"Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me, as I am also of Christ" ~ ST. PAUL, 1 Corinthians 4: 16.
“Invoco abundantes bênçãos de Nossa Senhora de Fátima para o vosso projecto sobre o Terço do Rosário.” + CARDINAL ANTÓNIO MARTO (FÁTIMA, PORTUGAL)
ABOUT THE DIARY OF PRAYER (ENGLISH)
The Rosary Hour Podcast broadcasts a new library of Rosary Novena Prayers offered to the Sacred Heart of Jesus with a focus on pilgrimage for Jubilee 2025.
These Pendant Prayers, Rosary decades embedded in our Novenas in this RHP Diary of Prayer will provide concrete ways to pray with the heart approaching key Solemnities in the Liturgical Calendar.
St. Bonaventure exclaims: "Verily, great is Our Lord's mercy! That we, through fear of our divine Judge, depart not forever from Him, He gave us His own Mother for our advocate and mediatrix of grace."
Thus, as we pray through these novenas, we will explore how to increase our devotion to Jesus through the Mother of God & the Holy Spirit — as we seek through these prayers to develop concrete ways of preparing for these Feasts.
We’ll continue from our Christmas Consecration Journey focused on the 3rd Joyful Mystery for 42 days from November 17 to the end of Epiphany with Amelia and now pray continuously from January 25th to February 2nd with Zosia who leads this prayerful novena toward the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord, the 4th Joyful Mystery.
Fr. Elias, Fr. Thad, Fr. Anthony, Fr. Nuno, Fr. Chris, Fr. David Michael, Fr. Peter help us on this journey to understanding the why behind our prayers.
ABOUT THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST & NEWSLETTER
The Rosary Hour Podcast & Newsletter explores ways to rediscover the beauty & depth of eternal wisdom, strengthen piety, develop the virtues, and deepen our devotion to God through offering to Jesus the Christocentric prayer of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Rosary is a special gift from Heaven to the whole world that draws all who pray it closer to sanctifying grace, endless love, sure hope and fathomless Divine Mercy of God:
“Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. (St. John Paul II)
Contributions of more than twenty liturgical and theological experts help us understand how to meditate on the Mysteries and contemplate the excellence and power of this holy devotion, a treasure inspired by God. (St. Louis Marie de Montfort, “The Secret of the Rosary”).
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SEASON PREMIERE & PREFACE TO JOY (χαρά)
Introduced by the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception
“TRUE JOY”
“What is the True Joy of Our Humanity?”
In this first episode, Rev. Father Chris Alar, MIC & Rev. Fr. Thaddeus Lancton, MIC from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy (USA) teach us about the nature of Joy.
Featuring an animated excerpt from “O Segredo da Alegria”, “The Secret of Joy” by Padre Nuno Rocha (PORTUGAL) this preface introduces special guest for 2025, Antonia Salzano Acutis from carloacutis.com (ITALY).
MORE ABOUT THIS SEASON 3 PREFACE
LIVE RECORD on “JOY” (χαρά) features interviews by Amelia with
Fr. Chris Alar, MIC (USA), Provincial Superior of the Marian Fathers at The National Shrine of the Divine Mercy (USA);
An excerpt from “The Secret of Joy” by Fr. Nuno Rocha (PORTUGAL)
Accompanying commentary on "Joy” by Fr. Thaddaeus Lancton, MIC (USA)
JOIN OUR LATEST NOVENA: THE PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD, JESUS
Join the Presentation Novena here:
The Presentation Novena: Day 1 with Zosia
THE PRESENTATION NOVENA (AUDIOCAST): THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST
WHAT IS THE ROSARY?
Reflections by: The Rosary Hour Podcast with our Spiritual Directors
“The Rosary is a very simple prayer” Fr. Anthony begins.
“It is a prayer of repetition so that anyone of any age can pray the Rosary.”
THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD, “ROSARY”:
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term “Rosary” is derived from the late Middle English (in the sense ‘rose garden’).
It can also be drawn from the Latin rosarium ‘rose garden’, based on rosa ‘rose’.
Those accessing Encyclopedia Britannica will read that the Rosary is “a religious exercise in which prayers are recited and counted on a string of beads” and it extends that prayer beads used for prayer is a practice that is “widespread, occurring in virtually every major religious tradition in the world.”
Yet St. Thérèse of Lisieux gives us yet another way of seeing the Rosary in this small scene from her memoir, “The Story of a Soul”:
It was evening, and as soon as I got to a street-lamp I stopped and took the newly blessed Rosary out of my pocket, turning it over and over.
“What are you looking at, Thérèse, dear?” asked Pauline.
