It’s Day 7 of the #write31days challenge. My topic is 31 Days of Gratitude. You can see my previous Gratitude posts here.
Want to join the writing challenge but are unable to write everyday? Join me for the Weekly Writing Challenge in October instead.
Now for today’s post…
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Today the church celebrates the feast of the holy rosary. It’s a beautiful feast day but I wasn’t always a fan of the rosary. Oh, sure I’d hang one in my car as the cultural Catholic thing to do but I’ve had a love/dislike relationship with the rosary. It wasn’t so much the theological understanding that troubled me. Frankly, it was the fact that sometimes praying it was a little boring. Why the need to keep saying the same thing over and over again?
However, after a difficult break-up and period away from God in my early twenties, Mary was very influential is helping me turn back to her Son. As I grew older, there was a definite draw towards the rosary.
It’s not always easy for me to quiet my easily distracted mind but somehow, closing my eyes and saying the repetitive but calming words of the Hail Mary has helped me to slow down and meditate on the life of Jesus. It gives me peace, as well as the opportunity to pray for my family, friends and the world at large.
There are times when I’ll pray only a couple of decades, such as when I am driving about town. Other times I will pray the whole rosary such as when I take a morning walk or when I meet weekly with school parents to pray the rosary together. Sure, I admit there are mornings when I am so cranky and stressed with getting the kids off to school on time that the last thing I want to do is pray a rosary. However, Brian usually reminds me that this is when I need it the most. And dang it, as much as I may not want to admit it, he’s right. It does calm me down and turns my heart back to God.
So today, for the gift of the rosary and for a heavenly Mother who is always pointing me to her Son, I am truly thankful. š
Want to know more? Here are a few resources:
- If the rosary is something you aren’t familiar with, you can read about the history of it here.
- If you want to know how to pray the rosary, this PDF – How to Recite the Rosary from New Advent is really helpful.
- If you want to read how we started praying a nightly decade of the rosary as a family, read this post – A Sacred Space for Family Prayer.
- 8×10 prints of the Mysteries of the Rosary are available for purchase at EWTN.
- Want to listen to the rosary in the car or while you are working around the house? There a number of apps available. The Laudate app has a many Catholic resources, including various versions of the rosary. Personally, I use the Rosary Audio by Gaussuan Knights. (If you have another rosary app suggestion, please leave it in the comments.)
I hope these help. š
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