Mary has been relentlessly tugging on my heart as of late, trying to get me to pray the rosary. I’ve seen people post about it on Instagram, tweet about it, and witnessed the little old lady’s pray it before or after daily Mass.

I finally decided, “OK, fine. I’ll start praying it.” So I started to pray a nine day rosary novena for a couple of special intentions.

And it went great!

For about two days.

For a while, I beat myself up about not being able to finish my novena. It wasn’t that I no longer cared about the intentions I was praying for, I just found the rosary so difficult to pray! I’m super jumpy and get distracted very easily, so I was finding it difficult to meditate on the mysteries. I always felt like I had to start over. It was just rough.

But Mary kept insisting.

A few days later, I came across a YouTube video about the rosary (surely at the guidance of Our Lady). In it, a few different people shared what happened in their lives after praying the entire rosary every day.

But wait a second, I thought. The entire rosary?

These people were talking about saying the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries all in one day! There was absolutely no way I could ever do that! I mean, I was lucky if I prayed one set of mysteries every two weeks! And now Our Lady was pushing me to pray four a day?!

Yes, she was. And as soon as I put my inhibitions aside and prayed the entire rosary in one day, my entire life changed. And now I want to share with you five benefits that I’ve discovered from praying the entire rosary every day.

1. Mary Will Shower Graces Upon You

I am not joking when I say my life changed in an instant. I won’t go into all the details here, but God and Our Lady began to move in big ways in my life through this practice.

Our Lady promises unique graces to those who will pray her rosary devoutly, meaning I get to receive those gifts. She is not playing games, and I finally realized this after praying the entire rosary just once.

2. The Presence of Our Lady Becomes More Tangible

In order for me to make sure that I’m not getting overwhelmed with this, especially since I’ve just picked up this practice, I spread the rosary out throughout the day. I usually say the Joyful Mysteries when I wake up, the Luminous around lunch time, the Sorrowful in the afternoon or evening, and the Glorious at night.

Because I’m praying the rosary more frequently now, I have it on my mind a lot more than before and because I pray it throughout the day, I carry my rosary with me. I’ve found that I’m so much more aware of Our Lady’s presence in my life. I’m far more aware of how much of a tender and loving mother she is and how greatly she desires to bring me closer to her Son. That’s what the rosary is all about, but I never really thought of it in that way before I made it a part of my daily prayer routine.

3. Learning to Imitate Christ Becomes Easier

The power of the rosary comes from meditating on the lives of Jesus and Mary. The Christian life is all about seeing Christ as our model and doing everything we can to imitate Him.

How can we learn more about Christ? By seeing what He did throughout His life!
In the mysteries of the rosary, we watch Christ in His early life, His days of ministry, His Passion, and His Resurrection. We can literally witness His actions and words and have a greater understanding of what it means to be Christlike.

Meditating on the life of Christ on a daily basis is a constant and powerful reminder of what we need to do in order to get to heaven, which is the goal of every Christian.

4. It Draws You Closer to the Sacraments

In the Holy Eucharist, we receive God. Jesus gives us His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, so that He can dwell in us and we can be one with Him. What better way to come to imitate Christ?

Through the recitation of the rosary, I’ve desired to go to Mass more. I desire to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation more. I desire to make sure that my soul is in a position to receive as many graces as possible so that I can resemble Christ as closely as possible! Mary knows the power of the sacraments, so through the rosary, she draws us closer to them!

5. Mary Can (and Will) Make a Saint Out of You

You know how many amazing saints prayed the rosary every day and asked us to do the same?

St. Padre Pio
St. Maximilian Kolbe
St. Louis de Montfort
St. Teresa of Calcutta
St. John Paul II

These men and women left an immeasurable impact on the world and all had devotions to Our Lady! The Blessed Mother is in the saint-making business and she wants you and I to be next!

These people got it — they realized that in order to fulfill our ultimate vocation in life, which is to become saints, they had to learn from the model. They learned to imitate Christ by mediating on His life, which helped them become the saints they are today.

Never in my life have I experienced Christ like this and I have the Blessed Mother to thank for that. Now, I want to pass what I’ve experienced on to each of you!

