People Suck

 It's funny how a lady I barely know expresses one of my most often used expressions. My friend, Bill, once exclaimed, as my sister would say, "People suck."  That's it.  Ever since then, a week doesn't go by when I make that declaration.

Take last night.  I'm in a prayer group, specifically, a Lay Dominican Rosary prayer group.  One of the most faithful of the group, died.  In honor of him, I asked people to zoom in to pray the Rosary, for our deceased friend.  Ready?

Get this.

Nobody came.

I repeat.  NOBODY.

Dare tell me that People don't suck.

I told so many that I was worried how zoom could handle it.  I told his Lay Dominican chapter.  I told other Dominican friends.  I told priests who worked with him.  I told ALL Lay Dominicans in our Province.

Nobody came.

People suck.

This was 8:00 pm.  This was our usual time.  It is a small group, anyway.  At the most we had five people praying at a time.  Last night, there were only four.  The usual participants.  Praying a rosary is only 10-15 minutes.

I will say this.  I was shocked when we began praying.  Appalled that no one came.  Legitimately "pissed."  As we prayed, the anger, disappointment, and hurt gradually dissipated.  By the time, we finished, I felt better, reconciled.  After all, I know people suck.  

Prayer Beads

 Yesterday, my granddaughter and I were on our way to lunch.  As I stopped to check traffic, before I entered the main road, I noticed a pedestrian approaching the corner.  He was holding prayer beads.  I pointed him out to my granddaughter.  

Look at this man, he's praying his rosary as he walks.  

As I turned the car onto the road, I noticed that the end of the beads did not have a crucifix.  So, these prayer beads weren't a rosary.  I pointed that out to my grand-     daughter.  Every religion, except Protestantism, has prayer beads.  We said a prayer for him to stay close to God.  God bless him.

The 2024 Best

 The Concord Pastor has just offered me days of meditation.  He lists the 10 best posts of 2024.  Today, I'll post about the happiest event that happened in 2024.

I'm changing the modifier "happiest," to "most satisfying."  This event happened while playing cribbage.  In conversation, I explained the Rosary and to another person, the Immaculate Conception.  Plus, I became closer to these two people.  It was a "win/win."

Dental Sorrowful Mysteries

 Nothing brings me quicker and deeper into prayer than a dentist appointment. Today I had over a two hour appointment and another is forthcoming in three weeks.   

Thanks to the two hours plus appointment, I managed to pray all four mysteries of the Rosary. I never noticed how apropos the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary are, to being at the dentist's.  While waiting in the waiting room, I prayed the Agony in the Garden. Add the Scourging at the Pillar. Sitting in the dental chair, I thought, how coincidental that I'm being fitted for a crown, while praying the Crowning of Thorns.  Of course, the ordeal itself, was The Way of the Cross, and the Crucifixion.

The appointment was over two hours, so I also prayed the Joyful, Glorious and Luminous Mysteries. That's 200 Hail Mary's.  It helps.  Praying always helps.

I also used my rosary ring, to pray.  It was spinning!

Praying for Ukraine

 Before Mass, during Lent we are praying a Rosary for the "hot spots," in the world.  I have Ukraine.  

Today we are praying for the people of Ukraine.  The country itself has often been in the jaws of Russia, due to it’s access to water, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.  It once had the Crimean Sea but in 2014, Russia took it.  Its natural resources have also been coveted by Russia.  Ukraine has iron, gas, oil, lithium, and many others.  The agricultural resources are so renowned that Ukraine is known as the bread basket of the world.  These are some of the reasons, Russia wants Ukraine.

Ukraine has always claimed to be a separate nation.  It has its own language, even when it was annexed by Catherine the Great, as part of the Russian Empire, and then as part of the Soviet Union.  When the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukraine declared itself an independent entity in 1991.

The last time, Russia invaded Ukraine was in 2014, where it claimed the Donbas region.  There are many people there that desire to be Russian. This was the excuse—to defend the Russians living in Donbas. But Putin used the invasion to annex the Crimean Peninsula. Since then, war has simmered between the Donbas Russians and Ukraine.

Three days before Putin invaded, a year ago, he declared Donbas and Luhansk as Republics. This is what prompted NATO to impose sanctions on Russia. Since then, Putin often speaks of the ethnic ties that justify his invasion in his aim to restore Russia to national greatness.

