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PART II

HOW TO RECITE IT

Forty-First Rose

Purity of Intention

IT IS NOT so much the length of a prayer, but the fervor with which it is said which pleases
Almighty God and touches His Heart. One single Hail Mary that is said properly is worth more than
one hundred and fifty that are badly said. Most Catholics say the Rosary, the whole fifteen
mysteries or five of them any way or, at least a few decades. So why is it then that so few of
them give up their sins and go forward in the spiritual life? Surely it must be because they are
not saying them as they should. It is a good thing to think over how we should pray if we really
want to please God and become more holy.
To say the Holy Rosary to advantage one must be in a state
of grace or at the very least be fully determined to give up mortal sin. This we know because all
our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are only dead works if they are done in a state
of mortal sin. Therefore they can neither be pleasing to God nor help us gain eternal life. This is
why Ecclesiastes says: "Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner." 1 Praise of God and
the salutation of the angel and
the very, Prayer of Jesus Christ are not pleasing to God when they are said by unrepentant sinners.
Our Lord said: "This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."2 It is as
though He was saying: "Those who join My Confraternity and say their Rosary every day (even perhaps
the fifteen decades), but without being