Men like weapons.
And they revere those who wield them for good.
Think I'm nuts?
How else do you explain a movie about fighter jets and pilots becoming the highest-grossing film of 2022, coming in at a cool $1.4 billion at the box office this year?
Indeed, men like weapons. So do boys.
Anyone who has sons knows this by experience. Ask your sons to help clean up the yard; invariably, the sticks become swords, and a fight breaks out.
But today's weapons come and go. What is innovative today won't be 50 years from now.
There is, however, a weapon that never loses its power and vitality—the weapon of the ages—The Holy Rosary.
- "The Holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you will be amazed at the results." – Saint Josemaria
- "Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today." – Saint Padre Pio
- "The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin." – Pope Pius XI
- "Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world." – Blessed Pope Pius IX
Good advice from holy men. But don't take their word for it.
None other than the Blessed Mother herself gave us the Rosary. Any good son knows he should listen to his mother—particularly the Mother of God, the most perfect creature ever to walk the earth.
Men are at their strongest when they pray and encourage others to pray.
The Holy Rosary, I would argue, is the weapon of choice.
I picked up the Rosary many years ago at my mother's recommendation. Looking for a job and getting down about the lack of results, she urged me to use it to "slay the demon of discouragement."
It worked. I was twenty-five, and I've been praying it ever since.
My wife and I prayed the Rosary together – well before we were even married.
For several years, we prayed before an abortion facility in Boston on Saturday mornings. The evil was palpable there, but the power of the Rosary was even greater. We know now that there is nothing more disturbing to the abortionists than the faithful praying in front of their doors of death.
As for our family, we began early.
We showed our children how to pray the Rosary from the earliest ages. As any parent knows, with young children, it can be a circus of sorts. My sons would regularly whip the Rosary beads around their fingers like a propeller.
So what, I said. The children will grow into it, and they have.
Today's world is in major need of weapons and fighters. The culture is toxic.
Our freedoms, particularly as Christians, are eroding. Our culture calls basic assumptions about the human person into question. Up is down. Down is up. The pace of this absurdity is astonishing.
That's why we need to step up. Pray the Rosary and act for the good.
Ask Jesus and His Holy Mother for help.
Are you up to the task?
