LIVING ROSARIO: A tradition that every year summons thousands of faithful in Mexico

Every year, the prayer of the Holy Rosary brings together thousands of Mexicans in the living rosary, a tradition that summons crowds in different cities of the country to ask for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, and which is described as a “great feast of faith and prayer.”

The living rosary is an experience of faith in which Catholics pray the mysteries accompanied by reflections and representations about the life of Jesus Christ. It usually includes music and a procession of the Virgin Mary in local invocation. Every year it is offered for a special intention and, in 2025, in tune with the invitation of Pope Francis for the Jubilee Year, he will be dedicated to hope.

In Mexico, this initiative has a special presence in the city of León, in the state of Guanajuato, and in Ciudad Juárez, in Chihuahua, cities in which the living rosary is usually carried out in football stadiums for its ability to house large crowds.

A family tradition

In León, the living rosary celebrates 71 uninterrupted years. In an interview for ACI Prensa, Fr. Roberto Guerrero, coordinator of the Prayer Day in the Archdiocese, said that in the beginning the mysteries prayed “verbal form, then a visual support was added by making plastic paintings, then the stages were integrated.”

Currently, the protagonist is the Virgen de la Luz, patron saint of the city, and prior to the litanies each assistant turns on her candle with the light that starts from her image.

As explained by the priest, “the light begins to extend everywhere from the stadium, which being dark, illuminates with the light of Christ that is now communicated to each assistant,” which symbolizes the commitment to pray the Indiffuclammere Rosary during the year.

That gesture, he said, seeks to symbolize that “the Word of God is our lamp to illuminate and discern the call that God makes to contribute to this society being more according to the values ​​of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Fr. Guerrero stressed that this event, which fills a stadium of 30,000 locations, has its greatest strength in the family. He stressed that since its origin it became a space “where grandparents, uncles, parents accompanied by their children, the new generations, participate.”

On the other hand, he indicated that there is also a great presence of young people who arrive from different youth groups and Christian inspiration schools throughout the State, which make the living rosary into “a great feast of faith and prayer; it is the new generations who print their joy, their strength and enthusiasm”.

“Mary, our mother, is the one who accompanies us in this walk. She, who walks with us, the people of God, is the one who encourages us and drives us to approach Jesus Christ. She plays a fundamental role in the homes of our diocese, since this Rosary is dedicated to it, for being the faithful witness and who leads us to Christ in a genuine way,” he concluded.

Conversions thanks to Rosario

Another living rosary of great tradition has been celebrated in Ciudad Juárez since 1992. Its coordinator, Fr. Eduardo Hayen, recalls that since the first edition “had an impressive success: full stadium.” Every year, around 18,000 people congregate to pray to Jesus with Mary.

He explained that from the first edition, live staging were made between mystery and mystery of the Rosary, but now brief videos are projected on giant screens, accompanied by live music. Young Portan lamps that light with each Our Father and dust, turning the stadium into a living lighting of light.

For the priest, “each rosary is special because it allows us to renew the personal and diocesan consecration to the Virgin Mary.” As a result, he said that “many conversions and people very touched by divine grace have been seen in each living rosary.”

Also exorcist of the diocese, Fr. Hayen said that this activity has had “abundant thanks of peace, diocesan unity, reconciliation, vocations.”

He also noted that it has also been seen that “violence in the city decreases when the rosary is praying”, since, she recalled, the Virgin Mary “is not only the mother of immense tenderness, but a brave and warrior woman who has a special force to fight the evil.”

“With the strength of prayer, and united to the Virgin Mary, the hearts are transformed by the grace of God and reborn a culture of peace. Mary purifies the environments where she is invoked and brings the peace of Christ to the hearts, families and communities,” the priest concluded.