“I am seeing what a blessed Rosary looks like.”
This childish answer amused my sisters very much.
This wonderful story of a child shows us another dimension of the Rosary.
For in this scene, our little Thérèse wants to know the visual difference between a Blessed Rosary and one yet to be blessed!
Her inquiry draws us closer to the definition of the Rosary — for in the hands of a child, a Rosary transforms into something greater than a set of beads.
There is something great she nows sees in this sacramental, blessed by the consecrated hands of the priest.
Can you sense what it is that she looking for?
MORE THAN BEADS AND WORDS
It is this curiosity of Thérèse that we might say describes what drew all those in this prayer group to inquire about the Rosary. And that is just what we are — a prayer group that was prayed the Rosary for almost a month together in January 2022 until March 2022 — all of us were struggling over the words which we know, but hadn’t ever prayed as a group of friends.
In fact, as we learned how to pray as a group (a totally different skill we discovered we had questions). There was something more to this Rosary prayer that we couldn’t put our fingers on. And what’s more, we just didn’t know how to explain it to our children. And thus, it was by Our Lady’s inspiration that. Anthony Gramlich began to teach us about the Rosary, and thus, to begin our journey to rediscovering the Holy Rosary, via theholyrosary.substack.com, we wish to share one quick summary of the Rosary that he explored as the FOUNDING SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR of ROSARY HOUR PODCAST, teaching us from his desk as the ASSISTANT RECTOR of the NATIONAL SHRINE OF THE DIVINE MERCY (STOCKBRIDGE, MA, USA):
A VOCAL PRAYER with a BODY AND A SOUL
“The Rosary is a very simple prayer” Fr. Anthony begins.
“It is a prayer of repetition so that anyone of any age can pray the Rosary.”
In this first video, Fr. Anthony describes how the Rosary has two parts: the prayers themselves (the Body of the Rosary) and the Meditation (the soul of the prayer) which he defines as “thinking about something.”
WHAT IS AT THE HEART OF THE ROSARY?
At the heart of the Rosary is the heart to whom these Christocentric prayers of the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, etc. are directed: the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the hands of Our Lady, calling also upon the Holy Spirit, etc.
When we think about the scriptural passages and meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ when we offer each decade, the individuals prayers are little “roses” — one offered after another, and these bouquets are thus grouped into a number of decades which are specially formatted for the recitation of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The transcript of the prayers is a focus of our podcast, specifically because this prayer is most efficacious when prayed in a group chorus format; however, we’ll get into that aspect when we look at Fr. Nuno Rocha’s curated prayers for Season 3.
For now, our Founding Spiritual Director Fr. Anthony gives a useful definition of the Rosary as a simple prayer. If you wish to see the basic prayer format that was used when we first started this conversation in 2022, we invite you to jump to this earlier draft for this podcast and which is the basis for the broadcasts on Radio Maria USA led by Zosia, Amelia and Dr. Kaufman since 2022:
THE 3rd JOYFUL MYSTERY OF THE ROSARY
Fr. Anthony Gramlich met us for the first time on March 15, 2022 and we recorded with him our first Rosary Podcast on the Feast of the Visitation weeks later — and in that 2 1/2 hour discussion, he suggested beginning this journey into rediscovering the Holy Rosary via the 3rd Joyful Mystery: Christmas.
Why?
Because Christmas is the easiest mystery to meditate upon.
SEASON 3: THE SECRET OF JOY IN THE 3RD JOYFUL MYSTERY — CHRISTMAS
For Season 3 of the Rosary Hour Podcast, we have chosen to focus on the Joyful Mysteries. To start this conversation, we’ll begin with the Nativity of Jesus Christ — December 25.
STEP 1: LET’S MEDITATE ON CHRISTMAS, “THE NATIVITY of JESUS CHRIST”
On December 08, 2024, Fr. Anthony returned to The Rosary Hour Podcast to teach our listeners more about starting our conversation on the Rosary with the 3rd Joyful Mystery: “The Nativity”.
This topic came about quite organically while he helped Amelia and our team to contribute a few more Christmas notes for what was an unexpected 42-day online novena — an organically created “second annual Christmas Countdown and Consecration Journey to the Heart of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” inspired by Amelia’s own recitation of the Act of Consecration in 2021 and her interest in Bishop Keenan’s consecration introduced by his videos created for ChildConsecration.com.
NOTE: For the period of January 25-February 2, 2025, Zosia will help Amelia continues this journey with the 4th Joyful Mystery and our new Presentation Novena. Click here for Day 1.
