Smell the Flowers

          It has been said that flowers are smiles from God.  I think of that every time I enjoy the beauty and scent of flowers.  With the month of October starting next week, this blog is about the Rosary, as October is proclaimed in the Catholic Church as the month of the Rosary.  The word 'Rosary' means, "Crown of Roses."  Each Hail Mary prayed in the Rosary represents a rose given to Blessed Mother and upon the completion of the Rosary, she has a crown of roses from us.  The rose is the queen of flowers, so the Rosary is the rose of all devotions.

          One thing we did at every family retreat, was pray the Rosary together with each family.  The children were delighted to lead the different mysteries and we would light a candle with each new contemplation on the life of Jesus.  We would encourage every family to pray this powerful prayer every day in their homes as their after-meal prayer.  Catholics are quite good at praying the prayer before meals, but not so good at praying an after-meal prayer.  And it is a very healthy habit to adopt as resting for awhile after we eat, aids in the digestion process.  The rosary only takes 15-20 minutes and it packs a powerful punch to the evil one.  I quote from a recent e-mail I received about the power of praying the rosary:

"Father Gabriel Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican writes:  One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism:  'Every Hail Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would by my end.'
The secret that makes this prayer so effective is that the Rosary is both prayer and meditation.  It is addressed to the Father, to the Blessed Virgin, and to the Holy Trinity, and is a meditation centered on Christ."
 

          Blessed Mother appeared to the three children at Fatima and requested that they pray the Rosary every day for the conversion of Russia.  The Rosary is a prayer of peace and love.  It should be prayed for the conversion of sinners with the intent to be filled with love of God and all people.  What could we do as a family that is more beautiful, more needed, and more noble?

          Many people complain that praying the Rosary is boring and they get distracted with all of the repetition.  When I pray the Rosary, I imagine Blessed Mother turning the pages of her scrapbook featuring Jesus' life, and calling to my mind the scriptures that describe each event.  I know people who have related to me that they have smelled roses when they pray the Rosary.  That's not to say that my mind never wanders while I pray the Rosary, because it does.  But I know that God honors every small attempt we make in love to do what is right and just.  To pray for the conversion of all sinners, especially for ourselves and our family members, is definitely the right and just thing to do, whether we do it perfectly or not.

          Praying the Rosary individually is wonderful, but to pray it with our spouse and children is that many times more wonderful.  When friends call me with marital and family problems, I always recommend that they start to pray the Rosary together as it is the prayer of peace.  Every home should be filled with peace, so I believe every family should be praying this prayer, whether there is a crisis or not. I find that people are usually more willing to spend a lot of money and time at counseling sessions rather than take the 15 minutes to pray the Rosary.  Counseling is beneficial and I'm a huge advocate of Christian counseling, but I would incorporate the Rosary first and foremost as the most advantageous thing all families can do.

          With the November election in the United States approaching very fast, I would like to challenge everyone who is reading this blog to pray the Rosary with your family, or alone, for the conversion of the United States of America.  Meditating on the life of Christ can save souls!

          If it has been a long time since you have prayed the Rosary, or if you have never prayed it, there are many websites that provide the details.  Here's one that is a beginner's guide to the Rosary:  http://www.catholicity.com/prayer/rosary.html .  Please know that the Rosary is not solely a Catholic prayer.  It is a Christian prayer that takes us on a journey with the Prince of Peace narrated by the Queen of Heaven and Earth. 

          There's a saying, "Take time to smell the flowers."  It is a great way to appreciate smiles from God.  There's another saying attributed to Fr. Payton, "A family that prays together, stays together."  Taking the time to smell flowers and pray, especially the Rosary, is a great way to smile back at God.  I pray that we all pray the Rosary throughout the month of October and beyond, to give Blessed Mother a Crown of Roses and defeat the evil one who is attacking families and our country.  Amen.

"You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you; Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God."  (Micah 6:8)

"For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed."  (Luke 1:48) 

 

Words of Wisdom

          I have not been motivated lately to post any new blogs.  Perhaps it is because I have already shared a lot of my life lessons on marriage and family life. I really can't remember what lessons I have already written and I don't want to be repetitive.  Or maybe it's because I get tired of repeating the same words of encouragement over and over and over again:  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.  And yet, I am drawn back to blogging today by today's liturgical reading of the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians on, you guessed it, LOVE.

"Love is patient, love is kind.  It is not  jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrong-doing but rejoices with the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.  So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."  (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13) 

          This is the scripture reading used at most Christian weddings, including mine.  It had the most impact on me when at a seminar we were asked to read the first two sentences of this passage, replacing the words "love" and "it" with our own name:  Linda is patient, Linda is kind.  Linda is not jealous, Linda is not pompous, etc. Try it with your name.

          Prior to St. Paul giving us this beautiful description of love, he writes that we can have great faith and many spiritual gifts, but if we do not love, we gain nothing.  I used to think that I was holier than my husband because I prayed more, knew the faith more, cared about others more, and on and on.  Linda was pompous.  And then I realized that I was not love. 

          St. Therese of Liseaux shares in her autobiography that she always wanted to be a martyr for the faith and she was very sad that she was not going to die a martyr's death.  She looked to this letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians for words of wisdom and was inspired by Chapters 12 and 13 that her calling was to be love. It brought her great joy.

          Jesus commands us to love one another, and yet so many husbands and wives do not love each other and it makes everything so much harder, in an already challenging world.  The solution for all troubled marriages is not divorce, but love.  "Love never fails."   Being love brings great joy!