Tag: Rosary

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taking a break for prayer

shell rosary

Here’s a lovely prayer to

accompany me on my rosary walks:

Ave Maris Stella:

Hail, bright star of ocean, 

God’s own Mother blest,
Ever sinless Virgin,
Gate of heavenly rest.

Taking that sweet Ave
Which from Gabriel came,
Peace confirm within us,
Changing Eva’s name.

Break the captives’ fetters,
Light on blindness pour,
All our ills expelling,
Every bliss implore.

Show thyself a Mother;
May the Word Divine,
Born for us thy Infant,
Hear our prayers through thine.

Virgin all excelling,
Mildest of the mild,
Freed from guilt, preserve us,
Pure and undefiled.

Keep our life all spotless,
Make our way secure,
Till we find in Jesus,
Joy forevermore.

Through the highest heaven
To the Almighty Three,
Father, Son and Spirit,
One same glory be. Amen.

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it’s been ages since I make a rosary

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I found this loop of twine and dug around and found a crucifix, so I made a rosary today. I’m way out of practice because I had to untie the knot for the crucifix three times before I finally got it right.

Ok, I didn’t so much get it right as get it to a place that didn’t make me want to untie the whole thing again.

I used to make rosaries all the time, and then an extraordinary thing happened and I started praying rosaries all the time. I still make the random rosary, but a touch of arthritis is making pulling the twine a little difficult. The prayer, however, is as comfortable in my hands as ever.

I wonder, do you have a favorite prayer or devotion?

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praying the rosary one checkmark at a time

There was a time when I used to come home in the morning after dropping the kids off at school, make half a pot of coffee, and leisurely pray a rosary before I went about my daily chores and activities.

I was fairly new at this discipline of praying daily, and I needed time, and I definitely needed plenty of cheat sheets. I ended up with a lovely little book that had the scriptural rosary. That helped me a lot because I was able to follow along with the story. It was just what I needed to help me remember the mysteries, and I was hooked on the prayer.

As it happens, other things changed. I lost the little booklet, but not the habit of praying. I was already in love with the prayer…and falling deeper in love with the story. Slowly, and steadily, my faith was blossoming … one bead at a time.

Years later, I see Mary’s gentle hand in this journey as she has led me to her Son. That little book with the scriptural rosary came back to me, a sweet little gift that keeps giving as I revisit the pages I almost knew by heart.

But times have changed. I’ve gone back to a demanding career, and I don’t have the luxury of running a pot of coffee in the middle of my morning. Heck, I don’t have time to run to the vending machine to buy a terrible impersonation of coffee.

I do, however, attempt to finish a rosary. That challenge has proven to be more difficult than I imagined, mostly because I’m constantly interrupted and I’d forget where I was. And then I came upon this plan…if I couldn’t get 20 minutes of uninterrupted time, perhaps I could make the time for a reverent Hail Mary.

One Hail Mary prayed right is certainly worth more than a distracted and mumbled rosary, so I developed a plan. All I needed was a tally system to help me keep track of my progress through the rosary…so I designed this cheat sheet — just a series of bubbles and boxes I could check as I moved through the prayer. One glance told me where I had left off before racing to class or a meeting.

I was sure I’d never be able to get through a whole rosary this way. The thing is, on those days when I can’t escape for a quiet lunch with prayer, I not only find myself praying all day, one Hail Mary at a time, but I find that I have just enough moments throughout the day to finish.

How about that?

Click on this link for a printable bookmark Rosary that you can check off as you pray.

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