Praying the Holy Rosary for Healing and Deliverance

In his 2002 Apostolic Letter, “On The Most Holy Rosary,” written to mark the inauguration of the Year of the Rosary,  Pope John Paul II quotes Pope Leo XIII: “The rosary is an effective spiritual weapon against the evils affecting society.”

In the tradition of the Church there are many stories of healing and deliverance through the prayer of the Holy Rosary.  Mary’s month of May seems like a good time to share a personal testimony of the power of the Rosary for healing and deliverance in the family.

In the year 2000 our son was a teenager going through a very rough time. I could see the spirit of the world trying to pull him away from our family and take him into a dark world.  Within our home there was suddenly a lot of turmoil. I was a full time mother so I could see how troubled our son was becoming but I did not know how to handle it.  During my daily holy hour I began to pray the rosary specifically for our son to be delivered away from all the bad influences and temptations that were pulling him down.  I prayed the Glorious Mysteries because I was interceding for my son’s resurrection.  While meditating on the Glorious Mysteries, I claimed for my son the grace of each mystery. For example:

The first glorious mystery is the Resurrection.  I prayed, “Dear Lord, please let the grace of your resurrection penetrate my son and bring him to new life in you. Raise him up above the dark pit that he is descending into. Grant resurrection of his true self.  Put to death his false self.  Be glorified in my son and do not let the devil take him away from you.  Release the grace of his baptismal seal to protect him from every temptation.”

The second glorious mystery is the Ascension.  I prayed, “Dear Lord, please take hold of my son and pull him up with you toward heaven and toward the Eternal Father.  Help him to transcend his current struggle and enter into the glory of your resurrected love. You said you would not leave us orphans.  Do let my son be an orphan. Grab him back from the enemy of his soul. Detach him from any darkness and raise him up toward the Light of Love.”

The third glorious mystery is the Descent of the Holy Spirit.  I prayed, “Dear Lord, the grace of the Upper Room at Pentecost is for all souls.  I want to place my son near Mary in the Upper Room so he too experiences a personal Pentecost and receives the tongues of fire that ignited the hearts of the Apostles and disciples at Pentecost.  Come Holy Spirit, fall afresh upon this young man; fan into flame the baptismal graces he received when you accepted him into the holy family of Trinitarian Love. Set his heart on fire for you, O God!  Make him fully alive in the power of your Spirit. I claim your Word,’Greater is the spirit within you than the spirit from without.’ Consecrate him in the Truth and free him from the Liar.”

The fourth glorious mystery is the Assumption of Mary.  I prayed, “Dear Mary, I entrust to you my little son.  Be his mother. I am at a loss. You know what to do. Take him to your heart where he can be safe from the harm that surrounds him. Mary, plead before the Mercy Seat of the Father who assumed you into heaven and ask for mercy upon my son so God will be gloried in his creature and devil will not gloat in taking him away from God. Mary, I have no more wine. Please ask your Son for a miracle of grace that supplies for our families great lack and need.”

The fifth glorious mystery is the Coronation of Mary.  I prayed, “Dear Lord, with the coronation of Mary you crowned the fulfillment of your glorious work.  You desire each creature to reach his fulfillment, to be crowned with everlasting glory.  When you received my little son at his baptism, you took him into your house and provided the Queen Mother to be his mother too.  I beg you to pour special grace through Mary’s maternal heart upon my little son.  Let it penetrate and change his direction. Set him on the right path, the straight and narrow, royal road of sanctity.  I will never cease to pray for my son until he receives his crown of glory, a gift of your merciful love.  Rescue him please.”

I prayed in this manner with deep confidence that this Rosary was pleasing to God. I somehow knew that He would hear and answer this prayer.  I continued this rosary novena for my son’s healing and deliverance for one year.  I could not see improvement. In fact things seemed to get worse.  My prayer only became more fervent and my faith increased that God would rescue him. I never doubted but it was difficult.

Then God moved but it was in an unexpected way. He sent my older son home from Europe where he was studying.  He saw the difficulties that his younger brother was undergoing. He approached me immediately stating that there is a serious problem here.  I shared with my older son that neither I nor my husband could reach him no matter what we tried.

Our oldest son went into his room for a long time. I did not know what he planned on doing until he emerged with several pages of writing on a legal tablet: a letter he penned to his younger brother.  He then entered his younger brother’s room and read the letter slowly to him.  I was told that the effects were almost immediate.  Our older son had written a long list of positive attributes about his brother, all the things that were loveable about him.

I imagine that our young son was like a parched desert in need of a big cup of refreshment.  His brother’s list was a statement of truth. His brother provided a mirror of his true self-identity.  For a while he had lost the image of his true self as he entered an arena of deception, an arena that is the downfall of many young people.  My two sons went to the movies together. At the end of that day our son was healed and delivered. I assure you that this was a big deliverance from the influence of the Evil One on my family. It was the power of a brother’s love that overcame the power of evil that had a grip on our son.  But it was the power of a mother’s prayer, specifically the Holy Rosary, that was the catalyst behind the events that led to the healing and deliverance of our son.

I was simply the mother and intercessor with Mary, praying the Holy Rosary to prepare the soil of my son’s heart to receive the flood of grace that would come through his brother — not through me or my husband.  I have no doubt my son’s healing and deliverance was the fruit of the one year novena of the Holy Rosary.

Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter on the Holy Rosary states, “We need to return to the practice of family prayer and prayer for families, continuing to use the rosary. The holy rosary by age old tradition has shown itself particularly effective as a prayer which brings the family together. The rosary is a treasury to be re-discovered.”

In conclusion to the Apostolic Letter, JPII wrote, “I humbly make my own the touching words of Blessed Bartolo Longo, the Apostle of the Rosary.  Prayer: Supplication to the Queen of the Holy Rosary:

O Blessed Rosary of Mary, sweet chain which unites us to God, bond of love which unites us to the angels, tower of salvation against the assaults of Hell, safe port in our universal shipwreck, we will never abandon you.  You will be our comfort in the hour of death: yours our final kiss as life ebbs away.  And the last word from our lips will be your sweet name, O Queen of the Rosary of Pompei, O dearest Mother, O Refuge of Sinners, O Sovereign Consoler of the Afflicted.  May you be everywhere blessed, today and always, one earth and in heaven. Amen.

I never let a day pass that I do not pray as many rosaries as possible because for me, it is the prayer that releases the most love.  Love heals. The Holy Rosary is a weapon against evil, no doubt about it The rosary is a prayer that acts as a fulcrum to move Mary’s heel to crush the head of the ancient foe.

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Kathleen Beckman is a international Catholic evangelist, a prolific author, and President of the Foundation of Prayer for Priests. For fifteen years she has served in the Church’s ministry of healing, deliverance, and exorcism as the diocesan administrator of cases, and serves on the exorcist's team. Often featured on Catholic TV and radio, she promotes the healing and holiness of families and priests. Sophia Press publishes her five books, Praying for Priests, God’s Healing Mercy, When Women Pray, A Family Guide to Spiritual Warfare, and Beautiful Holiness: A Spiritual Journey with Blessed Conchita Cabrera to the Heart of Jesus. A wife, mother, Kathleen and her husband live in the Diocese of Orange, CA. For more information visit www.kathleenbeckman.com or foundationforpriests.org.

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