The Presentation Novena: Day 1 with Zosia
THE PRESENTATION NOVENA (AUDIOCAST): THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST
THE ROSARY & A DECADE JOURNEY TO CHRISTMAS
The story of Jesus begins with the Annunciation in the Gospel of Luke, a story we’ll return to before March 2025. For the present, let’s TRAVEL BACK IN TIME and imagine the first Christmas Eve 2000 years ago. We can situate ourselves there — present in the time of Christ’s birth, and the minutes leading up to this historic event.
What do you see? What do you smell? What do you hear?
Meditation on the Rosary consists in thinking about Jesus’ life — and Sonja Corbitt, our first guest to the Rosary Hour Podcast described the Rosary as “A Bible on a String”.
As we celebrate the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday of the Word of God, instituted by Pope Francis in 2019 — we listen also to the Gospel of Luke:
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all (Luke 4:14-15).
In a sense, the Rosary prayers teach us about this great teacher in Luke 4, and in getting to know Jesus at Christmas, a time which describes his meek entrance into the history of humanity, His coming among us as “The word made flesh” and the “Prince of Peace”, we meet a baby King announced by the angel, “Fear not, I bring you good news” (Luke 2) and this story resonates as we take time in this Mystery to meditate on the reality of Christ in the world.
BILOCATING TO US
When we think of Christmas in our own historical time — December 24th, we can often imagine the nativity scene as a way that Jesus as a baby “biloctes” to us.
In all the days leading up to Christmas through Advent and the Christmas Consecration Journey, we experienced two years in a row the a gift of focusing for over 40 days on the 3rd Joyful Mystery.
In a way, this was the first time for many of us to truly explore the deeper “meaning” of Christmas that is so often the topic of radio shows etc.
In various stages during this journey, with the help of Fr. Anthony, Fr. Thad, Fr. Elias, and Fr. David Michael Moses, we made some discoveries that we hope will help our readers in 2025.
PRAYING THE ROSARY AND MEDITATING ON CHRISTMAS ITS SECRET JOY
The Rosary is a prayer that also links to our lives as it is prayed to transform our lives.
Take a moment now to picture in your mind all the things that “get you into Christmas Mode” by thinking of what brings you to the Secret of Christmas Joy.
If you need some help, Father Anthony Gramlich, MIC, explores “The Joy of Christmas Traditions” in this video led by Amelia.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
STEP 2: LEARN THE ROSARY DECADE PRAYERS FOR THIS MYSTERY — “CHRISTMAS” (The Nativity) and MEDITATE ON THE BEAUTY and THE SECRET of CHRISTMAS JOY.
FR. ELIAS MARY MILLS, FI teaches in the “NATIVITY” video to:
“Call to mind how Jesus Christ became a little child.”
ABOUT THE PRAYERS IN THIS VIDEO PRESENTATION
The prayers of the Sign of the Cross, the Our Father, the ten Hail Marys, the Glory Be, the Miraculous Medal Prayer, and Fátima Prayer, etc. are presented below in this lesson review to help you teach others these prayers.
You can tell those new to the Rosary that the decade of the Rosary offered to the Sacred Heart of the Baby Jesus provides a most concrete way to pray with the heart in one session.
To help you and others learn the words of these prayers, anywhere in the world, download the following GOOGLE DOC for HELP in committing these words to memory. Translate them if need be, or write us for help from Amelia or Zosia to assist constructing with you a toolkit in your language of choice.
OR use this handy “DIGITAL TOOLKIT FOR ROSARY LEADERS” for the 4th JOYFUL MYSTERY
DOWNLOAD: “MY VERY FIRST ROSARY DECADE” TOOLKIT HERE via https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TjIpGzgtst9POJwPAVOHxRQsqwhnyf1pmqDn7XnemuM/edit?tab=t.0
WATCH THIS ACCOMPANYING VIDEO which models all the prayers with the help of the Assistant Rector of the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy. Click here to pray with Father Anthony, or stay on this page and click the play button using the automatic window to our YouTube Channel below:
WHAT IS THE SECRET OF JOY?
For Season 3, The Rosary Hour Podcast is focusing on the “Joy” in the “Joyful Mysteries” of the Rosary.
In 2023, our Season 3 content curator and episode director wrote the first book in our series of reflections on the Rosary entitled: “THE SECRET OF JOY”.
“Joy” (Alegria) is defined by FATHER NUNO ROCHA (PORTUGAL) through a series of questions that he answers in this new introduction to the Joyful Mysteries and which are featured in this year’s Season 3 podcast presentations as each guest explores their own take on each of these questions. Here is a sample in ENGLISH and GERMAN:
TRUE JOY: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JOY AND HAPPINESS, FR. ALAR, MIC
Beginning with the end in mind, one of the penultimate essential questions Fr. Nuno Rocha’s book further raises is:
“What is the true joy of our Humanity?”
