October is traditionally the month of the Holy Rosary.
Pope Leo 13th (1810-1903) wrote 11 encyclicals on the rosary. Why?
He said there were 3 errors at the time.
1 - A distaste for the ordinary life of physical labour had crept into society. The working man was becoming discontent with his lot.
2 - A repugnance for any type of suffering, instead of having a supernatural outlook and 'offering it up'. When one offers up suffering of any kind, it becomes less burdensome, as God uses that suffering to do good elsewhere.
3 - The loss of people thinking about Heaven, and the loss of the supernatural.
He saw that man was no longer content with life - and society was collapsing. This was over 100 years ago! He said society was becoming spoilt, and children expected their parents to indulge them all the time!
People were beginning to be influenced by Marxist atheistic communism. In the 1890s he said that people were chasing false gods of this world - and becoming like the pagans, who were addicted to worldly things. Ironically the pagans did have a supernatural outlook, and regarded life as a journey to something supernatural. The pagans had a thirst for eternal life. The pope said that society in the 19th century was worse than the pagans!
So with all these modern problems, the pope was exhorting people to pray the Rosary. The rosary is the remedy to help all types of situations.
The Joyful mysteries help us to cope with our state of life.
The Sorrowful mysteries teach us how to suffer in union with Our Lord.
The Glorious mysteries help us to strive for Heaven.
The Rosary doesn't take long. Start with a decade and gradually increase it to the full rosary - 5 decades. Eventually increase this to all 3 rosaries - 15 decades. One rosary takes around 15 minutes. Surely people have 15 minutes to pray the Rosary. If you count the hours of how much rubbish TV, sport etc - you have time to say the Rosary! The television is a horrible distraction.
The pope was wanting families to pray the rosary together.
Pope Pius XI also wrote about the Rosary in 1937.
Pope Pius XII wrote about the Rosary in 1951
If you search for "Rosary Encyclicals" you will find much more on this most important of prayers.
