A resolution that every Catholic of our diocese should have considered, and can still consider, making and keeping for 2009 is to incorporate the rosary into our regular prayer life. As Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, pointed out in his Festival Letter published last week, we likely all have rosaries given to us as gifts or purchased as souvenirs.

This is the year to take them out of their cases. Now is the time to discover what a gift the rosary truly is to help us pray for others and draw nearer ourselves to Jesus through Mary.

The Diocese of Peoria is preparing to observe a “Year of the Rosary” beginning Aug. 15. Bishop Jenky has asked all parishes, all Catholic schools and religious education programs, and all programs and institutions of our diocese — including The Catholic Post — to teach about the rosary in 2009.

It is ironic that we lost two of our diocese’s most fervent promoters of the rosary, Father Eugene Finnell and Father Mubarak Anwar Amar, in the final days of 2008. But even their funeral homilies, excerpted on the following page, were teaching moments about the power of this special devotion.

Father Timothy Nolan recalled how, when he was going through a difficult time, Father Finnell reached into his pocket, pulled out a rosary, and put it in his hand. “I have carried it ever since and it has carried me,” said Father Nolan.

Meanwhile, we learned that Father Amar’s prescription for when life is challenging was to “Drink more tea, pray more rosaries.”

There is no doubt the year 2009 will present its share of personal, national, and global challenges. Let us all resolve to “pray more rosaries.” A decade of the rosary takes only about five minutes to pray and can be done anywhere — on the drive to work, before a meal, while waiting for an appointment, during exercising, etc. It can be a deeply personal prayer, but also marvelously unifying and strengthening for couples, families, and parishes.

Many of us have resolved to lose weight in 2009. All of us should resolve to gain faith. There are many wonderful ways to accomplish the latter, including frequent recitation of the rosary. It’s not too late, in fact it’s the perfect time, to make a rosary resolution. Do so today. More importantly, keep it in the following days and weeks.

We’ll be back to remind you throughout 2009. — Thomas J. Dermody, editor-in-chief, The Catholic Post