Now I know this task might sound crazy, and you might be like me and think that there’s no way you can do it.And maybe you won’t be able to do so right away. That’s possible. But, I can’t stress this enough: I really hope you at least try.

Maybe make a point to say a decade a day and then work your way up to one set of mysteries each day. Eventually, you can build up to praying all of the mysteries. Whether you’re just praying a decade or all of the mysteries, you will receive graces from Our Lady and experience the benefits.

God knows the heart of man better than we ever could. He loves it when we do our best to get to Him. Even if we stumble and fall in our efforts to do so, we can’t stay on the ground long. We have to get up and keep trying.

There’s a war going on for our souls, my dear friends, and we’re in the middle of the battle. Go to battle with the most powerful sword ever created: the holy rosary.

Give it a try and see how the Blessed Virgin Mary can completely change your life.

“Is Halloween an evil holiday?”

Nope! The word itself means “All Hallows’ Eve” (“hallow” is an old-fashioned word for holy) because it’s the night before the feast of All Saints. There’s a lot of research that’s been done on the origin of this holiday but I’ll save you the long version and just tell you: it was always our holiday.

The long history of this holiday is all over the board with which country and group of people were claiming it as their own. Even in the U.S. (a long time ago) there were some puritan wiccans who claimed Halloween as theirs. And then hollywood reinforced the whole demonic idea with a couple scary movies, and then bada-bing, bada-boom, Christians were scared that participating in Halloween festivities was bad for your soul. Which I can understand because there is a lot of emphasis on death and gore and scary things. All those skeletons!

You know the one place where I saw more skeletons than suburbia on Halloween? A Carthusian monastery. The monks use skulls to adorn their walls, ceilings, door frames, etc. They even used to greet each other with the phrase, “brother, remember your death.” These skulls aren’t morbid. They’re symbolic of those who have gone before us (all souls) and the destiny of our own bodies. It’s a reminder our bodies don’t last so we should work to discipline not comfort them.

And let’s not forget what we hear in church on Ash Wednesday: “Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” A.k.a. = death is coming.

These are good and necessary reminders that our current physical life is temporary. You don’t remember that you’re living for eternity if you avoid an acceptance of death and its symbols. If we avoid Halloween, we miss out on this rich, Catholic, symbolism of our death. It’s not an evil holiday, it’s a Christian one. Someone tell Party City.

“So is it okay for Catholics to celebrate Halloween?”

Sure! There’s nothing wrong with putting on a costume, trick-or-treating, and enjoying the company of your friends and family. Of course, some misled people take the holiday too far and make it more satanic than it should be. However, that’s not a reason for the rest of us Christians to be scared away.

When we decide to be afraid of the devil we give our power over to him. What message does it send the world if we, as Christians, are afraid to admit to the reality of evil? It sends the message that we’re not sure who wins this battle of good vs. evil.

But we are! We KNOW that God wins… that love triumphs over death, and that evil has no hold on us. Partaking in this holiday does not mean you’re opening yourself up to evil. I think that on the contrary, it means you’re claiming as your own the victory of Christ on the cross. How much more Christian can you get?

“How can I not wear a “sexy” costume when all of my friends are?”

Don’t wear a sexy costume. It’s that simple. You can stand out. Be different. Accept the challenge to be more creative. Show up as a POP-TART in a room full of mini-skirted pirates, nurses, and dudes who wear more clothing to the beach.

Is choosing virtue (like modesty) ever going to be easy this side of heaven? No. Are Christians called to follow the crowd? No. See Romans 12:2.

True friends won’t judge you or be offended by your choice in costume. Just because you decide to wear an appropriate costume, that doesn’t mean you’re judging those around you.

And to be totally honest, most people of the opposite sex will appreciate it because they can have fun around you without worrying about where their eyes wander to. Plus having a debate about the best flavor of pop-tart (cookie dough, duh) is way better than being objectified.

“How much candy can I eat Halloween night?”

Enough to treat yourself, but not so much that your body tricks you into sleeping in and missing Mass the next day.

November 1st is the Solemnity of All Saints, so get to Church and give praise to the God who saved you from death and stretched out His arms on the cross to hold evil at bay.