Another motivation for Putin is religious.  Of course he might be using religion to convince some people that he is restoring the Russian Orthodox Church to be the only accepted church in Russia. Putin’s invasion is supported by the Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Kirill has called Putin’s invasion a religious miracle. Putin and Kirill consider the West and that includes Ukraine, decadent and morally reprehensible. In a country where 71% identify as Orthodox, Putin promotes himself as defender of the values of the church, and Patriarch Kirill legitimizes his geopolitical ambitions.

This afternoon, let us invoke the intercessions of the patron saints of Ukraine and Russia.  St. Olga is patron saint of Ukraine.  She is also patron of widows, defiance, and vengeance.  Yes, vengeance.  The story is that she married as a teenager and had one son.  This is the 10^th century; her husband was brutally murdered by a neighboring tribe.  She was only around twenty years old, and her son was three.  She wanted vengeance and she got it.  She wiped the tribe that killed her husband off the face of the earth.  This was before she became Christian.  Upon converting to Christianity she repented and forgave all whom she felt had wronged her.  So she is patron saint of those who want vengeance but think better of it.  Her family was converted, along with her.  That includes her grandson, Vladimir.

Her grandson, Vladimir the Great, expanded the kingdom into what is now seen as the first Russian principality, which Vladimir Putin now views as the forerunner of the imperial Russian state. Olga’s grandson is acknowledged as a saint for his role in completing the Christianization, Olga started. Is the name sake of St. Vladimir modeling him?

Russia has a few patron saints because of the many countries she has assimilated.  There’s St. Vladimir and St. Olga, St. Nicholas (our Santa), St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Andrew, St. George, Michael the Archangel, etc. 

Let us pray through the intercession of all the saints, especially the patrons of Ukraine and Russia; we pray for peace and the laying down of weapons.  We ask for wisdom, discernment, and compassion for those in power to broker peace.   ROSARY

Start Novena

 Nine-month Novena starting January 30, 2023, Pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC.  September 30, 2023, Vigil of Rosary Sunday. 

God our Father, we thank you for the gift of your Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we are
adopted as your beloved sons and daughters.

At Pentecost you poured out the Holy Spirit
upon Our Lady and the Apostles
while they were at prayer.

Pour out that same Holy Spirit upon us 
as we meditate upon the mysteries of Christ
contained in the Most Holy Rosary.

wnlighten our faith, strengthen our hope, and
set us ablaze with love for you and our neighbor.

Graciously grant us St. Dominic's own zeal
for the salvation of souls.

Bless the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage.

May it lead many souls to Jesus through Mary,
so that we may know you and your saving power
now and for all eternity.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!
St. Dominic, pray for us!

Response

 There has been quite a reaction to an article in the Atlantic about the rosary as a symbol for extreme right views.  Here's my response:

Hello and thank you for waking me up this morning!

     This article  hit home with me.  The article by Daniel Panneton did the opposite of what he intended. He is the manager of an Anti-Hate Research and Education Project.  He also is a product of his time and culture.  His articles defend the current cultural climate.  Any criticism of mainstream media, government, opinion, he interprets as "Hate."  Defending the mainstream is his shtick.

      That being said, he doesn't think deep enough.  When there are pro-life people praying in front of abortion clinics, he doesn't see that.  He sees anti-government, radical religious nut cases shaking rosary beads.  They're holding up posters of bloody abortions and waving their rosary beads.  He sees people with rosaries accosting potential people who need help. When there are protesters protesting nuclear weapons, he sees them brandishing rosary beads. At the border with Mexico, Cardinal O'Malley reached out to people holding rosaries through the slats in the wall--what an affront to the law!   IOW, he sees the rosary as an obvious symbol, and doesn't hear the praying, nor think of the reason.  He's too entrenched in our secular world to have eyes that see and ears that hear. 

     People should criticize Panneton's article and call out the bigotry that the labeling inferred.  But I'd like to throw my opinion into the soup.  In my frame of reference, belonging to a Lay Dominican prison fraternity, Panneton is on to something in seeing extremism in the people who brandish their beads.  I see it, too.  Oh, I definitely see it.

The Latin Kings wear their rosary beads proudly.  They will willing explain to you that anyone wearing white beads is an "inquirer," the black and gold beads are for all members, two gold beads are for a leader, and if their rosary is all black beads, then they're murderers but they look upon it as enforcers/assassins. Honor killings aren't murder. Then there are the Netas.  They come from Puerto Rico and wear 78 red, white, and blue beads that symbolize the 78 towns in Puerto Rico. I know of one more gang, the Sureno.  They wear a necklace of 13 beads.