As part of your Jubilee 2025 year, you are invited to take the time to answer this question with another person.
You can begin your first effort to explore “joy” in the “Joyful Mysteries” here by asking with Fr. Chris Alar, “What is the difference between joy and happiness”:
The first episode of Season 3: of the Rosary Hour Podcast “TRUE JOY” answers this question with reflections led by the Provincial Superior of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Fr. Chris Alar, host of EWTN’s show, “Living Divine Mercy”.
Watch his conversation with Amelia below, and look for Fr. Thad Lancton’s personal answer to Fr. Nuno’s question, “What is the true joy of our Humanity?” as a way to inspire you to offer the decades of the Joyful Mysteries with your heart.
STEP 4: THE TRUE JOY OF GIVING & the SPIRIT OF POVERTY
“Let your manners be without covetousness, contented with such things as you have; for he hath said: I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee.”
(Douay-Rheims Bible, Hebrews 13:5)
THE GRACES BESTOWED ON THOSE WHO SANCTIFY THEMSELVES WITH THE ROSARY cannot be underestimated as Our Lady promised to Blessed Alan when she taught him the 15 promises to those who pray the Rosary.
SEE: https://dominicanfriars.org/the-15-promises-of-the-rosary/
When we pray the 3rd Mystery, we read the following passage of Scripture which defines the poverty of Christ:
"And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger: because there was no room for them in the inn." (Luke 2:7)
Then, we read the following offering as composed by St. Louis Marie de Montfort, “The Secret of the Rosary” as read by Fr. Elias Mary Mills, FI for our podcast:
We offer Thee, O Child of Jesus, this third decade in honor of Thy Blessed Nativity, and we ask of Thee, through this mystery and through the intercession of Thy Blessed Mother, detachment from things of this world, love of poverty and love of the poor.
DETACHMENT & LOVE OF POVERTY | THE SPIRIT OF POVERTY
Hebrews 13:5 challenges each of us to better understand the Will of God which at Christmas can be a challenge when we read that our manners need to be “contented with such things as you have”, implying detachment from things we “do not” have.
When we pray the Rosary, we ask when we offer this decade of the Rosary, we translate this “Spirit of Poverty” as a grace that might easily be contemplated when we think of what gives us “True Joy” at Christmas.
This kind of deeper meditation on this 3rd Joyful Mystery provides a starting for deepening our approach to THE HOLY ROSARY, and in many ways, this prayer with the Heart causes us to investigate how each “Hail Mary” and prayer slowly transforms us through sanctifying grace as we seek to place ourselves before God’s presence by offering these prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. It is in. this free act of offering each decade, formed through reciting the words of the Our Father, ten Angelic Salutation prayers, the Glory Be, etc., it is in this juxtaposing that recitation of the Rosary can bring about more profound meditations on the life of Christ. Our intentional request for sanctifying grace to build in our hearts and souls the virtues we need to live face-to-face with God in eternity is embedded in this Heavenly prayer as St. Louis Marie de Montfort argues in his “The Secret of the Rosary”. He encourages therefore that we eventually strive to move from one decade to 15 decades a day:
“Recite the entire Rosary every day, that is to say, three rosaries each of five decades, which are like three little wreaths or crowns of flowers. There are two reasons for doing this: first of all, to honour the three crowns of Jesus and Mary – Jesus’ crown of grace at the time of his Incarnation, his crown of thorns during his passion, and his crown of glory in heaven, and of course the three-fold crown which the Blessed Trinity gave Mary in heaven. Secondly, we should do this so that we ourselves may receive three crowns from Jesus and Mary, the first a crown of merit during our lifetime; the second, a crown of peace at our death; and the third, a crown of glory in heaven.”
For now, we can focus on helping others new to the Rosary on “CHRISTMAS JOY”:
CHRISTMAS JOY
What does it mean to give to others in or with the “Spirit of Poverty?”
How can this “spirit” become a reality 365-days-a-year?
When we pray the Rosary, we ask for Heaven to bestow upon us the sanctifying grace which enables in our souls the fruit of the Rosary Mysteries. In the case of the 3rd Joyful Mystery, when we ask for the “Spirit of Poverty”, we might wonder how might we increase in ourselves this “spirit” and how will we know this “spirit” is authentically coming from the Holy Spirit? One way to discern is to do a Novena to the Holy Spirit, which we’ll prepare before Pentecost. Another way is to talk to a priest to ask for Spiritual Direction if you require support in a specific trial that you feel is preventing you from giving with the “Spirit of Poverty”.
