Renewal of James Larson's "Rosary to the Interior" for Candlemas

As many readers of this blog know, I was privileged to enjoy a long and fruitful professional collaboration with the late James Larson, which continued on until his death in 2020. After his passing, I worked with his family to bring Larson's essential essays to print in the book The War Against Being and the Return to God, in which Mr. Larson argued that essential problem at the heart of Church's crisis is the rejection of a Thomistic philosophical framework.

One of Mr. Larson's later initiatives was the Rosary to the Interior, which was a call for Catholics worldwide to offer rosaries on February 2, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for the intention of the purification of the Church, which I promoted at the time of its launch in 2017. Back then Larson had written:

Recognizing that the Catholic Church alone in this world was blessed and commissioned with the Light of Christ necessary for triumph over the Darkness of sin and error, and that this Light has now been severely obscured by the sin and errors of its own members, this Rosary asks us to turn our eyes inward in order to effect that interior purification which alone can once again make Christ’s Light manifest in its fullness to the world.

Though the initiative faltered after Larson's death, I was very pleased to learn that it has recently been resurrected by a group of lay volunteers who have organized in a Telegram community called Pebbles. If you'd like to learn more about the Rosary to the Interior and join the Pebbles community on Telegram, you can review a press release about the initiative here.

Rosary to the Interior was something that Larson conceived not merely as personal commitment by individual Catholics, but something that could be undertaken corporately, organized at the parish level with the support and guidance of parish pastors. Accordingly, the Telegram community has also published an Open Letter to the Bishops introducing the initiative and soliciting prayers and support.

I urge all Catholics to offer their Rosaries for this intention on the Feast of Candlemas, individually and corporately where possible. Our prayers are never in vain. Even if the good Lord does not manage things according to the timeframe and manner in which we think He should, we may be confident that His providence will sort all even as the wheat is separated from the chaff.

James Larson, requiescat in pace.