     Rosary beads are a popular tool for gangs. Gangs are extreme!  I also can assure you, that most, if not all, of these rosary bearers, never pray their rosary.  Daniel Panneton has obviously never prayed a rosary, either.  I will give him the benefit of doubt, that he didn't reflect too much before he submitted that article.  After all, he works hard to expose "hate."  I don't think he meant to water the seeds of anti-Catholicism.  But I do blame the Atlantic magazine for using misleading headlines, dubious captions, subtitles and pictures, to beguile readers into reading their anti-Catholicism nonsense. 

     Just as God can turn bad into good, so Satan can turn rosaries into extreme tokens.  We aren't fighting against "flesh and blood," but against the dark spiritual forces of evil.

Veritas!

P.S.  I have already called attention to this article in this post.

Rosary Terrorist

 Recently, the Atlantic magazine ran an article saying that the Rosary was a symbol of intimidation.  Well, it always has been a weapon against evil.  Pius V credited winning the battle of Lepanto because the people prayed the Rosary.  The devil hates it.  

I can hear the Dominicans laughing now.

Don't Stop Praying

I often feel prayer is useless, especially long devotions, litanies, novena and specifically the rosary.  I know.  I pray a rosary every day, but as a Lay Dominican, that's a rule.  I pray the rosary because I follow the rule.  Besides, my prayer partner calls me to it.  

However, this story from Warriors to Lourdes Pilgrimage hit me in my mind and heart.  I have hope and better belief, that prayer is not useless.  I believe it.

 "In 2001, Richard Johnson suffered a major knee injury during an operation in Kosovo. He was given strong painkillers, which led him into an addiction that gradually dragged him into the abyss.

He spent the next 14 years in growing isolation and despair. When his family — practicing Catholics with a proud tradition of military service — lost all influence over him, they resolved to support him by prayer, from a distance.

“My family grieved me as I was basically gone,” Richard, 47, told CNA during the May 10-16 Warriors to Lourdes

 pilgrimage. “I spent years in darkness, with no thought, no emotion. I felt I completely lost my soul, while my mom was praying the rosary continuously.”

He is aware, with hindsight, that it is thanks to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary that he emerged into the light.

In 2014, he experienced a psychotic break in which he lost all contact with reality. It took four years for him to come through it.

“One night, in 2018, in a totally sudden way, I heard the first thought in my mind in four years,” he recalled. “And I know now that all was connected. At that point, I felt what I would describe as a flood of grace. I felt at peace, started to feel emotions again, my soul was coming back.”

That night, Richard felt compelled to pray, even though he had cut himself off from his childhood faith as a teenager after his parents’ divorce, some 20 years earlier. A week later, a strong will to pray the rosary arose in him.

“I asked a Catholic friend I had in the Army to help me pray as I had forgotten everything,” he said. “Then I started reconnecting with people, with my faith and Scripture, and I became a completely new person.

Hail Mary Mantra

 

I can usually tell when foreigners are praying the Rosary.  No matter what language one prays in, the Hail Mary is chanted in a cadence that is recognizable.  Then you hear a chorus in response.  Lastly, everyone says, "Amen."  

It begins again.  People press the beads in their fingers.  They travel from one bead to the next in that familiar chant.  It becomes a mantra while each one centers their mind on one of the mysteries, or the person or situation they are praying for.

Sometimes you can feel the energy floating up from the people.  It's a grace to experience.

Rosary Bracelet

 

 

The Trail Hikers meet at the usual place.  It takes awhile to get going; we're waiting for everyone to get organized--get directions, decide whether to take your own car or ride along with someone.

As this was going on, Don ran up to us.  He had run up from his house.  He's a marathon runner.  He ran up to tell us that his wife had a medical appointment and they wouldn't be coming.

While he was telling us this, I noticed that he was fingering a rosary bracelet.  I was impressed.  He runs every morning.  I bet that's when he prays his rosary.  God bless him.

Washing Your Rosary

My rosary under my pillow is a corded rosary.  Corded rosaries are indestructible.   

In the morning when I make my bed, I could find it anywhere (literally)!  Once it was on the floor on my husband's side of the bed.

Today, I changed the sheets and forgot about my rosary.  It was thrown in the wash with the sheets.  It came out better than ever--nice and clean.

Now here's a meditation for you.  Every once in a while, I posit that our prayer life needs to be washed like a rosary.  Rosaries are prayed with our dirty fingers.  I usually don't wash my hands before I pick up my rosary.  We probably should.  

