Word to the Wise
Tuesday, October 7, 2025 - Tuesday in the 27th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jonah 3:1-10 and Luke 10:38-42]Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her. [Luke]
OCTOBER 7 OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY
The scene that follows the parable of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel According to Luke is a striking contrast. One might ask why Mary isn't helping her sister - perhaps her nearest "neighbor?" Why doesn't Jesus chide Mary as well as Martha? Indeed, the scene has been given many interpretations over the centuries. Martha and Mary became "types" for contrasting life-styles and personalities. In one popular approach Mary became the representative of contemplative religious life. Martha became the representative of "active" religious life. St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P., good Dominican that he was, landed in the middle and argued for the "mixed" form!
This gospel scripture will not appear on this date next year. However, the coincidence this year suggests to me that the whole point of the rosary - the truly iconic prayer of western Roman Catholics (the eastern churches have their own form of beaded prayer) - is to encounter the Lord in the scriptures and to sit at his feet and listen to him.
The rosary, as it is popularly prayed, has a long and fascinating history and evolution which may be read in Anne Winston-Allen's STORIES OF THE ROSE. The feast day itself began with the Confraternities of the Rosary, founded by a Dominican, Bl. Alan de la Roche, OP, around 1455. The feast was first recognized by Pope St. Pius V (a Dominican) in 1571 in gratitude for significant naval victory of Christian forces over Turkish forces (the battle of Lepanto). The evolution has continued in various ways with "scriptural rosaries", etc. Pope St. John Paul II, added five more "mysteries" to the 15 that most of us grew up with. Whatever the form and format, the celebration of the feast is a reminder of the importance both symbolic and practical of the rosary for Catholics. AMEN