Apostle says: "The just man
liveth by faith" (Heb. x, 38), meaning that man lays the foundation for
his justification through faith, receives the life of justification
from faith, perseveres in this just life through faith, perfects this
life through the light and the power of faith whence hope and charity
proceed.

To promote this kind of life is the aim of the devotion of the Rosary.
The more pious and virtuous we become, the more we glorify God and
assure our temporal and eternal happiness.

These prayers are the introduction and preparation to the prayer of the
Rosary, which combines meditation of the Mysteries with the recital of
the Our Fathers and Hail Marys. The Rosary is a prayer indeed for the
glory of God and for honoring and invoking Mary the Mother of God. The
Mysteries of the Rosary contain that which God has done in order to
glorify Himself and to redeem, sanctify, and save mankind. At the same
time these mysteries from the lives of Jesus and Mary are fraught with
touching examples for our own lives. In the devout contemplation of
these mysteries, and in the application of the same to our own
religious moral life, lie the gist of the prayers of the Rosary and the
chief fruits which we should draw from this saving devotion.

Certain critics of the Rosary cannot understand why the Hail Mary is so
frequently repeated. But in the repetition lies the strength of the
prayer, for holy perseverance is expressed by this repetition. The
psalmist in the one hundredth and thirty-fifth Psalm repeats twenty-six
times the words: "For his mercy endureth forever." And the heavenly
hosts proclaim their "Thrice Holy" for ever and ever.

We are perfectly right, therefore, in declaring that the Rosary is a
thoroughly practical prayer, corresponding exactly to the necessities
and peculiarities of our minds and hearts.

We might challenge the world to name a more beautiful, a more excellent
prayer. The Church therefore numbers the Rosary amongst her most
efficacious prayers, and she has endowed it richly with indulgences to
induce the faithful to say it frequently.

XI. THE EXCELLENCE OF THE ROSARY ON ACCOUNT OF THE MYSTERIES
COMMEMORATED

"Unless thy law had been my meditation, I had then perhaps perished in
my abjection."--Ps. cxviii, 92.

Dear Brethren: In our former considerations of the Rosary we have
discussed the prayers of which the Rosary is composed. The second chief
part of the Rosary is the fiftee