 

Not only our rosaries but other devotions should be cleaned up, too.  My lectio divina practice was getting to be perfunctory.  It was reading, meditating, praying/lectio, meditatio, contemplatio. I wanted to spruce it up, so I added another book to my scripture reading.  It was a commentary, but if the commentary led to questions, I'd google the question.  Thus my lectio divina added another step--studium.

Presently, I feel called to do even more--something.  Yes, that's exactly it. My lectio that led to more commentary, that led to meditation, and then prayer, now urged me to do something.  Something to physically demonstrate my understanding of the lectio.  Help in some way.  Pray more.  Increase my prayer life.  Something!

Funny how washing a rosary will improve your prayer life.

Poet Priest of the South

 The Rosary of My Tears

Some reckon their age by years,
     Some measure their life by art;
But some tell their days by the flow of their tears,
     And their lives by the moans of their heart.

The dials of earth may show
     The length, not the depth of years.
Few or many they come, few or many they go,
     But time is best measured by tears.

For the young are oft-times old,
     Though their brows be bright and fair;
While their blood beats warm, their hearts are cold,
     O'er them the spring--but winter is there.

And the old are oft-times young,
    When their hair is thin and white;
And they sing in age, as in youth they sung,
     And they laugh for their cross was light.

But, bead by bead, I tell
     The rosary of my years,
From a cross to a cross they lead; 'tis well
     And they're blest with a blessing of tears.

Better a day of strife
     Than a century of sleep:
Give me instead of a long stream of life
     The tempest and tears of the deep.

A thousand joys may foam
     On the billow of all the years:
But never the foam brings the lone back home;
     It reaches the haven through tears.

Father Abram J. Ryan, C.M.

Father Ryan was born in the Virginia in 1838.  His father was the overseerer of a plantation. With a background and environment of a Southern plantation, at that time, one can see why Father Ryan sympathized with the Confederate States of America.  

He wrote quite a lot of poems and was a celebrity.  The poem above about "The Rosary of My Tears," is an example of his poetry.

The Aluminum Mysteries

Every 6:00 PM, I "facetime" my prayer partner and we pray the Rosary.  He cracks me up.  He mispronounces some words and can't stop yawning, while we pray.  Tonight he only yawned six times. We count.

Since today is Thursday, we meditated on the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary, which he mispronounces as the "aluminum mysteries." 

He always wants to put in the announcing of a mystery, "the repentance of Jesus."

What?  Huh?

There's no repentance mystery? 

No.

You sure?

Yes.

Add Two More Prayers to the Rosary

You know how I have this love/hate relationship with the rosary.  I don't like rote prayers and the rosary is an example.  I have been praying it, however, because as a Lay Dominican it is part of our rule.  It is part of my life. I miss it when I don't pray it.  Well, today in Aleteia,in an article by Kathleen Kattrup, I read that the pope asks Catholics to add two more prayers to the rosary during the month of May, which is a month dedicated to Mary.  Of course, I will do it.  After all, Thomas Merton says it's worth more when you push yourself.

First Prayer

O Mary,
You shine continuously on our journey
as a sign of salvation and hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,    who, at the foot of the cross,
were united with Jesus’ suffering,
and persevered in your faith.

“Protectress of the Roman people”,
you know our needs,
and we know that you will provide,
so that, as at Cana in Galilee,
joy and celebration may return
after this time of trial.

Help us, Mother of Divine Love,
to conform ourselves to the will of the Father
and to do what Jesus tells us.
For he took upon himself our suffering,
and burdened himself with our sorrows
to bring us, through the cross,
to the joy of the Resurrection.
Amen.

We fly to your protection,
O Holy Mother of God;
Do not despise our petitions
in our necessities,
but deliver us always
from every danger,
O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.

---

Second Prayer

“We fly to your protection, O Holy Mother of God”.

In the present tragic situation, when the whole world is prey to suffering and anxiety, we fly to you, Mother of God and our Mother, and seek refuge under your protection.

Virgin Mary, turn your merciful eyes towards us amid this coronavirus pandemic. Comfort those who are distraught and mourn their loved ones who have died, and at times are buried in a way that grieves them deeply. Be close to those who are concerned for their loved ones who are sick and who, in order to prevent the spread of the disease, cannot be close to them. Fill with hope those who are troubled by the uncertainty of the future and the consequences for the economy and employment.

Mother of God and our Mother, pray for us to God, the Father of mercies, that this great suffering may end and that hope and peace may dawn anew. Plead with your divine Son, as you did at Cana, so that the families of the sick and the victims be comforted, and their hearts be opened to confidence and trust.

