“The Rosary Is Our Spiritual Weapon of Mass Destruction Against Satan”
I just returned from leading a retreat in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It was organized by those belonging to TOOL, which stands for “Teams of Our Lady”. What an exceptional group of Catholics, who witnessed to me while I witnessed to them. Considering the location, you might say the retreat was radioactive!
Now, if you didn’t get that joke, you will understand in a minute. In this retreat we focused on the leadership of families, the importance of understanding your family “why”, the spiritual pillars that should be at its foundation, and then some practical wisdom on how to live that. Among the spiritual pillars is unquestionably the Holy Rosary. Since its introduction to the Church through St. Dominic in the thirteenth century, it has always been revered as a prayer of great power — power to convert the greatest sinners and hardened hearts — and a prayer St. Padre Pio referred to as “the weapon.”
Speaking of weapons . . . that leads to today’s reflection that comes from my retreat in Los Alamos. As I was driving from Albuquerque to Los Alamos, I was reminded of the rich Catholic history of New Mexico. And as I entered Los Alamos on a late Thursday night I was greeted by a street named Trinity Drive that took me right to my hotel. I kept thinking to myself: “This town has preserved well its Catholic patrimony!” The next morning on my way to Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, the first street I had to take to get there was Oppenheimer Drive. My brain finally put the pieces together and what was first thought of as awesome turned into a cold chill when I realized there was nothing holy associated with the street sign named “Trinity”. In fact it represented something the complete opposite of the Holy Trinity for it was the name given to the first nuclear bomb detonated in America in southern New Mexico. And “Trinity” was created right where I was giving this retreat in Los Alamos. Let’s look at this a little closer to bring out its greater significance.
The harnessing of the atom is one of the greatest breakthroughs in science. It is at the center of life and from it emits light and life-giving power — which we see and experience every day from the sun. And the internal dynamics of the atom are somewhat reflective of the Divine Trinity in that you have protons, neutrons and electrons all working perfectly with each around a nucleus. God watermarks so much of Himself behind His creation! Clearly, the discovery of the inner operations of the atom is something God has always known those created in His image and likeness would discover. And this is a good thing. And now a gigantic, “however” . . . instead of orienting that discovery to the glory of God and the betterment of humanity, man in his pride turned once again away from the Tree of Life and saw that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge (scientia) of good and evil was good to eat, and ate of it trying to become more like gods manipulating creation for its own selfish and destructive use.
The fruit of this pride was the creation of the greatest destructive force known to man, the atomic bomb. And what did man arrogantly call this anti-God creation, the first atomic bomb ever created? “Trinity”. Do you now see the truth of Ephesians 6:12 as the real driver of history?
For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
And when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima that early morning of 6 August 1945, mankind crossed the final moral boundary that paved the way to “justified” intentional killing of hundreds of thousands of innocents by accepting a weapon for that sole purpose. This is why saintly and prophetic figures like [Saint] Mother Teresa and Venerable Fulton Sheen linked the acceptance of atomic weapons to the acceptance of abortion. Take that one to prayer.
But there is another story about what happened on 6 August 1945 that many do not know about today. “Little boy”* did not get the final applause that day, but Our Lady did! Did you know that only eight city blocks from ground zero of the atomic explosion lived eight German Jesuit priests — ALL OF WHOM WALKED AWAY FROM THE ATOMIC BLAST, SOME WITH ONLY SCRAPES AND SCRATCHES!?! And no subsequent radiation poisoning! The most notable survivor, Fr. Hubert Schiffer, SJ, who retold the story countless times to press and other interested parties, revealed the secret that he believed was behind his miraculous survival. Faithful to the messages of Our Lady of Fatima, Fr. Hubert Shiffer said of his Jesuit residence: “In that house the Holy Rosary was recited together every day.”
Almost 30 years prior, on 13 October 1917, Our Lady revealed to the world that the power entrusted to her is incomprehensibly more than our greatest scientific advancements, even collectively! On that rainy October 13, Our Lady fulfilled her promise to show the world that she was, indeed, appearing in Fatima by performing what is now popularly called the “miracle of the sun” when she showed her power over the atom by making the sun “her play thing” as Fulton Sheen described it. Rather than use that power to destroy humanity, she showed her power is for the conversion which brings true life and peace in humanity. In other words, the world won’t find peace by manipulating the powers of creation like gods. Rather, by turning to Mary, who has been given power over all nature, she will obtain the greatest possible conversion and growth and holiness in those souls who entrust themselves to her — something she explicitly asked for at Fatima.
And after she dazzled the now-believing crowds, she revealed herself as “Our Lady of the Rosary”, a prayer she asked the children to pray every day since she first appeared to them on 13 May 1917. And those eight Jesuit priests at Hiroshima became evidence of her power over the atom because she protected her own when they listened to her call at Fatima and prayed her rosary every day!
Years after Fatima, Sr. Lucia dos Santos said the following, which I will leave for your prayerful reflection:
“The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.”
(Source: http://www.fatima.org/essentials/opposed/frfuentes.asp)
Seriously, what more do we need here? If Sr. Lucia’s words aren’t enough to inspire a deeper love for and devotion to the daily rosary, then I don’t think anything will.
Nuclear war, ISIS,** world-wide economic collapse, global moral collapse, attacks against marriage and the family, serious personal problems, you name it . . . the Rosary is our go-to remedy. Why? One major reason is because you are reciting (at least) 50 times the words that announced the greatest and most powerful act in history, God becoming man, when you say the first part of the Hail Mary. When we enter into that mystery and recite the same words with the same Holy Spirit in us that was in Mary, we ask and invite God to continue to do His greatest works through the same words said in the here and now! No wonder the Jesuits (and countless others) have experienced unfathomable miracles by being faithful to the daily rosary. And this is why the FAMILY ROSARY is the most important daily devotion you can incorporate, if only one had to be chosen.
No matter what your spiritual preferences are, Our Lady has hers and the Rosary is at the top of her list. Writing and marveling about the wonders of the Rosary does little to no good if they don’t stir within us a greater fervor to pray it every day and spread this devotion to as many people as possible. The faithful TOOL group in Los Alamos is taking this seriously and whether they know it or not, they have a special connection to be on the Army of Our Lady considering the historic significance of their location. They are already being mobilized with over 100 parishioners recently consecrating themselves to Our Lady. How powerful is that!?!
So, make this post worth it and before you click on to another page . . . start your rosary right now (or set a time for your family rosary) and ask Our Lady to obtain for you and your family the remedy of your biggest problem. And share her merciful response with others to encourage and inspire them to do the same! Remember to AIM HIGH!
Our Lady of the Rosary, PRAY FOR US!
P.S. And do you want to learn more about the rosary in a very palatable way each day? I highly recommend you get a copy of Fr. Donald Calloway’s Rosary Gems: Daily Wisdom on the Holy Rosary.
*Little boy – the name of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima
**ISIS – Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
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Art: Detail of Madonna of the Rosary, Janez Wolf, 1873; Rosary Mother of God with Sts Dominic and Francis of Assisi, Nicola Grassi, first half of 18th century; La Visione di San Domenico (The Vision of St. Domenic), Bernardo Cavallino, circa 1640-1645; all PD, Wikimedia Commons. Picture of Rosary made in Los Alamos, New Mexico, received by Dr. Peter Howard, used with permission.
