Rosary Rally Unites Community in Prayer
On Sunday, September 7 from 1:30-3:30 a Holy Cross prayer event took place at Bond Quad on the University of Notre Dame campus. The event was the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of a rosary event held at ND in 1950 in which 20,000 people gathered in Notre Dame stadium. Sunday’s event was held to promote family prayer, especially the Rosary.
The event was hosted by Holy Cross Family Ministries, which was founded by Venerable Fr. Patrick Peyton, CSC, and sponsored by the Congregation of Holy Cross.
Various CSC priests, brothers, and sisters, along with campus leadership from the tri-campus institutions guided the assembly through the rosary. Molly Gower, Vice President for Mission at Saint Mary’s, read a reflection for the Fifth Glorious Mystery. Five Saint Mary’s students led a decade of the rosary.
Here is Gower’s full reflection:
The Coronation of Mary, the Fifth Glorious Mystery
A Reflection by Molly Gower, Vice President for Mission
Not so many months ago, I walked through the jubilee door at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome as a pilgrim of hope. In many ways, the basilica invites encounter with Mary, the Mother of God. Look up at the apse mosaic and see Christ placing a jeweled crown on Mary’s head. Christ holds open a book inscribed with a line that blends scriptural imagery and liturgical poetry: “Come, my chosen one, and I will put you on my throne.”
In the mosaic, Christ and Mary share one throne, seated side by side, almost the same size. Mary is turned toward Christ, but her gaze meets ours. Her hands are lifted in prayer, in a posture of intercession. She reigns, but her power is not control or domination. It is the force of love. Together with God, she looks toward us. United to Christ, she accompanies us. Strong, she supports us. Exalted, she intercedes for us.
The mystery of Mary’s queenship shows us the bond that holds together the Communion of Saints, the Kingdom of Heaven, and God’s Kingdom on Earth. It is love. This is the force at work in Mary and in Christ.
So, seeing Mary turned toward Christ but gazing at us, acting on our behalf, advocating for our good, guiding us into the communion of love, the question is: How do we make good on her good will for us? The answer, I think, is that we do what she shows us how to do: be open to God, and be open to each other.
And so we pray: Mary, Queen of Heaven, the power of your queenship is the force of love. Renew our hearts, so that we will help renew the world. Make us your people, citizens of love. Order our life together, especially in the places entrusted to you in a special way, Saint Mary, our Lady, according to the ways of love. May love, the force of your queenship, be the force of our lives too. Amen.
Click here to view the Rosary Rally.
September 9, 2025