Protect those doctors, nurses, health workers and volunteers who are on the frontline of this emergency, and are risking their lives to save others. Support their heroic effort and grant them strength, generosity and continued health.

Be close to those who assist the sick night and day, and to priests who, in their pastoral concern and fidelity to the Gospel, are trying to help and support everyone.

Blessed Virgin, illumine the minds of men and women engaged in scientific research, that they may find effective solutions to overcome this virus.

Support national leaders, that with wisdom, solicitude and generosity they may come to the aid of those lacking the basic necessities of life and may devise social and economic solutions inspired by farsightedness and solidarity.

Mary Most Holy, stir our consciences, so that the enormous funds invested in developing and stockpiling arms will instead be spent on promoting effective research on how to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

Beloved Mother, help us realize that we are all members of one great family and to recognize the bond that unites us, so that, in a spirit of fraternity and solidarity, we can help to alleviate countless situations of poverty and need. Make us strong in faith, persevering in service, constant in prayer.

Mary, Consolation of the afflicted, embrace all your children in distress and pray that God will stretch out his all-powerful hand and free us from this terrible pandemic, so that life can serenely resume its normal course.

To you, who shine on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope, do we entrust ourselves, O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary. Amen.

Force Yourself to Pray the Rosary

Many times I have heard and read that a deed that you force yourself to do is worth a lot more than one that you love to do.  Why?  Because the reason you are doing it is "love."  It proves your love.  Does anyone want to change dirty diapers?  No, we push ourselves to do it.

I was reminded of this as I read, "What Evelyn Waugh saw in America," by Joshua Hren, in America magazine.

from Jean's blog 
https://www.writewithjean.com/2015/07/28/evelyn-waugh-and-thomas-merton/

"During the same travels, while delivering a series of lectures on “Three Vital Writers: Chesterton, Knox, and Greene,” Waugh stopped at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky to see Thomas Merton. Merton was indebted to Waugh, who provided extensive edits to the “long winded” Seven Storey Mountain. The book came out in England one-third shorter and with Waugh’s recommended title, Elected Silences. The younger Merton repaid his debt, in part, through spiritual friendship, advising Waugh to “say the Rosary every day. If you don’t like it, so much the better.” The monk hoped the beads would assist with Waugh’s anxiety over imperfect contrition. To Merton’s mind, Waugh was a man “with intellectual gifts” arguing himself “into a quandary that doesn’t exist.”

Instructing Waugh to pray the Rosary every day and if he didn't like it, "so much the better."

I wonder if Waugh took Merton's advice.

How to Pray the Rosary from the Heart

An article in Belief Net on Five Ways to Pray the Rosary More Deeply has a misleading title. It really is just clickbait.  You have to jump from slide to slide to read the next paragraph.  They really weren't steps or methods, they were just nominal explaining praying.

Now I have a love/hate relationship with the rosary.  When I first became a Lay Dominican, I started praying the rosary because it is part of our rule.  I couldn't do it.  I have a monkey brain that won't let me focus.  My spiritual director tried to help me.  The best thing he could have said was St. Therese of Lisieux hated praying the rosary too.  She said she wouldn't pray the rosary if it weren't part of her rule.  That's exactly how I felt.

But I dutifully tried praying the rosary, every day.

Now, after some twenty-something years, I haven't come to love the rosary, but it is part of my life. I NEED to pray the rosary.  Along the way, I have picked up some ways to make me stay focused, interested, and pray more heartfully. 

(1)  Try praying with one of the Rosary TV programs.
(2)   "       "           "      "     "  "       "       Radio   ".
(3)  Buy a Rosary CD and pray along.  Dana and Fr. Scanlon are nice.  Another favorite is David Hass praying the Rosary of St. James.
(4)  Break up the rosary by only praying decades at a time, e.i., first when you awake, second before lunch, third in the afternoon, fourth before supper, fifth before bed.
(5)  Add names to the last sentence in the Hail Mary, e.i., "...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my mother, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."

Presently, I use a combination of # 4 and # 5.  Once in a while, I will go back to # 3 or even pray the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows, which I learned about when I read Immaculee Ilibagiza's Left to Tell.

Presently, upon rising in the morning, on the first decade, I pray for my family: ...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my husband and name him, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my godchildren and name them all, now and at the hour of their deaths.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my daughter______ , now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my daughter _____, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my son_____, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my son-in-law_____, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my son-in-law, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my daughter-in-law____, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my granddaughter_____, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
.Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my granddaughter____, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."

