would have overcome them, would have overtaken them. So they didn't answer. The illegitimate son of the Emperor Charles V, Don Juan of Austria, finally stood up and accepted the charge and took the ships of Venice out and confronted the Muslim horde. The Pope, knowing the daunting and frightening odds that they were confronting, called for everybody in Christendom to pray the Rosary. By providence, Pope Saint Pius V was a Dominican in his origin. And the Dominicans, Saint Dominic, specifically received the Rosary from Our Lady herself to fight against heresy.
It was the weapon that she gave him specifically to fight against the heresies that he was going to battle. So as a Dominican, Saint Pius V went back to what he knew. The great weapon of Our Lady herself, the weapon that she had given to the founder of his order. And he called upon all of Christendom, every Catholic, to pray the Rosary. And he himself knelt in the chapel praying the Rosary over and over again and he was actually given a vision of the battle as it was progressing. Don Juan made all of the sailors kneel down and pray the Rosary before the attack actually occurred, before the battle actually occurred.
They won a miraculous victory. The forces of Christendom actually won against a much larger horde. Against all the power, of the Ottoman Empire, of all the Saracens, all the Muslims. They defended Christendom, they defended Europe against this invasion and they pushed them back once more. Now unfortunately the enemy has infiltrated. I'm not just talking about Muslims obviously, but heresy in general. Heresy has infiltrated Europe. It has destroyed Christendom. It has broken apart the Catholic monarchies and empires and the Catholic spirituality and mentality even within the church itself.
So what is the weapon we are going to turn to
The Power of the Rosary
if we wish to fight back? That's very simple. The Rosary. We'll go back to, as someone referred to it recently, factory settings. Go back to Our Lady. Go back to the Rosary. One of the images that unfortunately we mistake and we misrepresent in our hearts is when we look upon Our Lady, we look upon someone who is still, at peace, calm. That is absolutely true. The most evident of that of course is Our Lady of Sorrows. We see the seven swords piercing her heart. We see the pain and the agony in her eyes. Sometimes tears trailing down her face. We see the suffering of our mother.
And we think about how she accepted that suffering with her fiat. How she accepted to be our mother in pain and sorrow and loss. We see that and we think of how she just surrendered herself to that. But what we don't see is the other side of it. By accepting the pain and suffering of bringing the church into this world through the sacrifice of her only begotten son, she is actively conquering the world. Just because she looks passive and just because she submits herself to the pain and suffering of bringing into this world the Catholic Church and Christendom and the salvation of souls, does not mean she is not also ferociously and frantically acting to save those souls.
Each and every day. One of my favorite quotes from Chesterton comes from his other poem, The Ballad of the White Horse, where he talks about Our Lady of Sorrows. Our Lady appearing above the soldiers of Alfred the Great as he pushes back the Danes. Another almost miraculous victory. And he sees Our Lady with all of her wounds, with all of her pain, with all of her suffering. But standing above them and he said, she had seven swords in her heart but one was in her hand. She goes forward. She fights. She conquers the world. She defends us. She stands between us and heresy. She stands between us and error.
She stands between us and sin. She stands between us and the devil. She is Our Lady of victory. She fights and wins wars. Every battle is hers. Every fight is hers. Every struggle is hers. Every temptation should be hers. We should turn to her with every temptation, every occasion of sin, every difficulty, every weakness, every suffering, every battle, every problem. Because she is the solution to it all. It's easy to rail about the heritage of the world and all the heresies we see all around us and all the errors and all the problems. It's easy for us to crumble under the pain and the suffering of the crosses we have to bear.
But it's only easy to do those things because we forget that we have Our Lady. Because we don't turn to her. We don't ask her for guidance and help and support. There is no cause that is so lost that she cannot save them. There is no soul that is so lost that she cannot save them. Everything that she does, everything, can be used to save souls. Those of us who by the grace of God and by the intercession of Our Lady know what truth is, those of us who know right from wrong, those of us who know good and evil, those of us who give, those of us who know enough to put ourselves on the altar with Our Lady, with Our Lord, it is thanks to her.
And therefore it behooves us to demand more of her.
