Our Lady of the Rosary.

Wednesday, 10/7/15

Today we honor Mary as our Lady of the Rosary, and that opens the way for me to speak both about a good way to say the Rosary and about my own choice of mysteries.

A good way for us to say the Rosary is for us to give our attention to the mysteries, rather than to the wording of the Hail Mary's. For most of my life I found it confusing to be putting my mind on the mysteries at the same time I was praying the hail Mary's;  but then, a dozen years ago, I found a way out of that difficulty.

My mind went back to when I was four-years-old, and my mother took me with her when she was Christmas shopping in the crowded department stores. When we were pushing through the aisles, I would hold tight to my mother's hand, while my attention was not on her,  but on the amazing displays and on the other kids.

That memory gave me an idea. Now, I say the Hail Mary's like I am holding on to Mary's hand, while i give all my attention to the mysteries.

Now, as for my choice of mysteries. After meditating on the same Joyful. Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries for seventy or eighty years I have them meditated threadbare. So, I have been making up  mysteries that are useful to my soul. For rosaries in the morning, my mysteries have me checking my moral behavior. I do that by making Mysteries out of the eight Beatitudes and the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Later in the day I shore up my beliefs, by meditating on phrases from the First Chapter of John's GospeI. The first is "In the beginning was the Word," then, "The Word was with God, and the Word was God." Next. "All things came to be through him, and without him nothing was made."And, so on.