HOMILY for Our Lady of the Rosary
Acts 1:12-14; Luke 1:26-38.
The last fortnight alone has seen some very dramatic and terrifying attacks against Christians. In Pakistan, an Anglican church was attacked by two suicide bombers giving rise to the country’s bloodiest attack on Christians. 85 including children died; 120 injured. In Nairobi, the attackers of Westgate mall specifically targeted Christians. 72 executed; 240 injured. Last month, the ancient Christian town of Maaloula in Syria, one of the last places where Jesus’ mother-tongue of Aramaic is spoken, was decimated. Those who would not renounce Christ were martyred. In August, 3 days of violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt saw the destruction of 38 churches, the vandalism of 23, and Christians homes and shops burnt. To safeguard his flock, the Coptic pope cancelled Sunday liturgies for the first time in 1600 years. Since 2003, 40 of the 65 Christian churches in Baghdad have been bombed. In 2008, 500 Christians were killed, thousands injured and half a million left homeless after riots in Orissa, India by Hindu radicals. In Burma, the communist regime specifically targets Christians; unknown thousands have died, and many more been “routinely subjected to imprisonment, torture, and forced labour”. According to independent studies, “11 Christians are killed somewhere in the world every hour, seven days a week and 365 days a year, for reasons related to their faith”.
The reason for calling to mind this catalogue of anti-Christian violence is to point out that the historical context behind today’s feast day is not so remote from the present day experience of our fellow Christians. In the 15th and 16th centuries, being killed for being Christian was a grave reality too for many. The Ottoman empire was then marching across the Baltic and eastern Mediterranean, killing Christians in their wake. So, in May this year Pope Francis recalled this historical fact when he canonized 813 martyrs of the Italian city of Otranto killed by Ottoman Turks in 1480. But it wasn’t until this day in 1571 that the Ottoman threat against Christian Europe was abated by the defeat of Ali Pasha and his fleet at Lepanto off the southern coast of Greece. This victory marked a turning point in restoring peace and freedom to the Christian people.
The pope at that time, the Dominican saint Pius V, attributed this to Our Lady’s intercession because he had gathered the people of Rome to pray the Rosary on the morning of October 7th 1571. So, he instituted today’s feast to honour Our Lady, to commemorate her motherly protection, and to encourage us to pray that most Dominican of devotions, the Holy Rosary.
And it is precisely this that we should recall in today’s feast. We remember that in moments when the Christian people are being persecuted and under attack – both physically and spiritually – we need to turn to God in prayer. We do not take up arms, but take up the Holy Rosary. We do not stir up panic and alarm, but pray with confidence in Our Lady’s love and care. And we ask that through her intercession all people of good will can work with us for peace and reconciliation. For through the Rosary, our focus is the mysteries of salvation; how Christ has saved all people and called all into the unity and love that is God. Through the Rosary we seek refuge in him who is the reconciliation and peace of all Mankind, and whose victory on the Cross has brought us victory over every sin and evil including death.
The last fortnight, then, has seen many evils but also much good. Only yesterday, for example, 300 Christians and Muslims formed a human chain outside a Catholic church in Pakistan to protect worshippers within. And there have been many other such scenarios around the world as people of good will join together to create peace, build friendship, and live in harmony. The Rosary has often been used as a prayer for peace because Our Lady is the Queen of Peace, and she leads us to contemplate the face of her Son who is not just Truth but always Love. Therefore, as Pope Francis says: “As a truth of love, [Christ’s truth] is not one that can be imposed by force… Clearly, then, faith is not intransigent, but grows in respectful co-existence with others… Far from making us inflexible, the security of faith [in Christ] sets us on a journey; it enables witness and dialogue with all” (Lumen Fidei, §14).
So at this time let us pray the Rosary for our many persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. As a Dominican priest in Iraq said: “We need your prayers… because I believe in the power of prayers. They can change the minds of other persons, and governments, and fundamentalist groups. Maybe they can become saints in the future - we do not know. So, I ask… everybody to pray for us”.
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