SWEET DEFEAT

Memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

Acts 1:12-14

Today we celebrate the miraculous victory of Christians against Muslims in the Battle of Lepanto. The Muslims were Turks who were ready to attack Central Europe. They were poised only about a hundred miles from Vienna. The Holy Father then, Pius V organized the Catholic League to oppose them. During the great naval battle in the Gulf of Lepanto on October 7, 1571, Pope Pius V ordered the recitation of the Holy Rosary; and the Christian forces, under the command of Don John of Austria, with eight thousand Turks and seven thousand Christians as fatalities, won over the Turkish militia. Pope Pius V, attributing the victory of the Catholic League to the recitation of the Holy Rosary, therefore instituted today’s feast. This feast was originally called Our Lady of Victory but was later changed to Our Lady of the Rosary to emphasize that the Battle of Lepanto was won by the Christian forces not so much by their weapons and valor but by the arm of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

It is fitting that the First Reading today paints for us the beautiful picture of the first Christian community gathered together with the Blessed Mother as they wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is one of the beautiful images of the Church. The Church prays with Mary, the Mother of the Lord. If we were to explain the Holy Rosary through a drawing, we should draw Acts 1:12-14, the First Reading today.

The Holy Rosary is a prayer to Jesus, the One Mediator, not to Mary. As evident in Marian apparitions, the Blessed Virgin Mary herself prays the rosary. Certainly, she does not pray to her self. In the rosary, the Blessed Mother prays with us to Jesus, her Son.

When we pray the rosary, we contemplate the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord and the beginnings of the Church with Mary. The Holy Rosary is looking at Jesus with the eyes of Mary, loving Jesus with the heart of Mary, praising Jesus with the lips of Mary, and following Jesus with the soul of Mary. While having a Marian bent, the Holy Rosary is a Christocentric prayer.

The Holy Rosary is a spirituality, more than a prayer. Its ultimate goal is to help us become more and more like Jesus by contemplating on the events in His life, with Mary, the first and perfect disciple of her own Son. It is therefore not the mere recitation of the rosary that we should strive to do each day, but the daily imitation of Mary’s participation in the life of her Son. As we pray the rosary, Mary leads us closer to her Son until we become one with Him.

I confess that I am uncomfortable with making the Christian victory at the Battle of Lepanto the point of reference for today’s feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. Though the Turks did not share my Catholic Faith, I hesitate to rejoice at their defeat that was marked by the shedding of blood. If the battle is attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Mother, is it the same as saying that the Blessed Mother had a hand in the death of so many Turkish Muslims? I am not comfortable with that idea.

I need to conquer my self more than anyone. I have to win my battle against my self more than against anyone. I should triumph over my own weaknesses rather than over anyone’s religious persuasion. Praying the Holy Rosary is winning my battle against my self as Mary prays not only for me, but most importantly with me. And if it is Mary who wins over me, that indeed is sweet defeat!