“Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.”

-St. Padre Pio

The Rosary – So many ways to let my pondering go in beautiful directions that never cease…So many things to focus on…

After my mother passed away in 2002, I moved here to San Diego. When her estate (LOL at Estate- We were very lucky to have a roof over our heads and it was no estate) was settled, I received a package of some belongings that I had “Won” of hers in the family lottery for personal items. Funny really, I received not only her rosary that I got in a lot of trouble for playing with as a child, but also my grandmothers. Keep in mind, I have 7 other brother and sisters, whom they could have easily gone to.
I also received a medallion. Leather on one side with the photo to the right, on the other side, sewn together with ribbon. I often looked at it intently as a child. I knew it was our Holy Mother and Infant Savior, but I could never figure out who the second child was, until recently. But, that is a story for another time. If your wondering, it is Saint John The Baptist.

Unfortunately, for a long time, praying the rosary for me, is a difficult task. Not because I don’t like it. I believe it is filled with so much beauty, wonder and spiritual bliss, but rather I find my concentration on our Lord and our Holy Mother difficult to keep during the prayer. I struggle constantly, with placing MY everyday life, with theirs, and seeing things from their perspective, in my life. I don’t try to do it, it just happens that way. I feel a deeper need to toss aside MY life events, and focus intently on what our Holy Family, must have endured. What I have learned to do, is have my bible in hand, reading the corresponding scripture, as I am praying. It tends to hold my attention better, then without.

I never prayed the rosary as a child. Actually, I believe I was taught how to pay it in Catholic grade school, but never prayed it at home or on my own. It wasn’t until last year that I started praying the rosary. With of course, my mother & grandmothers rosary’s. I have to say, it took me a while to learn it. LOL I also thought in the beginning if I didn’t pray it correctly, mixing up the Mysteries, or forgetting a Glory Be, it wouldn’t count. HA! What nonsense! Even in the times I was learning, so much in regards to our Lords passion became apparent to me. So much beauty of the LOVE and bond our Holy Mother had for her infant son and through His Life, Death and Resurrection. In between my failings to concentrate, I have shed many tears. For a long time, wailing out loud, tears streaming down my face was common, on Friday nights, during the Sorrowful Mysteries.

Every time I pray it, its as if a tiny glimpse of our Lords life, is revealed. Just a split second flash, that makes me feel as if I am there. There for the birth of our Lord. There in the garden before His death. There as the post He was tide to for scourging. There as the Roman guards are twisting the thorns together making the crown. I can see the robe they placed on Him and feel the pain in His back and chest as they place it on, sticking to the blood all over his body. Knowing any contact from even a breeze would be painful. I can see as the Romans ripped it off His body and thus pulling off more flesh, where His blood became coagulated and began to heal into the threads of the material. I can see Him covered in a mixture of dirt, blood and sand from falling, moving me to tears as Veronica wipes His face. Wishing I could do the same, just to bring Him that simple coolness, simple mercy from the cloth, while he burned in pain.

I could get carried away in this post. In the first week I started praying the Rosary, there was another glimpse of “Something” I visioned. Two faces of smoke. They were not happy faces. They were in agony. They were just gray, smoke, round faces. I could see them, like a smoke ring from a cigarette, close up at first but vanishing quickly into the darkness of the vision, holding their form but being overtaken in the dark. As if they were falling quickly, out of site and disappeared into it. They didn’t lose form or dissipate, they just went away. I never seen that again, in any vision since.

The best place to start to pray, I have found, is EWTN. Not only do they have the website to teach you, but also recite it ON TV throughout the day. Here is the link on HOW TO PRAY THE ROSARY. Learn it, pray it, ponder it 🙂