7 October 2020
Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
“…Only, we were to be mindful of the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do.” (Gal 2:10)
After the other apostles confirm St. Paul’s vocation to evangelize the Gentiles, they included the above caveat “to be mindful of the poor”. This appears not to be a general admonition, but rather a specific request that Paul not forget the Christian converts suffering in the Holy Land. Nor was Paul vague in his eagerness to respond. The collections for Jerusalem come up again and again in his letters to the Christians throughout the Greek-speaking Mediterranean. Nor was this service without personal cost to the apostle. After returning to Jerusalem with the relief funds, Paul is threatened by mob violence and eventually imprisoned. Showing the care of the Lord to others required that Paul rely more and more on the Lord as his own source of care.
Today’s memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (also known as Our Lady of Victory), also commemorates something very particular. On October 7, 1571 a naval victory of tremendous consequence for European Catholicism was attributed to widespread invocation of the Blessed Virgin by the devotion of the Rosary. The memorial is both a reminder of the great care for the Church that Christ has placed in the heart of His Mother, as well as a reminder that such care is made manifest in moments of particular need. With the example of divine care poured to overflowing in the heart of St. Paul and Our Lady of the Rosary, what are we called to do? Perhaps we can get a little more acquainted with Christians in the conditions of the poor that St. Paul mentions by visiting sites such as www.churchinneed.org, our own local Catholic Charities sites, or simply offering help to homebound neighbors in these difficult days. May the care of Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother, Queen of the Holy Rosary, propel us to be more and more mindful of the poor.