Please join me and other Catholic bloggers at RAnn’s Place for Sunday Snippets, where we share posts from the previous week and answer a weekly question. This week's question is suggestions for praying the Rosary. I'm a good person to answer this, because of my love/hate relationship with the Rosary. I pray the Rosary every day. Rather, I finger the beads every day. Also, I could say that I attempt to pray the Rosary and finish wondering if I did it or not. But I persist in doing it.
I contend that the intention is worth more than the actual prayer. Let me explain. If a loved one has diarrhea, you have to clean it up. You do it because you love the person, not because you love cleaning up "sickness." My argument is that this love is exponentially worth more than mumbling "I love you." Hence, forcing yourself to prove your love by pushing yourself to do something difficult for that person, is worth more than saying "I love you."
This is why I believe in persisting in doing something difficult. That being said, a good way for me to pray the Rosary is to go to a daily Mass, where the Rosary is prayed before Mass begins. Then join them.
However, the best way for me to pray the Mass thoughtfully and reverently is to put my intention into every single Hail Mary that I pray. For example, in praying for my husband, Richard, I would say:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for Richard now, and at the hour of his death.
The entire Rosary can be prayed for Richard, or I'll change names for each decade. Paying attention to where I am, in order to insert the name, keeps me focused. This works best for me. But it takes the longest.
My postings this week were eclectic.
I began Sunday by posting my cardinal archbishop's You Tube video on celebrating life.
Monday -- I blogged about Linda's Haiti experience.
Tuesday -- I begged for money to help Father Gordon MacRae's appeal. He is a priest who has been in prison for almost 20 years, for a crime he didn't commit.
Wednesday -- I posted about my hike. The picture featured at the top of this post is from this hike.
Thursday -- An interview given by Pope Francis, is compared to St. Dominic.
Friday -- no posting
Saturday -- On this feast of the Jesuit North American martyrs, I prayed for all persecuted Christians.
Why don't you hope over to RAnn's place and see what's what.
