Friends in Christ. in the city of Aragona, a beautiful girl named Alexandra was loved by two men. Through jealousy, they fought and killed each other. The enraged relatives in return, killed the poor girl, cut off her head and threw it down a well.
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A few days later, St. Dominic was passing by that place, and inspired by the Lord, he called to the well: ‘Alexandra, come forth;’ immediately the head of the girl came forth, placed itself on the edge of the well, and asked Dominic to hear her confession. He did, and then gave her Holy Communion; a large number of people were there to see this miracle.
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Then Dominic asked her, ‘why do you think God gave you this last chance, this way?’ Alexandra said, when she was beheaded she was in the state of mortal sin, but that because she was in the habit of praying the Rosary, Mary preserved her so that she could confess.
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Friends, the Holy Rosary is one of the best of all devotions. So many, through the Rosary, have obtained the grace to turn from sin, fight their temptations, and safely reach heaven.[i]
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Pope Pius V, one of the greatest Popes never allowed even the busiest affairs of the Church to stop him from his daily Rosary. St. Charles Borromeo was also faithful to the Rosary, despite the enormous responsibilities he had.
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The list of saints is nearly endless who used and recommended the Rosary. St. Francis Xavier, by the mere touch of his beads restored health to sick people.
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The Rosary is a meditation. It is not just to recite the prayers. It is to ponder the Mysteries of our Salvation. We can pray it on our knees or while taking a walk; we can pray the Rosary sitting or while we are driving. There are long rosaries, car rosaries, and finger rosaries.
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Heretics have tried to stop this devotion over the centuries; the secularism of the 1960’s tried to stamp out all devotions, especially the Rosary. But it tenaciously holds as the devotion of the Church most treasured by people.
The Rosary is prayed by truck drivers and pipe-fitters, professional men and women, mothers and fathers, the elderly and the sick, and it is the family prayer of many homes. The Holy Rosary is the best way to stay close to the Gospel in the course of our busy day.
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We can follow the example of St. Stanislaus Kostka; it is said that when he recited the rosary he seemed to be speaking face to face with Mary; when asked one day by a priest how much he loved Mary, he answered, what can I say? She is my mother.
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[i] The Mirror of Priests, p. 120-130.
