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The Secret of the Rosary

withstanding all the efforts of his secretary who saw he was tired and begged him to let the rest
of his prayers go until the next day.
And do let me remind you just once more to copy the faithfulness, reverence and devotion of the
holy friar who is mentioned in the Chronicles of Saint Francis and who always said his Rosary
very devoutly and reverently before dinner. (I have told this story earlier in this book.)l
1Cf. SEVENTH ROSE-Crown of Roses.

Forty-Sixth Rose

Group Recitation

THERE ARE SEVERAL ways of saying the Holy Rosary, but that which gives Almighty God the greatest
glory, does the most for our souls and which the devil fears more than any other, is that of
saying or chanting the Rosary publicly in two groups.
Almighty God is very pleased to have people gathered together in prayer; the angels and the
blessed unite to praise Him unceasingly. The just on earth in several communities join in communal
prayer night and day. Our Blessed Lord expressly recommended common prayer to His apostles and
disciples and promised that whenever two or three were gathered together in His name He would be
there in the midst of them.1 What a wonderful thing to have Jesus Christ in our midst! And the only
thing we have to do to get Him to come is to say the Rosary in a group.2 This is why the early
Christians often gathered together to pray in spite of all the Roman Emperor's persecutions and
the fact that assemblies were forbidden. They preferred to risk the danger of death rather
than
to miss their gatherings, at which Our Lord was present.
This way of praying is of the greatest benefit to our souls
because:
1. Normally our minds are far more alert during public
prayer than they are when we pray alone.
2. When we pray in common, the prayer of each one belongs to us all and these make but one great
prayer together, so that if one person is not praying well, someone

1Cf. Matt. 18:20.
2St. Louis' message fits in beautifully with that of the great "Family
Rosary Crusade" of today, M.D.

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