Secret of the Rosary

The Secret of the Rosary

Praying the Rosary….God has attached to it grace in this life, and glory in the next. (St. Louis de Montfort SR 1)

At a recent Secret of the Rosary (SR) Retreat weekend in Alabama, Fr. Hugh Gillespie, SMM discusses (in five conferences) the SR teachings of St. Louis de Montfort. Conference 1 focuses on How Did We Obtain the Rosary? In the early days of the Church, Catholics prayed the 150 Psalms. Fr. Hugh informs us how the Church went from praying the 150 Psalms to a set of prayers that has a rhythm and is easier to pray. But how did the Holy Rosary prayer come about for Catholics? This is covered in Conference 1.

Conference 2 focuses on The Excellence of the Rosary: In its Name and in its Prayers. In this conference, Fr. Hugh discusses several topics, including what makes up the Rosary. What are the optional prayer components and what is required in saying the Holy Rosary?

In Conference 3 and 4, In these conferences you’ll hear St. Louis de Montfort’s teachings on the actual Secret. There are two parts to the Secret. The first part: as Catholics include the Rosary in their prayer life, and if they are serious about their Spiritual Prayer Life, they will deepen their relationship with the Blessed Mother over time. St. Louis de Montfort teaches us further that Our Lady will guide us and reveal new spiritual insights to us as we pray the Holy Rosary and meditate on the Mysteries of Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother. How this occurs is elaborated on by Fr. Hugh.

The second part of the Secret: As we meditate on the Mysteries, while saying the Rosary, with the help and guidance of Our Lady, we will gaze upon the face of Our Lord. As we do so, and as we look at Jesus in this special way, Jesus is also looking at us. What a remarkable gift that is! By saying the Rosary we deepen our relationship with Jesus and Our Lady! By saying the Holy Rosary, new Spiritual Insights will be revealed to us, and overtime, Our Lord will make things known to us that we can never imagine.

Conference 5 concludes the Retreat by focusing on How We Pray and How We Prepare to Pray. The discussion does not focus on the mechanics or components of the Rosary, but getting into the right frame of mind to say the Rosary, to respect the prayers. Other topics are also included in the How We Pray Conference and was also the subject of a Spiritual Insight. What is covered and a more complete overview is provided here.

While it’s tempting to read this overview of the Retreat and Conferences and jump to a specific audio, we encouraged you not to jump ahead. Treat the Conference Audio as a spiritual pilgrimage. Take the time to listen from the beginning. After all, we believe if this is listen to from end to end, it will impact your Spiritual Prayer Life, so spend some time on each of the conferences in the order presented. Each conference builds upon the prior one and provides information and context to comprehend the discussions in the later conferences. The Conference Audios are available to you to listen as often and at any time that you like.

Should I listen to these Conferences first, if I have not read The Secret of the Holy Rosary (SR)? There are several resources on SR. The book may be found here. There is also a video. Many of the QoAH members have indeed read the SR book prior to listening to this Conference Audio. However, there are many members that have listen to the audio first before reading the book. So the sequence of when to listen to this audio is not important. Since you are reading this web page now, we encourage you to proceed and listen to this Conference Audio. We also encourage you after doing so, to read the SR book and make use of The Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts’ additional SR resources.

The Conference Audio (the ones described on this page, as well as other Conferences on this web site) are presented by the community of Montfort Priests (SMM), and The Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts, and are provided as tools for all Catholics’ Spiritual Prayer Life based upon the writings and teachings of St. Louis de Montfort.

Thank you for listening and we hope the Conference Audio sessions help you on your spiritual prayer journey. We encourage you to also complete the three question survey at the bottom of the web page to assist us with providing future media content.

Ad Jesum Per Mariam
(For Jesus Through Mary)

Conference 1 – Introduction