If you don’t at present have someone to talk to about this question, or a trusted Spiritual Director, we invite you in the meantime as you find ways to get support, to listen to Fr. Anthony’s person reflection on “The Joy of Giving” and perhaps find someone to talk with about this point.
Alternatively, you can write a response in your Diary of Prayer and/or share it in the comments below.
STEP 5: CONCRETE STEPS TO TURNING OUR ROSARY PRAYERS INTO CONCRETE ACTION TO MASTER THE VIRTUES
All is grace from God. That means, that there is nothing we can “do” to achieve sanctity by ourselves. It is by our prayers that we are sanctified, and in many ways, something special happens at Christmas which calls all who witness Christmas Joy in people’s hearts back to God.
THE LOVE FOR GIVING
In his “Christmas Mode” video, Fr. Anthony speaks of his innate love for giving gifts at Christmas.
Fr. Anthony loves Christmas shopping for others and writes a minimum of 175 Christmas cards to his friends and family each year as part of his Christmas traditions.
In the above short, he also mentions the opportunities each of us has to give to others at Christmas, and any time of year. We can
volunteer at a soup kitchen,
give to the poor,
spend time with others (those in prisons of pain / suffering / abandonment / poverty / loneliness / confusion / etc.)
VALUING OTHERS | THE SPIRIT OF POVERTY
The Saints remind us that we should always look to others as greater than ourselves, which doesn’t call us to a state of false humility, so much as a state of realization that we are all capable of increasing our meekness, and that the true tests of Faith come when God takes from us the things which sustain our sense of security, stability, whether that be physical, financial, etc.
Another point that many writers through the 18th and 19th centuries raised during the Industrial Revolution, especially, was how do we value others according to their being and not their financial wealth? How do we love and care for the poor?
Finally, do we recognize who are the spiritually poor in our lives and how can we live the request we make through this 3rd Joyful Mystery as concretely tied to the challenges of John 13:34 as possible?
“A new commandment I give unto you:
That you love one another, as I have loved you,
that you also love one another.”
(Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)
STEP 6: WHO NEEDS LOVE TODAY? THE MICHELLE DUPPONG STORY
The “Spirit of Poverty” at Christmas helps us to recognizes how ‘giving’ can be directed — and how to incorporate this teaching which challenges: “That you love one another, as I have loved you”.
Think of someone in your life who needs to be transformed by love as you ask Jesus Christ through the hands of Our Lady for “detachment from things of this world, love of poverty and love of the poor” through this Rosary Decade.
FIND SOURCES OF INSPIRATION
On January 25th, 2025 we updated this page and had a Holy Mass said for Michelle Duppong and Family for the Vigil Mass.
Thus, we’d like to dedicate the current draft exploration of this Mystery of the Roawry to this FOCUS Missionary and invite you to learn about her story and pray with her on her birthday — she was born January 25th, 1984 and this year, we celebrate on Christmas Day, 10 years since her passing from cancer, asking that we learn from his Servant of God what it means to approach others with the Spirit of Poverty so that, as Fr. Nuno Rocha notes, we will learn how to be with others by our time spent with Jesus in offering to His Sacred Heart the Rosary decades each day.
ON PRESENTING JESUS TO OTHERS & THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION
The 2nd Joyful Mystery, “THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION” represents the wonderful gift of joy that Our Lady and St. Joseph had in presenting Jesus in the temple, and Fr. Thad and Fr. David Michael Moses comment in this video presentation on our main newsletter, that Simeon had great joy in holding Jesus.
We have created the video, “My Very First Second” of the Rosary for children to learn the second decade after Mastering decade #1. In a prayer group, you can now swap leadership roles, so that a new leader can follow the Rosary beads.
In this Mystery, we are praying with the heart for the grace of being Obedient to God’s laws, and also to Jesus’s call “That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34).
This post was updated on the first day of our Novena to prepare for the Feast of the Presentation. As we contemplate this Joyful Mystery, we can examine the Scripture here:
See our post on the Presentation from January 25th, 2025.
[COMING SOON]
STEP 6: LEARN ABOUT THE ROSARY WITH FR. ANTHONY
Watch this popular video on YouTube from our 2022 LIVE RECORD with FR. ANTHONY GRAMLICH, MIC who talks about his favorite book, “The Secret of the Rosary” by St. Louis Marie de Montfort.
READ “THE SECRET OF THE ROSARY” HERE:
- https://thavmapub.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/secret-of-the-rosary.pdf
LiSTEN HERE:
