Call to Prayer - Rosary Coast To Coast - October 7, 2018

This is especially dear to me since October 7 is the day I came back into the Catholic Church after many years away.  That was in 1997. The Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary.   

Visit RosaryCoastToCoast.com

Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary - Happy 20th Anniversary to Me!

October 7 is a favorite day of mine. First, it's the Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. How awesome, in the true sense of the word, is that?  I love the Rosary and continue to pray it every day.

Second, October 7 is the day I came back into the Catholic Church, at St. Benedict Abbey, Still River, MA, after being lost for many years in the secular world.  The Sisters of Saint Benedict Center, Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Still River, MA, were instrumental in my return as well. That was in 1997. Today, October 7, 2017, is 20 years later, representing the 20th anniversary of my return! Yes, I am jumping up and down. God is good.

OTHER TIDBITS ABOUT THE ROSARY

The Rosary May Not Be In The Bible But...

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It is beyond beneficial to pray the Rosary, not only for you, but for all those for whom you lift up in your intentions before using the beads. If you don't know the Rosary yet, here is one source of many to get you started.



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Earlier this year, I went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico. She is the Patroness of the Americas and the Patroness of the Unborn. While at the shrine, I was shown a wonderful Rosary in the store I entered. Each of the Our Fathers is a carved metal rose backed by a depiction of Our Lord's life.  The crucifix is my favorite part. In the center is a little bubble. When you hold it up to the light, right up to your eye, Our Lady of Guadalupe appears! It's beautiful. And it's scented with a magnificent aroma.

Our Lady of Guadalupe appears to Juan Diego at Tepeyac Hill.
She gives him roses as proof of her appearance.

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RELATED POSTS

My Conversion Story

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary - Why 19?

Fighting the Good Fight

 A Woman In Support of An All-Male Priesthood (go to the middle of p.32). This was published on a previous anniversary.

Loving Those Rosary Beads

The Rosary Army

Happy Feast Day of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary

Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine Trip Report


  Pray the Rosary.

In JMJ+,
Kathleen





images - https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/ 
- http://f.tqn.com/y/catholicism/1/S/x/-/-/-/Iraqi_Christians_Pray_Rosary.jpgimages/I/51Z5ZhY-3iL.jpg
- https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQJTaKHnoVt9LDWwyXCFk-6U4HR1b3jWpOPz6QSureJ9JEC68KTd7rEnAqtEtt3PbYul3yHiuSA9m2MlwcUzEE4Ztd1EQ8d5awPm20BkzcDZNDLTeemBgcvLGVLiLVldVeMjuU0y7aT4/s1600/juan+diego+and+virgin+de+guadalupe.jpg
- http://www.hail-mary-rosaries.com/images/CD_Praying_with_Our_Lady_of_the_Most_Holy_Rosary.jpg

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary - Why 19?

Today is the 19th Anniversary of my return to the Catholic Church. It was on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, in 1997. If you remember, please include me in your prayers, especially your Rosaries, on this special day!

So why make such a big deal on this odd 19th anniversary? Because to me, every October 7 is a wonderful celebration of God's work to bring me back into the Fold. I am forever grateful.

You can read my conversion story here.

And other related posts here and here on p.32.

images 
- http://s84.photobucket.com/user/jakyl32/media/365%20Rosaries-%20OCTOBER/107OLRosary7.gif.html
- personal photo
- http://content1.meetmecdna.com/thumb_userimages/square/2013/10/08/15/thm_tUHBHFQnnW_0_0_180_180.jpg 

Living Vicariously As A Nun Through Young Catholic Women Seeking to Become Nuns Themselves

Since my conversion back to Catholicism in 1997, I've had times when I've wondered if I would have been a nun if my circumstances fostered me toward such a vocation. It's not like it was a totally foreign idea in my family. Two of my maternal grandmother's sisters were nuns. See:

My great grandparents with their two daughters,
Srs. Maria and Clara.

My French Canadian great grandparents had fifteen children:

My great grandparents with 14 of their 15 children.

I am not sure which ones are Maria and Clara, but they are in there, budding toward their religious vocations. My heart pines to talk with them as a young girl, to possibly receive encouragement to at least consider the religious life.

Despite the fact that my adult grandparents (step grandfather) could not receive Communion because my grandmother was previously married but never sought out a Decree of Nullity, they went to church every Saturday to the 4pm Mass. They sat in one of the back pews each time. They also prayed the Rosary. I don't condone their living in sin, but I do admire their continuing to live out their Catholic lives to the extent they were allowed to. In our generation, people simply leave the Church altogether in these circumstances.

My mother and father's generation was where the practicing of the Catholic faith broke down even further in our French Canadian lineage. Along with alcoholism and contraception, my parents' marriage fell apart.  My mother insisted that we go to Mass every Sunday, but she never came with us. And of course, like so many other families, once we were confirmed, we stopped Mass altogether.

With my conversion back to the Faith, I wondered what my vocation was and is.  I was divorced, annulled, with two older children. There are convents that take people like me, but I never felt the inclination to pursue it seriously.