Our Lady of Sorrows and Victory
To turn to her for more. It is also crucial and necessary that we do so. Not just for our own sake, which of course is essential, but also for the souls around the world. How many souls are lost in delusion, error, fear, pain? How many souls are lost in lack of confidence in the church or in God? How many souls are lost because they don't know how to pray? They don't know how to turn to God? They don't know who God is? How many souls are lost because they have never been part of the sacrifice of the Mass? How many souls are lost because they do not know what grace is or right and wrong?
And they've been lied to and misguided? How many souls do we know in error? How many souls do we know who are lost? And what are we doing about it? Are we fighting for them? Are we trying to help them? Are we praying for them? Do we even do that much? Do we even pray for someone who comes across our path? Someone we're even close to? Who we know is lost or struggling or going through a very difficult time? Do we even do that much? And how many souls are lost? There are lots of förs It happens. It's not only about piousness, and not only abouttailing us, it also says, I want to say what was in my heart then what I'm going through, and here we go again are we actively trying to bring the gospel to the whole world?
I don't care about the rest of everybody else in the church. Are they doing it? That doesn't matter. Are we doing that? Are we fighting for the salvation of those souls who are lost in error? Our Lady appeared to us in Fatima, and she gave us a charge. Pray for sinners. Offer sacrifices for sinners. That was the charge she gave to three little children. And that was the dedication of their entire lives, and to the case of two of them, very short lives. But that was the obsession that little Jacinta had. Those poor souls, the souls that she had seen in hell, she would cry and weep, those poor souls, and she would give as many sacrifices as her poor little body could possibly give for the salvation of souls.
And what are we giving? We who have received so much. We who know so much. What are we doing for souls? Well, here's a start. The rosary. We must stop hunkering down and hiding from the many attacks of the world against the church and against our souls. We must stop trying to avoid the conflicts that we are going to have to confront one day. It is time for us to stop. We must stop hiding the faith from the rest of the world. And it is time for us to counterattack. But the attack must be under the banner of Our Lady, and it must be with her weapon, the rosary.
No more excuses. If we do not pray the rosary every day, time to start. If we do not have a devotion to the rosary, time to start. If we do not pray the rosary well, time to start. Time to really reflect. On how we say the rosary, and why, and what the meditations are. Time to take this battle seriously, because this is about life and death. Eternal life and death. And not just of ourselves, and our own precious little community, but of the entire world. Our Lady is Our Lady of Victory. She wins the battles for us. But we have to pick up her weapon. We have to stand by her as she conquers our enemies.
We have to turn to her when we need help. We need to ask her for guidance and protection. And we need to throw all of our entire being into her hands. And trust, or entrust ourselves perfectly to her. And our weapon to be able to do that, the first person we have to conquer with that weapon, is the Holy Rosary, and that is ourselves.
Turning to Our Lady
We must annihilate ourselves with the rosary to unite ourselves to her. So that she may be able to annihilate our enemies, and save the world. And save the souls that need to be saved. But it starts with us. And it starts with today. When we take Our Lady out into the world, it is not simply just a symbolic gesture that is very nice and very lovely. It is a declaration of war. We are not going to be conquered by the enemy. We are going to stand for our faith. We are going to defend it. We are going to expand the Kingdom of God. And no matter what, we are going to use the weapon of Our Lady, come what may.
We are going to have absolute trust in the Mother of God, Herself. We will sacrifice ourselves and our entire lives by her side and in her arms. And she will present us as a sacrifice to our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may be eternally in her Kingdom in Heaven. Ave Maria Purissima. Amen.
A Call to Action
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Summary
The homily begins by recounting the historical threat posed by the Muslim invasions in the 16th century, highlighting the Battle of Lepanto as a pivotal moment where the Rosary played a crucial role in securing victory for Christendom. It emphasizes the enduring power of the Rosary as a spiritual weapon, given by Our Lady to combat heresy and protect the faithful. The preacher draws on historical examples and the intercession of Our Lady of Victory to inspire renewed devotion. The homily concludes with a call to action, urging the faithful to embrace the Rosary as a daily practice, entrusting themselves to Our Lady's guidance and protection in the ongoing spiritual battle for the salvation of souls.