Archbishop Viganò Leads Launch Rosary for 54-Day US Election Novena, LifeSiteNews (Watch, Listen, Pray)

September 8, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Today at 12pm EST, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò will be joining LifeSite to lead a Holy Rosary to pray for the Lord’s holy will to be accomplished in the November U.S. presidential election. He will be giving a short reflection before the rosary and his blessing at the end.

We are also joined by special guests Dr. Taylor Marshall and Michael Matt of The Remnant, who will be praying along with His Excellency.

Today is the launch for a 54-day rosary novena leading up to the election. The novena begins today, September 8, the birthday of Our Lady, and ends just a couple of days before the November 3 election.

For all of you who usually come to pray Fr. Tony Pillari’s daily rosary, don’t worry — you’re in the right place. And rest assured that Fr. Pillari will be leading this rosary for the rest of the 53 days. But Archbishop Vigano has agreed to lead the launch rosary for us today. And this special rosary with Archbishop Viganò is also taking the place of this week’s episode of The John-Henry Westen Show.

The 54-day rosary novena is made up of six successive traditional rosary novenas consisting of nine days each. The first three novenas are a petition for our request, and the latter three thank God for answering our prayer — knowing that the Good Lord always hears us.

Please pray earnestly every day for this election. Commit to getting out to vote yourself and ensuring the same of your friends and family. Your future, and that of your children, even the future of the whole world, will be greatly affected by this election, likely to be the most important election of our lives, no matter what country we live in. It’s time to pick up our weapon of choice — the most holy rosary — and storm Heaven with our prayers.

On behalf of LifeSiteNews, Dr. Taylor Marshall, Michael Matt, and all of you, I want to thank Archbishop Viganò for leading us in this holy rosary. Remember to tune in each day for the rest of this 54-day rosary novena for the election. Share this rosary video now so that many, many more may join in this prayer effort. May God bless you!

Below are Archbishop Vigano’s opening remarks.

THE HOLY ROSARY, MOST POWERFUL WEAPON AGAINST THE ENEMY OF GOD AND MAN

A brief introduction to the recitation of the Holy Rosary for America and the whole world

Anyone who believes he can merit the glory of Paradise by living a mediocre life knows he is on the wrong track: Regnum caelorum vim patitur et violenti rapiunt illud [The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force](Mt 11:12). In these strong words of the Gospel we understand that only the violent can in some way conquer the Justice of God and obtain its reward thanks to His infinite Mercy. A violence, a force, that is certainly not that of the world but that consists above all in recognizing our own unworthiness – as mortal creatures before the Uncreated and Eternal Being, and as sinners before the Holy of Holies – and also the Omnipotence of God, who deigned to redeem us by the Passion and Death of His Divine Son. I would also say that the first act of this sublime violence to conquer the Kingdom of God was accomplished by Our Lord, who in the eternity of time wanted to restore the Fall of Adam by offering himself to the Father to redeem us from sin and death: Tunc dixi: Ecce venio. In capite libri scriptum est de me, ut faciam Deusvoluntatem tuam [Then I said: Behold, I come. In the scroll of the book it is written of me, that I should do your will, O God](Ps 39:8-10). Similarly, Our Lady also responds to the Archangel Gabriel: Ecce ancilla Domini: fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum [Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to your word](Lk 1: 38).

This is the violencethat shakes the gates of Heaven: the power of humility and sacrifice, following the example of Christ and His Most Holy Mother. She, the Mediatrix of all graces, knew how to obtain from the Mercy of God that which His Justice would have refused. And it is to Her, Our Advocate, that we raise our fervent prayer, certain of being heard: Memorare, o piissima Virgo Maria, non esse auditum a saeculo quemquam ad tua currentem praesidia, tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragiaesse derelictum [Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided.]

In the recitation of the Rosary we invoke the Most Blessed Virgin with three very simple prayers, so easy that even a child can recite them: the Pater noster, the Ave Maria and the Gloria Patri. And while we repeat these prayers we meditate on the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries, concentrating our mind on the sweet words that our lips pronounce. All of Catholic doctrine is contained in these three prayers; all of Marian doctrine is proclaimed in the Ave Maria. And at these words, which rise to the glorious throne on which Our Mother sits as Queen, the entire Heavenly Court is moved, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is touched with compassion, and the arm of Divine Justice is stopped.

Let us therefore have recourse to the recitation of the Holy Rosary, dear brothers and sisters, in this moment of tribulation and of total crisis. Let us also make violence in heaven, by means of the infallible weapon of prayer that the Most Blessed Virgin taught Saint Dominic and that over the centuries has obtained the conversion of sinners, the salvation of the nations, and the defeat of the Enemy.

Saint Pius V ordered the faithful to recite the Rosary to impetrate victory from God in the epic battle of the Christian Armada against the Turk in the waters of Lepanto: still today, at noon each day, the bells ring in our cities to recall October 7, 1571. The Senate of the Republic of Venice wanted to honor the Queen of Victories by having these words engraved on the Doges’ Palace: Not valor, not arms, not leaders, but Our Lady of the Holy Rosary made us victors. We too, who fight an even more bloody battle without a deployed army against an even more terrible enemy, ought to have recourse to the Rosary, with the same faith that strengthened the arm of the valiant leaders of Lepanto.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop

14 August 2020

Vigil of the Assumption of Mary Most Holy

Official translation by Giuseppe Pellegrino

The John-Henry Westen Show is available by video on the show’s YouTube channel and right here on my LifeSite blog.

It is also available in audio format on platforms such as Spotify, Soundcloud, and ACast. We are awaiting approval for iTunes and Google Play as well. To subscribe to the audio version on various channels, visit the ACast webpage here.

We’ve created a special email list for the show so that we can notify you every week when we post a new episode. Please sign up now by clicking here. You can also subscribe to the YouTube channel, and you’ll be notified by YouTube when there is new content.

You can send me feedback, or ideas for show topics by emailing jhwestenshow@lifesitenews.com.