Instead, I live the life vicariously through other nuns and sisters like these folks:

A small group of Catholic women
working toward launching a new
community of women religious.

Five young women aspire to be nuns and begin new community in Buffalo (click on this link)

Eager to begin new community in Buffalo

Please read about them, about their devotion and their courage. We need more men and women like them. God Bless. +

bottom image - http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/five-young-women-aspire-to-be-nuns-and-begin-new-community-in-buffalo-20150524

Fighting The Good Fight

This is one of those times I am really grateful for the Catholic Faith I have.  I am in a nice rhythm with my routine.   I am religiously (no pun intended) doing my Rosary every day, as well as other prayers.  I am going to Adoration in the area.  I am relaxed with my home/work balance.  And my Catholic friends keep me fresh in my practice by being great role models.

It is not always this way.  There are times when my Faith feels like a burden, when life is too much to bear.  It weighs heavy in my body.  I don't do my Rosary every day.  I skip Adoration.  I even skip Sunday Mass at times.  :-(   And lastly, my friends seem like saints with whom I can never compare.  At least that is what my brain starts saying.

I know the dark phase can be put to good use.  I know I can draw more closely to Jesus then.  But, I have to say, I enjoy the lighter phase much more and I am happy to be there right now.  As you can tell, I have a long way to go before I am a Saint who truly knows the joy of suffering.  :-)

Here are some of the prayers I pray.  The picture shows praying hands, but very often, I am walking, or baking, or straightening up the kitchen counter and saying these to God as I go.

Personal One-Line Prayers
Jesus, help me with my devotion to Mary.
Lord Jesus, help me.
Lord Jesus, what do You want of me today?
Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. Have mercy on me.
O Mary, Queen of Peace, bring peace to all of us who reside in this upside down world.
Joseph, please watch over my sons, in particular, my older one for whom you are his patron Saint.
O Mary, conceived without sin, please pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Personal Version of St. Ignatius' Suscipe
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Lord, Jesus Christ, please take all my freedom, my memory, my understanding and my will.  All that I have and cherish, You have given me. 
I surrender it all, to be guided by Your will.
Give me Your love and Your grace, and I ask for nothing more.  Amen. 
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The Memorare [I think this prayer played a part in my recent heightened interest in Mary.  It's in blue for Our Lady  :-)  ]
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Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known
that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession, was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother;
to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

Anima Christi
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O Good Jesus, hear me.
Within Your wounds hide me.
Separated from You, let me never be.
From the wicked one, protect me.
At the hour of my death, call me,
and bid me close to You, that with the Saints
where I can live and reign with You forever and ever.  Amen.
images - http://www.monkrock.com/index.cfm?load=page&page=36
http://www.popchurch.net/category/prayer/
http://acatholichomejournal.blogspot.com/2011/01/solemnity-of-mary-mother-of-god.html

Happy Feast Day of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary

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The Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary falls on October 7. It is particularly significant to me for three reasons.

1) Our Lady and the Rosary, of course.
2) It is the anniversary of my return to the Roman Catholic Church. This year is my 13th!
3) And now, this very day today, is when my article, A Woman In Support of An All-Male Priesthood (go to the middle of p.32), got published in The Valley Patriot.  Providential. :-)


The Valley Patriot is a secular newspaper out of North Andover, MA. Tom Duggan is the President who took a leap of faith with me as a writer and with the content of the article. Thank you Tom.

It is beyond beneficial to pray the Rosary.  If you don't know it yet, here is one source of many to get you started.

Yours in Christ,
Kathleen





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images - http://www.hail-mary-rosaries.com/Rosary-CDs.html
http://members.cox.net/smg165ri/profiles.htm
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Winding Down With Mass & Rosary

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I was feeling the need for a Mass this evening, so I attended the local 6pm Mass followed by a Rosary.  It was a Portuguese Mass, but foreign languages have never stopped me.  I have either attended or still do attend Masses or Divine Liturgies in Latin, Portuguese, Arabic, Coptic, Spanish, Greek and French.  English is feeling kind of foreign these days. ;-)

I do not always understand the meanings of the specific foreign language words, but thanks to the Universal Catholic Church, I usually understand where we are in the Mass.  I can then join in on some level with everyone else.

The same is true with the Rosary.  Tonight, I did not understand one of the prayers said after each decade.  When I listened more closely, the rhythym was familiar and I realized it was, "Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell.  Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy."  I then started saying it under my breath in English whenever the rest of the congregation said it aloud in Portuguese.

That is what I do when I do not know the meaning of the specific foreign language words.  That is what I can do because the basic construct is the same for all languages.  The Catholic Church took to heart the directive of Jesus, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations." (Matthew 28:19)

It was a nice way to wind down from a somewhat chaotic week in which I finished up a newspaper article entitled, A Woman In Support Of An All-Male Priesthood.  It is a shortened version of my entry, Why Catholic Woman Can Not Be Priests.  I hope the editor accepts it, especially because the newspaper is a secular publication going out to mainstream America (well, ok, mainstream MA/Southern NH). 

