Swisher Law Office and Summit Conflict Resolution Center

10/30/2022

10/29/2022

Teri Bush and Duke have scheduled a visit to Hunters Ridge today!

10/25/2022

10/07/2022

Reflection

Amid the Turbulence, Ave Maria

Dominican educated, I have vivid memories of celebrating the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary with great devotion, especially in my college years. Tradition attributes the origin of the rosary to St. Dominic. Inspired by a vision of the Blessed Mother, he preached the use of the rosary in his missionary work, particularly for the conversion of sinners. Pope Pius V, a Dominican, established today’s feast in 1571, in gratitude to Our Blessed Mother, whose intercession he believed ensured victory over the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto. At the end of the nineteenth century, Pope Leo XIII dedicated the entire month of October to the rosary, and between 1883 and 1898 issued eleven encyclicals on the subject. That’s devotion!

The rosary is surely the most ubiquitous and flexible Catholic devotion, returning those who pray it to the core of our faith amid the turbulence of daily life. We cannot deny the importance and power of its tangibility. My own mother always slept with her rosary under her pillow. It surprised me one day as I was headed off on one of my many trips, that she put her rosary into my hands, believing it would ensure my safe return. That ritual exchange of her rosary occurred many times over the years. The night of Mother’s sudden death, I asked my father if I could have her rosary.

The mysteries of the rosary encompass the whole liturgical year, and the traditional 150 Ave Marias have been called the psalter of the poor. It is prayed by young and old, rich and poor, people of all religious and political persuasions. Praying the rosary roots us in faith and lifts us in hope. May we imitate what it contains and obtain what it promises.

Sr. Julia Upton

Julia Upton, RSM, is Provost Emerita at St. John’s University in New York. She is the author of Worship in Spirit and Truth: The Life and Legacy of H. A. Reinhold.

10/04/2022

09/29/2022

Share Memories of Marilyn & Support the Swisher Family