Catholic Diocese Of Ho.

07/10/2026

Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary – October 7

"The Rosary: A Crown of Roses for Our Queen"

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, a memorial established by Pope St. Pius V in thanksgiving for the victory at Lepanto on October 7, 1571; a victory that halted the Turkish invasion of Europe through the power of prayer.

What is the Rosary?

The word "Rosary" means "Crown of Roses." Each prayer offered is considered a flower presented to Mary. It has been lovingly called the "Breviary of the Common People," the "Psalms of the Illiterate," and by Pope Pius XII, "a compendium of the Gospel."

Rooted in Scripture
The prayers we repeat are Biblical and therefore inspired:
1. The Our Father was taught by Jesus Himself.
2. The Hail Mary echoes the words of the Archangel Gabriel and Elizabeth, with the Church adding her petition for intercession.
3. The Glory Be reflects the unceasing adoration found in the Book of Revelation.

The mysteries we meditate upon; drawn from the lives of Jesus and Mary; are expressions of the Paschal Mystery: His Life, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, in which Mary shared.

A Brief History

Prayer with beads is ancient. In the 9th century, monks who recited the 150 Psalms instructed the illiterate to pray the Our Father 150 times. By the 11th century, the Hail Mary was added. In 1214, according to tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Dominic Guzman and instructed him to pray the Rosary in a new form as an antidote against the Albigensian heresy. The devotion reached its present form around 1500 A.D.

What Was the Albigensian Heresy?

The Albigensian heresy (also known as Catharism) was a dangerous dualistic movement that spread through southern France in the 12th and 13th centuries. It taught that all material things; including the human body; were evil, and only the spiritual was good. This led to the rejection of the Incarnation (that God became flesh in Jesus), the sacraments, marriage, and the goodness of creation itself. It divided the world into two opposing principles: good and evil, spirit and matter. This teaching struck at the very heart of Christian faith. St. Dominic combated it not with force, but with prayer and preaching. The Rosary, given by Our Lady, became a powerful spiritual weapon; drawing the faithful back to the truth of the Incarnation and the goodness of God's creation.

At Lepanto (1571), Pope St. Pius V asked all Christians to unite in reciting the Rosary. The Holy League was victorious, and it was clear that the victory came through divine intervention. In 1572, the Feast of Our Lady of Victories was established, later renamed Our Lady of the Rosary.

Other victories were also attributed to the Rosary, including Vienna in 1683, through the intervention of Blessed Mark of Aviano.

Our Lady's Urgent Call

At Fatima in 1917, Our Blessed Mother asked the three shepherd children: "Say the Rosary every day… Pray, pray a lot and offer sacrifices for sinners… I am Our Lady of the Rosary." The Fatima prayer was later added: "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need of Your mercy."

Pope St. John Paul II enriched the Rosary by adding the Luminous Mysteries (Rosarium Virginis Mariae).

The Rosary as a Shield

As we face the challenges of our own time; division, discord, and disturbances of heart; the Rosary remains our refuge. In various apparitions, including Lourdes and Fatima, Our Lady insistently begged that we recite it daily for family relations and peace among peoples.

How to Pray the Rosary

The ideal is to recite at least five decades daily (and if possible, all twenty), with one's whole family. We should pray slowly enough to make the recitation devout and reverent—reflecting for a minute or two on the mystery and concentrating on the meaning of the prayers to avoid distractions.

Beyond family prayer before bedtime, consider making it a habit to recite the Rosary during your journey to work or during exercise.

Today's Gospel (Lk 1:26-38) reminds us of Mary's "Yes" to God's will—a perfect model for our own prayer.

Let us take up our beads today. Let us find in the Rosary our shield, our comfort, and our path to Christ.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

06/10/2026

Congratulations, Father!

06/10/2026

7 October/Wednesday/27th Week in Ordinary Time.

Gal 2,1-2.7-14/Psa 117,1.2/Luke 11,1-4

Reflection:
(By Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu,SVD(Catholic Bishop of Ho Diocese and Vice President,Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference))

In the First Reading, Paul shares with us his first visit to the leaders of the Jerusalem Church.

At the time he was persecuting the Church of God in Jerusalem, it is probable that he and the Christian leaders never met face to face.

This present encounter would have been the moment of getting to know one another and put flesh on their imaginations about one another.

Paul offers us the reason for making the trip to Jerusalem in the company of Barnabas.

He went there to obtain approval for the approach he adopted to the proclamation of the Word.

This is in line with the antiphon to the Responsorial Psalm today which calls on the audience to go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News.

The specification that he was in the company of Barnabas links this testimony with one of the accounts of Luke in the Acts of the Apostles.

In that account, the community of Antioch of which Paul speaks also in the reading today, sent them to go and clarify things with the Jerusalem elders.

This became necessary because of the tension created in the community by some visiting Jewish Christians from Jerusalem.

Whichever of the two stories is the factual one,it shows the great respect that Paul had for the Jerusalem elders.

When he felt the need to obtain their agreement for the orthodoxy of his teaching, he willingly went to them and presented his teaching to them.

Looking at the way Paul was called to ministry, he could have decided to go his own way.

That would have been the first division in the Church of God.

Paul opted for the unity of the Church of God.

Unfortunately, others after Paul did not seek the same unity and so we witness a fragmentation of the Church of God.

This continues even in our own days as many people start new autonomous Christian communities in the name of having novelties to present to the people in search of faith or an encounter with the Lord.

A way out of this fragmentation of the Church of God is to remember the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples in the Gospel Reading today.

Since all of us call God,Father and since we pray the same prayer that Jesus taught us, we should learn to look for what unites us more than what divides us.

