The Church has had many different Marian feast days throughout its history that have “kind of ebbed and flowed,” said Father Tom Margevicius, director of worship for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Some remain, “and … one of them that we love to observe,” he said, is Our Lady of the Rosary Oct. 7.  

Holding a rosary in one’s hands has been noted as a way to focus attention during prayer, Father Margevicius said. “Our faith is not just a matter of what’s in your heart. It’s not just a mental thing. It’s not just a matter of praying quietly in your soul, but your body is actually holding on and touching and moving things,” he said. “And so your body and soul are praying in synchronicity with each other.” 

Father Tom Margevicius

Father Tom Margevicius

Holding the beads while praying the rosary is a way to “get your body and mind joining together in this prayer,” he said. One reason the rosary is a powerful prayer is because it involves “more of our personhood than just our recollection or our intellect,” Father Margevicius said. “When you get your body praying, then this is a fuller way to pray than just internally.” That’s one reason Satan hates the sacraments, he said, because “they are so potent, because they involve us bodily in our own salvation process; we participate bodily.” 

Our Blessed Mother was at the foot of the cross, and “she’s not afraid to be with us in our darkest, most suffering moments,” Father Margevicius said. So carrying the rosary at all times, even when not praying, is “a powerful way to hold on to that faith and to trust in the motherly care of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” he said.  

Simply carrying the rosary is a constant reminder that “we have a mother who loves us and is interceding to her Son for us,” Father Margevicius said, “and that there is nothing that’s going on in our life that is beyond the grace and mercy of our Lord.” 

An annual rosary procession in the archdiocese began in 1947 and continues this year on Oct. 7, from the state Capitol to the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. Line-up begins at 6:30 p.m. followed by the procession at 7 p.m., led this year by Bishop Joseph Williams. 

People who cannot walk the procession route can go directly to the Cathedral to pray the rosary while others process, Father Margevicius said. The event concludes at the Cathedral with Marian prayers, eucharistic adoration and Benediction.  

Father Margevicius also reminded listeners to tune in to the Family Rosary Across America on Relevant Radio weeknights at 7 p.m. 

Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with licensed marriage and family therapist Jake Voelker, who offers tips for navigating the early years of married life with joy; and self-employed figurative sculpture artist Maria Widstrom, who describes the two years she spent in Florence, Italy, to attend art school where she could involve her faith and learn about sculpture she could share with other Catholics. 

Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.