Before lunch the second decade is for the church:
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Pope Francis, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for the College of Cardinals, now and at the hour of their deaths.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, OP, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for USCCB, now and at the hour of their deaths.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Bishop Reed, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for all pastors, now and at the hour of their deaths.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Fr. Brian, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Fr. Al, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Fr. Jack, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."

In the afternoon the third decade is for the Order of Preachers:
..Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Master Gerard, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for the Master's socius, now and at the hour of their death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for fr. Salamanca, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my Provincial, Fr. Ken, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my Provincial Promoter, Fr. Carlos, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my fraternity's spiritual advisor, Fr. Nic, now and at the hour of his death.
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my Provincial President, Kathy, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my Lay Provincial Council, now and at the hour of their deaths.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my Council President, Christina, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my Lay Regional Council, now and at the hour of their deaths.  Amen."

Before supper the fourth decade is for my own fraternity, my "cloistered brothers":
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my President, James, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my VP, Peter, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
..Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my Treasurer, Milton, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my Formation Director, Moses, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for my delegate, Ruth, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Denis, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Wayne, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Tony, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Frank, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for all my "cloistered brothers," now and at the hour of their death.  Amen."

My last decade is at bedtime for my friends:
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Donna, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Merril and Judy, now and at the hour of their deaths.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Christine, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Joan, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Joe, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Fr. Rocco, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Fr. Aniello, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Jordi, now and at the hour of his death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Pat, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."
...Holy Mary Mother of God pray for Marina, now and at the hour of her death.  Amen."

Hail, Holy Queen

Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and, after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

Pray for us O holy mother of God, * that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Rosary Prayer

Let us pray. * O God, whose only-begotten Son by his life, death and Resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life; grant, we beseech thee, that by meditating upon these mysteries of the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Rosary Beads

My Hail Mary's stopped
to watch the cross sway,
annoyed with myself
for the distraction
because my rhythm broke.

Slowly, slowly, slowly
the silver cross dangled
back and forth, back and forth,
my eyes flicked down
and then up, but again down

to the hour of our death.
Amen.

Amen.

Wearing a Rosary Around Your Neck

There is a little debate about wearing rosaries. In our culture, it isn't usually done.  And then some misguided youth wear rosaries as a sign that they belong to a certain gang.  I'm not talking about the gang symbols.  I'm talking about wearing the rosary around your neck as religious jewelry. 

Something happened to a friend of mine, that made me realize that maybe wearing rosaries as necklaces may not be such a bad idea, after all.

Joe carries his rosary in his pocket.  The other day he was hit by a car and went sailing in the air until he landed on the sidewalk, smacking his head on the curbstone.  He was out cold.  But in looking through his belongings to see who he was, a rosary was found.  They called a priest.

The priest was there for him when Joe came around.  Joe was administered the sacrament of the sick for his abrasions and concussion.  Thank be to God.

What do you have or wear to tell people your Catholic?  By the way, Joe also carries a pocket cross in his pocket.  But all Christians recognize the cross; it was the rosary that told people he was Catholic.

As a woman, I don't always have pockets to carry a rosary in.  I do wear a medal but who's going to take a magnifying glass out to examine the wording on my medal.  All Christians can wear crosses; only Catholics wear crosses with a corpus. But who knows that?  Besides Catholics can wear both types of crosses.

It's the rosary.  The rosary screams Catholic.  I will have to wear a rosary as a necklace.  I'm taking my prettiest rosary to the jeweler, to add a jump link and clasp.  Then my jewelry will scream Catholic.

Morning Walk

Either before daily morning Mass, or after, I've been walking.  This walking has a dual purpose: exercise and prayer.  I pray a rosary while I walk.  It takes about 15 minutes, which I consider perfect.  My favorite route for walking AND praying is a cemetery.

Walking through the cemetery focuses my praying because I pray for certain names on the grave stones.  Sometimes it's for all the oldest dates of death.  Sometimes it's for children.  Sometime's it's for stones so aged with mold and moss covering them that the engravings are illegible.
 
Today I came across a grave with the inscription above.  I know that's a popular saying to put on grave stones.  At least that what's I've always been told.  But I had never personally seen it.  As I read it this morning, it struck me in a humorously reflective way.  What kind of person would put such a verse to perpetually mark their last words?

Was the deceased angry?  Did he think it was funny?  Then again maybe the deceased had no say in the matter; it was the person (not necessarily the deceased) ordering the grave stone.

What are your thoughts?