Going Godward at the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage

 

Going Godward at the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage

By Blackfriars Staff

A little slice of heaven is how one pilgrim described this year’s Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage—a day-long gathering of more than 3,000 pilgrims with the Dominican Friars and the Blessed Mother at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. It is days like these that nourish our journey here on earth—gathering together in the Upper Room, so to speak, with Mary—replete with good Dominican preaching, praying of the Rosary, Adoration, confessions, Mass, and a concert by The Hillbilly Thomists.

Going Godward was the message Fr. James Sullivan, O.P., preached at this year’s Pilgrimage and “going Godward with the Blessed Virgin Mary simply means following her on the path that she has already begun for us of being united with her in prayer at every moment of our life.”

Fr. James served as principal preacher for the second annual Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage which took place on September 28. He centered his talk on the Annunciation, saying God not only broke into creation at the Annunciation, but it is there that God assures us that creation is good. Even though our first parents sinned, Mary is the proof humanity works, Fr. James preached.

 

 

But this Godward movement is not possible without God’s grace, he said. And at the Annunciation, God gives us not only his son, but also his mother. “The Annunciation is a gift to us of both Jesus and Mary, and both of them together weave the prayers of the Rosary. And Mary is proof that the fullness of the human person is forged by God’s grace in her,” Fr. James taught.

Fr. James described how we should see the virtues lived by the Blessed Mother, especially faith, hope, and charity, as clear signs for us on this path Godward. In regards to faith, Fr. James preached that St. Louis de Montfort told us that Mary will share her faith with us. We just have to ask her. “Her faith on earth was stronger than that of all the patriarchs, all the prophets and apostles, and all the saints. And now that she is reigning in heaven, she no longer has this faith, because she sees everything clearly in him by the light of glory. But she lived by faith in this life. She knows this virtue because by knowing the Lord, she came to love him all the more,” said Fr. James.

As regards to her hope, Fr. James preached that “because she had no sin to impede her faith, she had no concupiscence to weaken her faith, and that knowledge of God led her to grow in hope.” He told the pilgrims that the virtue of hope enables us to do two things; first, to trust in the promises that God has made us, specifically, the promises of Jesus in the gospel; and secondly, to desire the fulfillment of those promises.

And finally, in living out the virtue of charity—probably the hardest virtue to live, Fr. James said, because we don’t have it within us to love as God commands. But he assured the pilgrims that in our command to love, Mary will help us. “She will open and enlarge your heart to obey the commands of her son.”

 

 

In his homily at the Vigil Mass, Fr. Dominic Verner, O.P., preached powerfully and poetically about the Battle of Lepanto, the Ottoman armada that outnumbered the Catholic fleet, and Pope St. Pius V’s call to prayer to defeat the enemy—specifically his call to pray the Rosary. “Perhaps it was this time [Our Lady] had in mind when she gave the Rosary to St. Dominic’s sons. Perhaps it was for a moment such as this, that she gave us the beaded wire to her throne. And Pope St. Pius ordered the churches to stay open, day and night, for Christian prayer,” Fr. Dominic preached. Though clearly outmanned, Our Lady intervened for her flock that day in a most miraculous way, turning the enemy back, Christendom saved.

But Fr. Dominic warned we face another armada today. He termed it “an armada of amnesia.” The forgetfulness of God is what we face now, but it’s not a foreign enemy that comes at us, it’s our brothers and sisters who are enslaved. Using imagery from the Rosary, Fr. Dominic illustrated where we see this “great forgetting” in full view: “We too often have let the mysteries be forgotten, and the fleet has gathered strength. The Annunciation has been forgotten, with its angelic honors given to the chosen mother, and a new feminism arises despising motherhood itself. The Visitation has been forgotten, with its prophet leaping in the womb, and a culture of death clamors for the right to kill the unborn. The Nativity has been forgotten, with the poor God-child born in a stable, no crib, no bed, and the poor homeless are passed over with averted eyes.”

 

 

Our Lady has given us the Rosary for these times, too, and she commands the angels once more, Fr. Dominic proclaimed. The winds are shifting, he said, and “while the world does not remember, it is beginning to suspect that something has been forgotten.” He assured us that Our Lady hears our prayers and “the Aves echo once more.”

A highlight of the day was the moment Fr. Joseph-Anthony Kress, O.P., led 400 pilgrims in an enrollment in the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. “Too often, we keep our devotions private,” Fr. Joseph-Anthony said, “but this is an opportunity to join our voices together to cry out to heaven and ask for the mercy and grace of God.”

In one of his talks that day, Fr. James preached that the glorious mysteries of the Rosary are something we have to wait for. But the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage—a day spent with Our Lady in the Upper Room, a day of so many graces for so many present—was a glimpse of the glory that awaits us.

To view this year’s Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage or to learn more about next year’s Pilgrimage, visit rosarypilgrimage.org.

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Photo Credit: All Photos by Jeffrey Bruno

 

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