I grew up in a household with a mother who had left the Catholic faith after attending Catholic all her years. She was attracted by the Jesus movement of the 1970’s, trending toward a more fundamentalist, charismatic, experiential based expression of the Christian faith. I was taught that we should avoid rote prayers and make up our own, initiating a conversation with God in an effort to develop a personal relationship with Christ.
These thoughts formed my religious foundation but as I grew into an adult I sought to explore more traditional avenues of my faith. Eventually I became confirmed as a Catholic. I now embrace it as well as many of the practices with which I grew up. The Catholic faith practice includes many established prayers. One of these is the Hail Mary, a short but sweet prayer to…or as I see it…through…the Mother of Jesus, basically beseeching her to intercede for us. The rosary is a repetition of this prayer interspersed with others including the well known Our Father that create a meditative effect which can be very soothing.
I have found this prayer a great comfort, especially at times when the weight of life and it’s sorrows is so great that it stymies our ability to express our own needs for help, guidance, and comfort. One such time was while my mother lay dying in Hospice. Another recent time I drew upon the comfort of this prayer was when my teenage son was having a particularly challenging day. I repeated this prayer to give me strength and calm as I drove us to an appointment.
Life has many challenging moments and I like to have a full toolkit to address them. This is one of my many that I have found useful at the most trying moments. I hope you will too.
Find it here: vaticannews.va.🙏🏻📿✝️
I also recently started listening to two podcasts on Spotify. One is a commuter rosary and one is led by Bishop Barron. I’ve incorporated both into my daily routine. Find them here.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7DaRJY9ticqmNEaiRzoRyK?si=rSshUoqbRju9SdZno2hIsQ
Notes From Real Life 