So once upon a time I was a pretty lukewarm Catholic. Tepid. Neither hot nor cold. Worse than a pizza slice that has been sitting out and congealing. Then, through a series of incredible events culminating in my joining Rosary Army and becoming a rosary-making machine (now I also teach people at the Eucharistic Congress), I have found peace and ….well peace. That’s a good thing in today’s world.
I challenge you to check out this fun and very important (really…you never know who needs this) activity that Rosary Army has masterminded! Yes! Instead of asking YOU to send in money, we are sending YOU rosaries to give away! You can send us money, too, but that’s not what this is about.
It has also inspired me to start blogging, so this little piece, translated from the original Spanish, speaks to my conversion.
The Holy Rosary
It’s been a while since I reflect on the graces that I have received by praying the rosary but find that today, on a day that celebrates saying yes to life and to God’s gift of that life through the Walk for Life, I am reminded of those graces, and how they embolden, strengthen, and often console us.
I could say that the rosary changed my life. Perhaps better said, it saved my life. My faith and prayer life had been a lukewarm challenge for more years than it has been on fire for the Lord. So much of that time was spent longing for a better relationship, but not really knowing how to proceed.
It’s kind of like when I was in school and I could see the groups of kids doing really neat things, and I knew that they probably would welcome me to join them, but it was me, shy and feeling awkward, that stood back and didn’t initiate the friendship.
God is like that, I think. He longs for a relationship with me as much as I seek Him. But it is my weakness, my shyness, and sometimes those feelings of inadequacy in not knowing how to pray or what to say that held me back.
By coincidence (are there really coincidences or just opportunities to really see God’s hand in our lives?) at about the same time I was looking for a way to learn to pray, my oldest daughter experienced a retreat where she learned to make all-twine rosaries. She came home excited about the weekend and gave me that rosary as a gift. Her excitement was contagious. You see, the teens learned to make rosaries with the idea that they should pray them after making them, and then pass them on to someone else who would catch the wave.* [more… ]
