Daily Catholic Lectio
Tue, 7 Oct ‘25
Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday
Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Memorial
Jonah 3:1–10. Luke 10:38–42
One Thing is Necessary
1. The Garland of Life
Today we commemorate Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, a day when the Church invites us to hold in our hands and hearts the simple beads that carry the mysteries of salvation. The whole month of October is dedicated to the Rosary — the “Gospel in prayer,” as Pope Saint Paul VI beautifully called it.
A garland or rosary has neither beginning nor end. The first bead leads into the last, and the last circles back to the first — just as in life, every ending becomes a new beginning. Our joys, sorrows, and hopes flow in a sacred rhythm, all enclosed in God’s eternal love.
When we move the beads through our fingers, we are not merely counting prayers — we are journeying with Mary through the mysteries of Christ. The circle of the Rosary mirrors the circle of life. Every bead is a moment; every mystery is a stage of grace.
In that sense, the Rosary is not just a prayer we recite, but a life we live — a rhythm of contemplation, surrender, and transformation.
2. The Rosary: A Gospel in Motion
Saint Paul VI once said, “The Rosary is a compendium of the Gospel.” Through its joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries, we walk through the life of Jesus and Mary. In the Joyful Mysteries, we learn gratitude and humility. In the Luminous Mysteries, we discover mission and meaning. In the Sorrowful Mysteries, we find courage in suffering. In the Glorious Mysteries, we rejoice in hope and resurrection.
Each decade becomes a mirror of our own human experience — times of birth and death, joy and loss, pain and renewal. To pray the Rosary, then, is to place our own story within the story of salvation. The Rosary also invites us to slow down. The repeated rhythm of the Hail Mary is not vain repetition — it is sacred breathing. Each word becomes a heartbeat of trust, a reminder that grace is not in rushing, but in resting in God’s presence.
3. Mary, the Woman of Prayer
The first reading (memorial) (Acts 1:12–14) reminds us that Mary prayed with the apostles in the upper room. She was not only a mother of Jesus but also the mother of the praying Church. Her prayer was presence — she simply stayed. Before she ever spoke, she remained.
In the Gospel (Luke 1:38), her surrender — “Let it be done to me according to your word” — shows that the truest form of prayer is not talking but trusting. So, the Rosary is both: Mary’s presence beside us in prayer, and Mary’s surrender showing us how to let God’s will unfold.
When we hold the Rosary, we hold her hand — the hand that points always to Jesus.
4. “Only One Thing is Necessary”
The Gospel reading (today’s) (Luke 10:38–42) brings us to the home of Martha and Mary in Bethany. Martha welcomes Jesus, but soon becomes “anxious and troubled about many things.” Mary, on the other hand, sits quietly at His feet, listening.
Jesus gently tells Martha: “You are worried about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part.” That “one thing necessary” is the heart of both the Gospel and the Rosary — the contemplative spirit that listens before it acts. Martha represents our restless busyness — always doing, producing, achieving. Mary represents our resting faith — being, listening, receiving. Both are needed, but one must guide the other. Without contemplation, our service becomes agitation. Without prayer, our work loses its meaning.
5. The Rosary and the “One Thing Necessary”
In our noisy, hurried world, the Rosary teaches us the art of stillness. Each bead draws us back from distraction to focus — from many things to the one thing necessary. As we move from one bead to another, we learn to let go of the unnecessary. The circle of the Rosary becomes a daily invitation to centre our scattered hearts on Christ, to live our faith not in fragments but in fullness.
The Rosary thus forms in us a contemplative heart like Mary’s — a heart that: stays present in love, surrenders in trust, and listens for God’s quiet whisper amid the noise of the world.
6. A Garland that Unites Heaven and Earth
Every bead of the Rosary connects heaven and earth — our petitions rise like incense; our prayers descend as grace. The circle reminds us that in God, there is no separation between the divine and the human, the sacred and the ordinary.
Mary’s Rosary links our daily struggles to Christ’s saving mysteries. When we pray it with devotion, our work becomes worship, our pain becomes participation, and our rest becomes communion. The Rosary, then, is the garland of life — woven with joy and tears, threaded with hope, crowned with glory.
7. Living the Rosary
To live the Rosary is to let our life become prayer.
When we show kindness — we live the Joyful Mysteries.
When we bring light to confusion — we live the Luminous Mysteries.
When we suffer with faith — we live the Sorrowful Mysteries.
When we hope and forgive — we live the Glorious Mysteries.
The beads may end in our hands, but the mysteries must continue in our hearts.
8. Final Reflection
Like Jonah, we may often run in the wrong direction, anxious and distracted like Martha. But prayer — especially the Rosary — reorients us to what truly matters.
It brings us back to the one thing necessary: to sit at the feet of Jesus, to listen to His Word, to rest in His presence, and to let Mary lead us along the path of love.
When our hearts become a living Rosary — when each act, word, and silence is a bead of grace — then we can truly say we have found peace.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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