Forty-Eighth Rose - Perseverance

As a fifth point, I must add perseverance and prayer. Only he who perseveres in asking, seeking, and knocking, will receive, will find and will enter. It is not enough to ask God for certain graces for a month, a year, ten or twenty years; we must never tire of asking. We must keep on asking until the very moment of death, and even in this prayer, which shows our confidence in God, we must join the thought of death to that of perseverance and say, "Although he should kill me, I will trust in him," will trust him to give me what I ask.

Prominent and rich people of the world show their generosity by foreseeing people's wants and ministering to them, even before they are asked for anything. God's munificence, on the other hand, is shown by his making us seek and ask, over a long period of time, for the graces which he wishes to bestow, and the more precious the grace, the longer he takes to grant it:

1) in order to increase the grace still more;

2) in order that the recipient may more deeply appreciate it;

3) in order that the one who receives it may guard against losing it; for people do not appreciate very much what they obtain quickly and at little cost.

So, dear members of the Confraternity, persevere in asking God for all your needs, both spiritual and material, through the holy Rosary; especially should you pray for divine Wisdom, which is "an infinite treasure," and there can be no possible doubt that you will receive it sooner or later, provided you do not give up and do not lose courage in the middle of your journey. "You still have a great way to go."

You have a long way to travel, there will be bad times to weather, many difficulties to overcome, and many enemies to defeat before you will have stored up enough treasures for eternity, enough Our Fathers and Hail Marys with which to buy your way to heaven and win the glorious crown which awaits each faithful brother and sister of the Confraternity.

"Let no one take your crown": take care that your crown is not appropriated by another who has been more faithful than you in saying his Rosary every day. "Your crown": it was yours, God had prepared it for you; it was yours, you had already half obtained it by your Rosaries well said. But because you stopped on the way when you were running so well, another has left you behind and got there first; another who is more diligent and more faithful has paid, by his Rosaries and good works, what was required to obtain that crown.

"You began your race well; who has hindered you?" Who has prevented you from having the crown of the holy Rosary? Alas, none other than the enemies of the Rosary, who are so numerous.

Believe me, it is only the violent who take it by force. These crowns are not for the timid who are afraid of this world's taunts and threats, neither are they for the lazy and indolent who only say their Rosary carelessly, or hastily, just for the sake of getting it over with. The same applies to people who say it intermittently, as the spirit moves them. These crowns are not for cowards who lose heart and lay down their arms as soon as they see hell is let loose against their Rosary.

Dear fellow-members, if you want to serve Jesus and Mary by saying the Rosary every day, you must be prepared for temptation: "If you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for temptation." Heretics, licentious people, the so-called respectable people of the world, persons of superficial piety, and false prophets, hand in glove with your fallen nature and all hell itself - all will wage terrible battles against you in an endeavour to make you give up this holy practice.

To help you to be better armed against their onslaught - not so much of acknowledged heretics and profligates as those who are considered "respectable" in the eyes of the world, and even those who are devout but have no use for the Rosary - I am going to tell you simply some of the things these people are always saying and thinking.

"What does this babbler want to say?" "Come, let us attack him, for he is against us." What is he doing, saying so many Rosaries? What is it he is always mumbling? Such laziness! He does nothing but keep on sliding those beads along, he would do much better to work without amusing himself with such foolishness. Oh yes, it's quite true, all you have to do is to say the Rosary and a fortune will fall from heaven into your lap. The Rosary brings you all you need without lifting a finger. But hasn't it been said, "God helps those who help themselves"? Why load yourself with so many prayers? Brevis oratio penetrat coelos; an Our Father and a Hail Mary well said are quite sufficient. God has never commanded us to say the Rosary; of course it's all right, it's not a bad devotion when you've got the time, but don't think for one minute that people who say the Rosary are any more sure of heaven than we are. Just look at the saints who never said it!

Far too many people want everyone to see through their own eyes, people who lack prudence and carry everything to extremes, scrupulous people who see sin almost everywhere, who say that those who do not say the Rosary will be damned.

Oh yes, the Rosary is all right for old women who can't read. But surely the Little Office of our Lady is much more worthwhile, or the seven penitential psalms? Is there anything more beautiful than those psalms which have been inspired by the Holy Spirit?

You say you have undertaken to say the Rosary every day; that's just a flash in the pan, you know it won't last. Wouldn't it be better to undertake less and be more faithful about it? Come, my friend, take my word for it, say your morning and night prayers, work hard during the day and offer it up. God does not ask any more than that. If you didn't have your living to earn, as you have, you could commit yourself to saying your Rosary. But as it is, say your Rosary on Sundays and Holidays when you have plenty of time, but not on days when you have to work.

But really and truly, what are you doing with that enormous pair of beads? I've seen a rosary of only one decade, it's just as good as one of fifteen decades. Why on earth are you wearing it on your belt, fanatic that you are? Why don't you go the whole way and wear it round your neck like the Spaniards? They are great lovers of rosaries; they carry a big rosary in one hand, while in the other they have a dagger to give a treacherous stab. For goodness' sake drop these exterior devotions; true devotion is in the heart. And so on.

Similarly, not a few clever people and learned scholars may occasionally try to dissuade you from saying the Rosary, proud and critical people, I mean. They would rather you said the seven penitential psalms or some other prayers. If a good confessor has given you a Rosary for your penance, to be said for a fortnight or a month, all you have to do to get your penance changed to a few other prayers, fasts, alms or Masses, is to go to confession to one of those gentlemen.

If you consult even some people who live lives of prayer in the world, but who have never tried the Rosary, they will not only not encourage it but will turn people away from it to get them to learn contemplation, as if the Rosary and contemplation were incompatible, as if all the saints who have been devoted to the Rosary had not reached the heights of contemplation.

Your closest enemies will attack you all the more cruelly because they are within you. I mean the powers of your soul and your bodily senses, the distractions of the mind, distress and uncertainty of the will, dryness of the heart, exhaustion and illness of the body - all that will combine with the evil spirits to say to you, "Give up your Rosary, that is what is giving you such a headache; give up your Rosary, there is no obligation under pain of sin; at least say only a part of it; the difficulties you are having are a sign that God does not want you to say it; you can say it tomorrow when you are more in the mood." And so on.

Finally, my dear brothers and sisters, the daily Rosary has so many enemies that I look upon the grace of persevering in it until death as one of the greatest favours God can give us. Persevere in it and your fidelity will be rewarded with the wonderful crown which is prepared for you in heaven: "Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life."

- from The Secret of the Rosary, bySaint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort