Today is such a beautiful feast day as we contemplate Our Lady of the Rosary and the Marian prayer that protects us all. Many Catholics have been praying the Rosary before they even knew how to read the words. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the shepherd of the Archdiocese of San Francisco shared with the Register how he learned to pray the Rosary, including how your guardian angel finishes it for you if you fall asleep!
“When I was a little child, we had rosaries around the house. Before I learned exactly what it was and how to pray it, I used to put it around my fingers when I held my hands together in prayer because I knew it was something sacred and having to do with prayer. When I was a little bit older, when family members or other loved ones died, the vigil always consisted of praying the Rosary. So that was really my first exposure to praying the Rosary.”
When he made his First Holy Communion, young Salvatore growing up in San Diego received two rosaries at the same time. “My godparents gave me a missal with a pocket in the cover that contained a rosary, and the nuns instructing us at the parish also gave rosaries to the first communicants. The rosary in the missal was black, and the one I received from the nun who taught me First Communion was a multicolored rosary. So I had a variation of rosaries.”
And he’s been praying it ever since then—and fondly remembers praying it in bed.
“If I couldn’t fall asleep, I would pray the Rosary and would eventually fall asleep before I got to the end of it. When I woke up, I would find it under the pillow or somewhere in the sheets. I didn’t know at the time, but I later learned that an angel finishes the Rosary for you. That was my first exposure to the Rosary.”
The shepherd of San Francisco’s favorite mystery?
“That is kind of like asking me my favorite spaghetti sauce or asking a parent who is their favorite child!”
“Everything in our religion revolves around the Incarnation, that God became one of us. So I would say it would be the mystery of the Annunciation when Mary gave her “Yes” to God’s plan for His Son taking on flesh and coming into the world because it is the fulfillment of God’s plan. This meditation helps us to understand how unique God’s plan really is. It is God coming to man so that we can go to God. And it provides us with a reflection on Mary’s model of discipleship in saying “Yes” to God even in the midst of difficulties and uncertainties.”