“In Ramah is heard the sound of moaning, of bitter weeping! Rachel mourns her children, she refuses to be consoled because her children are no more.” -- Jer. 31:15 

In my bifurcated mind in that most horrific moment, I wondered who was slaughtering an animal in our back yard until I realized the piercing cries were coming from myself – a mother’s intense grief in learning that her only son had been killed in a vehicular accident shortly after his return from Iraq. It was then the Scripture passage quoted above entered into my left-brain to inform my right – “This is what it means in Scripture when its says Rachel wails for her children who are no more.” I am Rachel.

Today, all of Manchester, as well as the greater part of the civilized world, mourns the loss of the young girls and teens who were brutally injured and savagely murdered by the attack of a suicide bomber who, I feel certain, was aimed at taking out those who would bring the next generation to life. 

But no one mourns more than the mothers, fathers, siblings grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other family members who so loved them. I stand in solidarity with them today and ask that you stand with them, too. But not unarmed.

The next two verses of Jeremiah 31 proclaim this: “Thus says the Lord: Cease your cries of mourning, wipe the tears from your eyes. The sorrow you have shown shall have its reward, says the Lord, ... There is hope for your future, says the Lord; your sons shall return to their own borders.” 

On that fateful morning thirteen years ago, I picked up the Rosary in a new way and have had it in my hands ever since. Through these holy beads, the Blessed Mother extended her maternal hand toward me and pulled me out of the mire of grief to see there was hope – for my son, for my husband, for me, for our daughters, and for our extended family. The Rosary became a spiritual weapon that opened my heart and tortured soul to the treasury of grace its mysteries contain. Historical battles have been won as holy men and women plied these holy beads with hope, faith, and confidence in God. They were certain that God would intervene – and He did, through the intercession of Our Blessed Lady.

Today, I am asking for a Warrior’s Rosary Crusade to begin immediately, and I am asking you to enlist. I propose that you enlist in this Crusade as a knight in this Kingdom Family of God. Our weaponry will not be bombs filled with nails detonated by a crazed suicide bomber. Our strategy and tactic will not be barbarism and horror. Our weaponry will be the Rosary. We will lift it high, and cry out with St. Michael the Archangel, “Who Is Like Unto God?” -- and our victory will be certain.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God tells His people, “if my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my presence and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land. Now my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place.” 

Our “land” is not restricted to country borders. It extends to all of our brothers and sisters no matter their national stripe. Let us join together, then, as citizens of the Kingdom of God, and members of the global community.

Brothers and Sisters in Canada, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Spain, Central America, South America, Mexico, all of eastern and western Europe, let us join together!

Brothers and Sisters in all countries of the Middle East, Africa, Australia, Greenland, Iceland, let us join together!

People of goodwill everywhere, let us join together.

Let us pick up our weapon, the Rosary, and begin a new kind of battle --a battle of prayer -- that is sure to engage the heavenlies and bring peace to this war-torn world.

WE have been called “for such a time as this.” While our governments and world organizations approach this complicated and terrorized time through the authority God has entrusted to them, let us wield the power and authority that has been entrusted to us through prayer. Even as governments come together to end this scourge, and we prayerfully support their efforts, let us accomplish more besides. Let us raise the weapon of the Rosary and engage this battle with confidence!

Let us stand in solidarity with the grieving mothers and fathers of Manchester, our persecuted brothers and sisters everywhere, and all those who have known this grief before them.

Let us stand against this rising tide of terrorism fueled as it is by hatred and barbarity. Like our ancestors in Faith who prayed the Rosary to great advantage and won wars because of it, let us, too, put this holy weapon into our hands and do the same!

Enlist! Sign up! And strive to get others to join us. Share this blog, tweet this hash tag, do all you can to ring the bell of hope!

--Johnnette S. Benkovic

The full description of "The Warrior's Rosary Crusade" is described in "The Rosary: Your Weapon for Spiritual Warfare."