About “Preach My Psalter”
The name of this blog, “Preach My Psalter,” is a quote from the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Dominic de Guzmán in the early thirteenth century. According to Tradition, one day, after failing to bear much fruit in his ministry to the Albigensians, St. Dominic, perhaps discouraged, departed for a forest near Toulouse, France, where he remained for three days and three nights offering prayer and penance to God for them. They had become intellectually and morally guilty of the false beliefs and practices of the heresy of Manicheism. For this reason, during his time in the forest, St. Dominic did not stop praying and offering penances to God for their repentance, and God heard him. On the third night, God sent His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, to St. Dominic.
In this Marian apparition, the Virgin Mary commissioned St. Dominic to propagate her Psalter, the Psalter of her Holy Rosary, to save sinners, particularly the Albigensians, from heresy and immorality. For St. Dominic, this commission involved propagating the Psalter of the Virgin Mary through the four acts of her Holy Rosary. First of all, she called him to preach the Fifteen Mysteries of her Holy Rosary to the Albigensians. This, of course, was the preaching of the Mysteries of God’s Word in Sacred Scripture and Tradition. Secondly, the Virgin Mary called St. Dominic to lead the Albigensians in contemplating those Mysteries he preached to them. In doing so, he prepared them to develop an understanding of Truth as a preamble for belief in the Deposit of Catholic Faith and Morals. Thirdly, the Virgin Mary called St. Dominic to live the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, through a holy life of virtue, to inspire the Albigensians to do the same. Finally, she called him to pray the Hail Marys and the Our Fathers for the Albigensians.
Accordingly, for St. Dominic, propagating Our Lady’s Holy Rosary, her Psalter, involved preaching, contemplating, praying, and living the Mysteries of God’s Word. She promised him that she would help him, by her prayers, to reach the hearts of the Albigensians by illuminating and inspiring them to repentance and virtue. St. Dominic, of course, faithfully said yes to the Virgin Mary’s commission by preaching her Psalter to the Albigensians. As a result, through her intercession, he would lead them from the heresy of Manicheism to the light of God’s Truth for their salvation.
About 10 years ago, I was inspired to establish “Preach My Psalter” as a Dominican Rosary apostolate online. In doing so, I was saying yes to the Virgin Mary’s call to propagate her Psalter for the salvation of sinners, through preaching, contemplation, virtue, and prayer, just as St. Dominic said yes to her in the thirteenth century. As such, I use my blog to preach the Truth of Catholic Faith and Morals, particularly the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I hope to help illumine and inspire people to contemplate, live, and pray those Mysteries for their salvation.
In Christ with Blessed Mary,
Friar Mariano D. Veliz, O.P.