The Rosary: Fifteen Promises Of Mary

"[The Blessed Virgin Mary] left for all Christians Fifteen Promises to those who recite the Holy Rosary." [1]  The promises are quoted below [2]:

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces.
2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
4. The Rosary will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.
6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.
7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the [plenitude] of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
9. I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.
11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.
12. All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
14. All who recite the Rosary are my sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of my only Son Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

Below are a few thoughts:

A.  Promise #3 above indicates that "[t]he Rosary shall...decrease sin..."  That's a relief.  Even the Blessed Virgin Mary knows that sinners cannot repent away theirs sins no matter how often they confess and say the confessional prayer [3].  So long as the frequency of sin is being decreased, the Blessed Virgin Mary "shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary." See promise #9.

B.  These fifteen promises hinges upon the operative words "devout" and its cousin "devote."  The words appears first in promise #6 as "devoutly," in promise #7 as "devotion," in promise #9 as "devoted," and again in promise #15 as "devotion." [4]

C.  Not only are the fifteen promises contingent on the devotion to the Rosary but also on faith and the faithful recitation of the Rosary.  The overarching first promise, comprising of three parts: (i) unwavering faith in the Blessed Virgin Mary; (ii) humble acceptance of Her advice; and (iii) recitation of the Rosary, is telling.  It also points to "signal graces" which are the 35 graces (more or less, depending on how one counts them) that follow, that will be received by anyone who "faithfully serve [with humility]" the Blessed Virgin Mary by "the recitation of the Rosary." [5], [6]

Life without the Blessed Virgin Mary's fifteen promises would be more difficult and Purgatory (assuming the soul reaches Purgatory) would be longer and more painful than with the promises.  The choice to avail oneself of the Blessed Virgin's Mary's blessed promises is one to make.



[1] http://www.themostholyrosary.com/15promises.htm
[2] Ibid.
[3] "O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who are all-good and deserving of all my love.  I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin." See http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=43
[4] When the mind wanders during the recitation of the Rosary, then the devotion is not 100 percent.  This blogger fails to meet the devotion requirement repeatedly, but hopes that every small percentage that passes the devotion test would accumulate over time and count toward having the promises fulfilled in life and especially at death and beyond. Whether he is a devout Catholic is for God to judge, hopefully mercifully and not harshly.
[5] http://www.themostholyrosary.com/15promises.htm
[6] The unstated promise is this:  One who does not have faith in the Blessed Virgin Mary, or who proudly thinks that She is merely a vessel for the the Son of God and holds no special place in Heaven as the Mother of God, and that there is no need to pray the Rosary or to Her would not have the 35 or so "special graces."