On this feast of the holy Rosary we deepen our love for it.

Saturday, 10/7/17

Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady's Rosary, and we should use the day for growing in love of the practice of praying the Rosary.  

I must admit to having made a fool of myself over the Rosary when I was in the Eighth Grade. I was late sneaking into the pew at a weekday Mass, when someone told me I was supposed to lead the whole school in the Rosary. I had to make up the mysteries as I went along, and the priest at the altar had a hard time putting up with it.

Sister Rosalie then drilled me in saying the Rosary the right way. She was a Dominican nun, and she told me how Mary had given the first Rosary and the fifteen mysteries to their St. Dominic back in 1200 A.D..

I don't want to cause Sister Rosalie to roll over in her grave, but I have since gone along with the Historians who have proven that those mysteries were made up three hundred years after St. Dominic died.    

Actually my learning about that has made the Rosary a much finer prayer for me. Since we are supposed to meditate on the mysteries as we say the Hail Mary's, I find other aspects of our Faith more nourishing. In the mornings I use the Rosary to meditate on the Beatitudes and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the afternoons I use it to meditate on the First Chapter of John's Gospel.

I used to have mental trouble in thinking about the mysteries and the words of the Hail Mary's at the same time. I have gotten around that by remembering how when I went Christmas shopping with my mother when I was four. As I gaped around at all the sights, I would thoughtlessly hold tight to my mother's hand.  

Without meaning any disrespect for Mary, I use her Hail Mary's as her hand to hang on to as I gape around at the mysteries of our Faith