Maybe some day I will submit it to a Catholic publication, especially because many Catholics need to hear that message too.

Peace in Christ,
Kathleen


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image - http://www.lionsliema.com/news.htm

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Loving Those Rosary Beads

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British Soldier Credits Rosary

Beads With Saving His Life

Click Here

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image - http://vultus.stblogs.org/2007/02/

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Fr. Corapi Will Be In Cincinnati July 17, 2010

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I saw Fr. Corapi in 2007 in Lowell, MA just before he "retired."  If you have a chance to see him, by all means, go.  He is like Archbishop Carlson (previous post) in that he tells it like it is and he lives it like it is.  He also lives in the same town where one of my sisters resides - Kallispell, MT.  Great country.

This time, at the Cintas Center at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH, he will be speaking about the social teachings of the Church, including the evils of socialism, something President Obama seems to be promoting via the changes he is trying to implement.

One last thing - During one of the breaks at the Lowell, MA conference, the whole auditorium prayed the Rosary together.  We had to have saved many souls with that Rosary.  It was so powerful.

http://www.cmgbooking.com/

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image - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibkGP2VwSXWx7v9Sy7SMskZ302_BVz4OUnPzh2zwZIPzHfWDBstk9NarlcIaYLJLBfCqlvLVCFWErl26DP7Qo__hwRGzfQ4CC5W1kqt08juIQ7t9zDSkJFhJsJOqc976lPu12AY7bk5F0/s400/FrCorapiTeaseremail1.jpg

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The Rosary Army

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I will be doing just that with some friends of mine soon.  We will be making all-twine knotted Rosaries and donating them to the Rosary Army.  The "Army" gives them away free as part of their mission to evangelize the Faith.  Any individual of any faith from anywhere in the world can obtain one.

The Rosary Army also does public speaking and they produce Catholic audio and video podcasts for educational purposes freely available on their website.  I have not listened to them yet, but I hear that The Catholics Next Door and That Catholic Show are good.  Check them out at http://www.rosaryarmy.com/  and http://gregandjennifer.com  and http://thatcatholicshow.sqpn.com/


image - http://www.rosaryarmy.com/

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Is The Rosary A Weapon or A Tool?

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For so long I cringed whenever I heard someone call the Rosary a weapon.  I tend toward non-violence, so I insisted that the Rosary is not a weapon.  It is a tool.  The word weapon connotes violence, while the word tool connotes life building and enhancing, which is what I thought the Rosary was about.

With time, though, I have come to embrace the and-ness of the Rosary.  That is, the Rosary is not one or the other, but it is both, according to the circumstances.  It is a tool primarily, but every now and then, it must be used as a weapon. 

So, primarily, it brings Catholics and non-Catholics together, with Jesus Christ, Mary, the Saints, the whole Church, and each other, to improve our lives and afterlives.  It also brings peace in people's lives so they can be God-centered in their decisions.
Sometimes, however, the Rosary is needed as a weapon, to ward off the Devil, for example.  It is needed as such when the Devil is taunting one's soul, like oppressive leaders who slowly take away one liberty after another after another, making false promises along the way.  It is also needed as a weapon when the Devil is aggressive and suddenly attacks a soul, similar to a robber who suddenly and unexpectedly kills the home owner. Whatever tactics the Devil uses, for ultimate protection, the Rosary must become a weapon.  It is like our screwdrivers (tools) becoming daggers (weapons) when we are attacked by that robber.

Tool first; weapon second.

I pray that more people come to know, love and pray the Rosary.
Learn to pray it at http://www.angelfire.com/realm/klossg0/ros_slds.html


For Scriptural References, visit http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/rosary/scripture.htm

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PERSONAL ASIDE
On October 7, 1997, which is the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary, I returned to the Roman Catholic Church after leaving it for a Protestant sect.  Since then, the Rosary has been an (almost) daily devotion of mine. I carry the beads with me at all times. In fact, when I was hit by a car as a pedestrian in 1998, I was right outside the church where I just finished praying my Daily Rosary. Mary had to have followed me, because I'm still here.

I first learned the Rosary by doing one decade at a time, i.e. one set of 10 beads per day. I read meditations for that particular mystery, and then I prayerfully prayed it. I wanted to absorb the richness of each mystery as I worked my way up to reading five meditations and praying five sets of 10 beads per day.

I was blessed at the time to have a church within walking distance that stayed open during the day.  I eventually made it to two mysteries a day, and then three and then five. Since I try to follow the motto "Easy Does It," I encourage other newcomers to the Rosary to try the same approach.
 
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image - http://img.alibaba.com/photo/11154119/Imitation_Pearl_Beads_Rosary_Necklaces.jpg
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Rosary Bowl

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Just imagine the Presence of God in a gathering like this.

Please pray that another Rosary Bowl is held - and that I am able to attend.  ;-)  The Rosary has been my lifeline since I returned to the Catholic Church in 1997.


www.rosarybowl.org