The Kid Sister of Blessed Imelda

The first homeschool support group meeting of the year was held last night.  As I was driving over, with silence (oh blessed silence) in the car, I took the opportunity to pray the rosary.  Starting with the Joyful Mysteries, the first Mystery was the Annunciation. 

Recently, on the homeschool forums, we got into a pretty heated discussion of Mary (and all things Marian in the Roman Catholic Church).  As usual, several of us (the Catholic ladies on the forum) found ourselves defending practices we don’t engage in personally.  However, one thing considered Marian (I disagree with that by the way, I find it much more Christocentric than I do Marian. In reality, the rosary is a meditation on the life of Christ.) that I have found to be an incredible blessing is the Rosary (and all the prayers associated with it, even the Hail Mary, Hail Holy Queen, Memorare, etc).  During the course of that discussion one of the Catholic ladies said something about the presence of the Lord ‘covering’ Mary during the Annunciation.  Being well familiar with the sacred scriptures, this was not new to me although it did sort of roll lazily around in the pinball game of my mind a little longer than usual, as though there were something MORE there that I just wasn’t seeing.  In the end, it rolled quietly on down and off the board of my mind without any lights or bells going off.

Back to praying the rosary on the drive, here I am praying through the scriptures on the Annunciation and I get to the 8th Hail Mary bead and read the scripture for that bead…

And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  Luke 1:35a

…and all the bells and lights and whistles on the ol’ pinball machine went off like lightening had run through it. It HIT me what that meant. When one thinks of the power of the Most high overshadowing something, what comes to mind? The column of cloud (and fire) that led the people in the wilderness in Exodus, the cloud/fire of the Presence that filled the Tabernacle in Exodus, the cloud on the mountain which encompassed the Presence and out of which the Voice called to Moses, also in Exodus, and in 1 Kings when the Temple is completed and the cloud, the Presence, the Shekinah of the Lord comes to dwell there in the Holy of Holies.  What did that ‘overshadowing’ of the ‘cloud’ show? The dwelling place of the Lord. Every. Time. It was a physical sign that the Lord was present and ’taking up residence’ as it were. That is what is happening in Luke 1:35!!!!  The impact of that expanded understanding broke over me like the first warm and sunny day after 8 months of winter and I could’ve basked in it for much longer than the short drive I had left. 

I never could’ve imagined that the Lord would teach me as much as He has through ’praying’ the rosary… Instead of the ’idol worship’ it was claimed to be, the rosary has proven to be an intimate time of communion and communication with the Lord and He delights in teaching me through it.  Once again I find myself treasuring a new pearl of great price found during its use.

One of the biggest surprises, as I have delved further into all things Catholic, has been the Rosary.  As a protestant, I was very disturbed by all the Marian devotions… at best it seemed idolatry, at worst there were tales of equality with Jesus which just set every last hair afire.  A friend recommended a book on the Rosary that she uses with her children, Speak Lord, I am Listening: A Rosary Book, and so I placed an order.  I had a plastic freebie rosary from the church we used to attend, and thought I’d give it a try even though I was certain that the rosary wasn’t for me. 

The book arrived and I began to flip through it.  First, you make the sign of the cross and say the Apostles Creed… ok… no biggie there. I believe all that and lately I even can say the ‘Catholic church’ part now without mentally screeching “BY CATHOLIC I MEAN UNIVERSAL NOT ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH” which was quite the step forward if I do say so myself.  Then you say the Our Father.

 After that comes three Hail Mary’s… but not just Hail Mary’s for the sake of saying Hail Mary’s.  Each of the three beads represents a virtue… so the first bead is a Hail Mary for an increase in Faith.  The second bead is a Hail Mary for an increase of Hope, and the last bead’s Hail Mary is for an increase in Love. 

Then when you hold the next Our Father bead, you state the Mysteries you are going to pray, name the first mystery of that set, say the scripture for that, and then pray the Our Father. Then there is a scripture for EACH Hail Mary bead that you read and then meditate on as you SAY the Hail Mary for that bead. 

I soon realized that the Rosary wasn’t really ABOUT Mary at all!!!  It was a meditation and prayer on the life of Christ!  Something that I really hadn’t done hardly at ALL as a protestant and certainly not something that was encouraged as a part of daily devotions! Sure, it was Marian to the extent that you quote what the scriptures say about Mary repeatedly and ask that she pray for you and for all sinners now and at the hour of our death, but how is that any different than asking a living friend in the faith to pray for you? Are not those who have gone before living?  Of course they are… the only Marian thing about the Rosary is that it seems to have been given by/inspired by Mary as her way of encouraging us to meditate and dwell upon the life of her son, our mutual Savior.

I have learned much in the brief time that I’ve been praying the rosary and it has become a joyful time of prayer when my girls and I pray it aloud together.  Primarily I pray a scriptural rosary, but a friend has written up scriptural rosaries for praying for your children, and one of consecration based on the story of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compeigne as told in To Quell the Terror, which I also pray.  I am so excited by how greatly my prayer life and meditation is enriched by this.

Some of the biggest protestant ‘issues’ with the Catholic church that I was aware of before becoming Catholic have been proven completely unfounded not only by what I’ve learned in RCIA classes and observed on my own, but also by simply praying the rosary and what I’ve learned while doing that.

 It was said that Catholics worship Mary.  They don’t worship Mary, the Roman Catholic church doesn’t advocate worship of Mary and the Rosary isn’t worship of Mary.

It was said that Catholics don’t read the Bible. I have never been a slouch at Bible study etc, but I am becoming even more fully immersed in scripture than ever through my ‘conversion’ process in the Catholic Church.  Every time I turn around I’m being encouraged to read scripture, given a Bible with the apocrypha because I didn’t have one, given a lectionary with the reading schedules for Sunday Mass for YEARS to come and encouraged to read them ahead of time in preparation each week, even my penance for First Reconciliation was meditation on scripture and prayer.  Instead of the ‘quiet time’ touted by protestants, this is a life SATURATED with scripture.  It is unbelievable!

It was said that Catholics left Christ on the cross, not only because of the crucifix but also in their attitude about life and faith.  On the contrary I have found that the resurrection is just as celebrated and embraced as it ever was in the protestant circles, if not more, but Catholicism has traditions in place that will not let them forget the price paid for the salvation we enjoy and all too often that was not dwelt on nearly enough in the churches I attended. 

I have found the Catholic church more understanding and forgiving when someone fails or falls short of the mark, less likely to shoot their wounded, more willing to come along side to encourage and help you back onto the straight and narrow. The people I have come to know in our Church are much less concerned about appearances and much MORE concerned with the welfare of the person and state of their heart. For example, the evening we had the Rite of Welcome one of the alter servers had leaned the crucifix against the door.  A regularly attending parishioner and his wife opened the door only to have the crucifix slide over and hit one of them hard in the head.  The husband reacted with a rather loud, “OH SH*T!” and everyone in the sanctuary turned to look but the reaction was what made me laugh and smile for the rest of the evening.  The general reaction was not shock and offense that the House of the Lord was somehow desecrated by the use of profanity (as would’ve happened in any protestant church I’ve ever attended), instead it was concern for the people involved… were they ok? Once it was ascertained that no real injury had been sustained, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief and turned back to the front to wait for the Mass to begin.  What joy that brought me!

I digress but I get so excited about what I’m experiencing and learning.  The riches and blessings God has poured out upon us are overwhelming and the desire to share is intense.  However this post has run long and it is late and I need to go if we’re going to get to have evening prayers as a family.