The Cellphone has Replaced the Rosary

Christy Romero | 09/05/2025

“The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence, and you'll be amazed at the results.” Saint Josemaria Escrivá

I’m in the hospital with my husband. He’s getting a pacemaker. I’m in the waiting room. As I look around me, I notice that every single person is on their cellphone, me included. I remember another time, exactly thirty years ago. My husband had to have an emergency appendectomy. Back then, only a few had cellphones. The norm in a hospital waiting room was to see people talking or praying. I specifically recall a lady that was also waiting with a rosary in her hands.

This memory made me decide to put my phone down, take out the rosary that I always carry in my purse, and say a prayer for my husband. I’m not sure if anyone noticed, since everyone is glued to their phones. But maybe one person did, and it will inspire them to pray.

It’s sad that this little device, that fits in the palm of our hands, has taken over our lives. I am communicating with various groups regarding my husband’s status. This requires that I am constantly checking my phone. Every time someone asks me a question that I don’t know the answer to, I resort to my phone, and either Google or AI provides the answer. Even my son sent me a screenshot of an entire conversation he had with ChatGPT regarding my husband’s procedure.

I do pray the rosary on a regular basis, but guess who helps me to pray it when I’m driving? An app on my cellphone, of course. Most of the time, I don’t even take out the rosary that I carry in my purse. I use a rosary app to guide me. And when I pray it as I walk in the mornings with my husband, I just use my fingers.

The rosary is the biggest weapon that Our Lady left us, and we have forgotten to use it. In her multiple apparitions, she has made it clear that the rosary is her weapon of choice. The graces that the rosary calls down from heaven are hard for us to imagine because most of the time we cannot see them. But St. John Paul II credits the rosary with his life being saved by Our Lady of Fatima, who turned thousands of people towards praying the rosary. At the Battle of Lepanto, in today’s Greece, an outnumbered Christian force won the war. Their victory was attributed to the fervent praying of the rosary.

Therefore, I took a break from my cellphone and prayed the rosary for my husband’s successful procedure. Once in a while, we need to put these little devices away and take out another even smaller but more powerful tool. We cannot allow our cellphones to replace the rosary.

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About the Author

Christy Romero

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My name is Christy Romero and I am a cradle Catholic. I met my husband, Rafael, 46 years ago on a Youth Encounter, and we got married four years later. We have three young adult children who are all happily married, and two grandsons that have stolen our hearts. Even though I have always loved writing, God took me on a different career path. I graduated with a degree in Accounting in 1986, and thirty years ago, I established my practice to help small businesses and individuals with their tax filings. Last year, I decided to retire to spend more time with my growing family, and to dedicate more time to writing. I created a blog to share my meditations ten years ago, and I have a faithful following of family and friends. Now, I feel God urging me to share the Good News of the Church that He established over 2,000 years ago with a larger audience. In the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta: “I am just a little pencil in the hand of a writing God sending a love letter to the world.” You can find more of my writings at https://christysmeditations.blogspot.com/