Print Issue: October 17, 2002

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Church throughout the world celebrates October as the Month of the Holy Rosary, and every year at this time, here in the Archdiocese of Atlanta, we do our part by holding the annual Rosary Rally.

This year's festivity will be held at St. Jude's, October 27th, beginning at 3 p.m. and will include Mass and the recitation of the Rosary. All Catholics and all people of good faith are invited to attend this special celebration.

The theme of this year's Rosary Rally is "Mary the Light of Hope." I think, that in our deserved haste to glorify Mary for her accomplishments, and to thank God for favoring her through the miracles of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, we sometimes forget that Mary was also human, albeit the nearest to perfect human who every lived. But she experienced, in her life and in her heart, suffering and happiness, sorrow and joy, fear and relief. Surely from the earliest moment following her acceptance of God's will, from the moment of her "Be it done unto me," Mary's heart was filled with hope for many things. Hope that her own strength would match the demands of God's will; hope that her Son - His Son - would be born free from threat or danger; later, when reality had pierced her heart, hope that in all things, she might remain the faithful servant of the Most High; and then, between the darkness of Good Friday and the luminous revelation of Easter Sunday, hope that He, her Son, would rise, and her faith be complete in its journey. It was so, and from the days of the triumph of our Lord over death, beyond the blast of power of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and into the "one accord" of the new Church, growing in prayer with the Apostles, and the women, and the brethren of Jesus - from those days to these, she has been and will be, the light of our hope; for with her desires, ours are joined.

Come be with us October 27th, as we celebrate the mysteries of Christ's life revealed in the Rosary, and how those mysteries are preserved and glorified by Mary's hope living in us, finding present-day expression through our prayer. And if you cannot be with us, then lend your hearts and minds that day to the Holy Rosary, and we will know in the Spirit, through the heart of Mary, that we are still one.

Most Reverend John F. Donoghue
Archbishop of Atlanta