Such distinctions only distance us the more from one another and disfigure our belonging to one Father.Amen.

06/10/2026

The History and Power of the Holy Rosary: A Shield for the Faithful

Today, we reflect on the profound history of the Holy Rosary; a devotion that is not merely a repetition of prayers, but a powerful weapon given to the Church through the hands of Our Blessed Mother.

The Origin: A Gift from Heaven
The Holy Rosary originated in 1212 when Saint Dominic de Guzman received it from the Virgin Mary. It was given as a heavenly response to his prayers on how to combat the Albigensian heresy. Through this devotion, the heresy was defeated, and the faithful began to see the Rosary as an instrument of refuge, comfort, and strength. The beads became a “shield” against error and a source of confidence in overcoming life’s difficulties.

The Mysticism of the People
Because the Rosary is a direct gift from Our Lady and is beautifully simple, it has fostered a deep devotion among the faithful; what Pope Francis calls the “mysticism of the people.”

The Battle of Lepanto (1571)
This deep faith was put to the test in 1571. As the Ottoman Turks advanced toward Europe, the Holy League was formed to halt them. Dominican Pope Pius V, deeply devoted to Our Lady, blessed a banner bearing the Crucifix and the motto In hoc signo vinces (By this sign you shall conquer).

Contemporaneously, the Pope asked all Christians to unite in reciting the Holy Rosary for the success of the battle on October 7, 1571. The Holy League was victorious. It was clear to all that this victory was obtained through divine intervention. In 1572, Pius V established the Feast of Our Lady of Victories, which his successor, Gregory XIII, later changed to Our Lady of the Rosary.

Continued Protection
History repeated itself in 1683 at the Battle of Vienna. Through the intervention of Blessed Mark of Aviano and trust in the Virgin Mary, the advance of the Ottomans was halted once again, attributed to the power of the Rosary.

A Means to Contemplate Jesus
Today, believers see the Rosary as an instrument given by Mary to contemplate Jesus. By meditating on His life, we are led to love and follow Him. Our Lady has encouraged this devotion in various apparitions, including Lourdes and Fatima, insistently begging that it be recited daily to overcome division, discord, and the disturbances of our hearts.

Let us take up our beads today. Let us find in the Rosary our shield, our comfort, and our path to Christ.

Holy Mary, help of those in need, pray for us!

06/10/2026

When we first sit at Jesus’ feet like Mary, our serving like Martha becomes an overflow of love, not just duty.

06/10/2026

🔥 23 DAYS TO GO! 🔥
GLOBAL ROSARY CONGRESS 2026 - HO

Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini!
Our help is in the name of the Lord!

Southern Ghana & Accra Province gathers in HO! All roads lead to Ho Sports Stadium on OCTOBER 29th - 31st.

Theme: Proclaiming Christ To The World Through The Power Of The Holy Rosary

Come let's pray for peace, for Ghana, for our families.

06/10/2026

6 October/Tuesday/27th Week in Ordinary Time.

Gal 1,13-24/Psa 139,1-3.13-14.14-15/Luke 10,38-42.

Reflection:
(By Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu,SVD(Catholic Bishop of Ho Diocese and Vice President, Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference)

The testimony of faith of Paul in the First Reading reveals the tortuous character of his life journey in relation to the Lord.

Paul speaks first of his Jewish past and how he persecuted the Church of God.

At that time, he was convinced he was in the right and the Christians were wrong.

He would manifest the same zeal after he encounters the Lord on the road to Damascus.

This time, the zeal is for proclaiming the Gospel that he had persecuted previously.

It is interesting that Paul does not indicate the Damascus experience as the beginning of his being chosen by God.

He makes a distinction between divine choice and revelation.

He was chosen by God from the womb of the mother, but God only revealed himself to him in the Damascus experience.

The choice from the womb of his mother sounds like predestination but what Paul wants to emphasize is that the Lord knew him before he was born.

The Psalmist puts it right when he affirms that it was God who created him, knit him together in his mother’s womb.

We join the Psalmist in thanking God for the wonder of our being and the wonders of all of God’s creation.

In our society today, we continue to debate about when human life really begins.

Paul’s testimony of faith confirms for us that human life begins from the moment of conception.

The Lord chose him in the womb and destined him already at that time to be his Apostle.

Even if it took him a long time to discover his true mission, it was always his calling, and he only needed to discover it and give his consent.

The moment of revelation on the road to Damascus served as a turning point in his life.

The Lord made him aware that he was in the wrong boat so once he discovered this, he embraced the way of truth.

The way Paul turned around raises the question of the number of us who are ready to make such radical turn around in our lives.

It is not easy to change from a persecutor to a defender or an apostle, but Paul did it.

He was convinced of the revelation he received on the road to Damascus, and nothing could deter him from following Christ.

Indeed, Paul could have prayed with the Psalmist today, asking the Lord to lead him in the path of life eternal.

The choice of Paul by God is like that of Mary in the Gospel Reading.

She discovered the one thing that was needed – sitting at the feet of Jesus to listen to his word.

She opted for this and Jesus said it would not be taken away from her.

This does not mean that Jesus does not appreciate the service of Martha.

It is all a question of absolutes and not comparisons.

In reference to Martha,we have to say that no active apostolate can thrive unless it grows out of a life of prayer.

We cannot draw others to the knowledge and love of a God whom we do not ourselves know and love.

In reference to Mary, we must say that a life of prayer cannot be genuine unless it leads to care for others and concern for the salvation of all those whom the Lord loves.

Any good life must be founded on listening devotedly to the Lord and responding to what we have heard.

We pray that like Paul and Mary, we may also make the right choice for Christ in our daily lives.Amen.

03/10/2026