Photo by Thérèse Westby
We can dwell on the dark cloud of this pandemic. But we can also find the silver lining. The building of an international community at the beginning of September was one of such silver lining. I was invited to be part of an Early Risers group from Colombia. We would wake up at 6am, pray Lauds, discuss a chapter from Genesis, then exercise, all via Zoom. I was amazed at the number of young people connected; since the first day, there were 50 young participants! I was thinking it was just going to be a few of us but…little did I know there were young people whose hearts were on fire for the gospel during such unprecedented times. Growing in fellowship, learning about our Patriarchs, our faith, and being able to solidify a prayer routine, was well worth it.
Months later I was contacted by one of the participants who asked me if I wanted to be part of a rosary campaign and be the official “Canadian Ambassador”. I was confused by what this meant. I didn’t yet know that this was an international rosary campaign that was about to change my daily priorities. There were many Zoom meetings that took place, to plan and brainstorm. I was not able to make the meetings but was kept in the loop through a WhatsApp group. The rosary campaign was named Mision Rosario, the official logo was ready and the bold goal of praying one million rosaries for the Americas before Easter was waiting to be tackled!
Misión Rosario (which literally means “Rosary Mission” in Spanish) began last year in Chile when a faith-filled family saw two Catholic churches being burned down. With hearts full of sorrow and tired of indifference, they turned to prayer to ask what could be done. One of the family members – the daughter, Chiara – began telling her friends and inviting them to help pray. Slowly but surely, it reached North America.
Working with Chiara has been a privilege. Her Marian fervour has been contagious, always sending motivational videos to all of the ambassadors, to keep spreading the word to our countries about the campaign.
This opportunity has been full of wonderful experiences. With over 20 youth joining the rosary prayer on Zoom daily at 9pm, mainly from the greater Toronto and Montreal areas, we have been able to pray together and support each other in our struggles. This unexpected fruit of fellowship has definitely been a highlight. Another wonderful encounter has been working with the ambassadors from the other countries, although we are miles away. To see their devotion and their maturity in this mission- some of them only 16 years old – is inspiring. A few have led a campaign of more than 70,000 rosaries for their country.
The number of rosaries prayed are being logged on our website [MV4] and tallied according to country. This has inspired a healthy competition and comradery, which pushed me to look for Canadian youth that would be able to help grow the mission here. Thus, we have encouraged the youth to pray the rosary together as a group.
This is why I would also like to extend an invitation to YOU. To those who already pray the daily rosary individually or would like to pray in a group for accountability. Mision Rosario would love your Canadian participation and Our Mother will love the extra bouquet of roses at her disposal. Specifically, for the Americas, that have been filled with so much violence, hatred and indifference in the past year. Let’s become Marian soldiers and pray the daily rosary with the intentions of peace, freedom and life!
From Lourdes to Fatima, Our Mother’s message has been clear: to pray the daily rosary if we want peace in our nations. As Catholics we should let indifference guide get in the way of following Our Mother’s command in praying the daily rosary. The time is now. Let us pick up our rosaries and start fighting, there is a spiritual battle to be won!
Please email me at: riveraam@mcmaster.ca if you would like to join our daily rosary group.
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