'Our Lady of the Rosary' is a title of the Virgin Mary related to the prayer of the Rosary, whose origin has been attributed to an apparition of Our Lady to St Dominic in 1208. The feast went through various stages and names. Pope Pius X changed the date to 7 October and in 1969, Pope Paul VI changed the name of the feast to "Our Lady of the Rosary". The Gospel reading from Luke is the account of the Annunciation. Mary is quite taken aback by the request to be the mother of this Child, which she cannot reconcile with her present unmarried status. The angel assures Mary that the conception will take place by a special intervention through the Spirit of God. Mary still does not fully understand but, putting her trust completely in the words of God's Messenger, she accedes totally and unconditionally to the request. "See, I am the slave girl of the Lord; let it happen to me just as you have said." And at that very moment, the awesome happening we call the Incarnation, the 'en-flesh-ment' of the Son of God took place in the womb of Mary.

Nothing would ever be the same again in the history of the world. The prayer of the Rosary is a time for us to reflect on this extraordinary intervention of God into our world - beginning with the Annunciation and ending with the crowing of Mary as Queen of Heaven.