This is What Happens When I Pray the Entire Rosary Daily...

Only 2 blog posts for the entire month of August?! Goodness, I was more swamped with work than I thought. Not that I'm complaining! I'm so grateful that I was given the opportunity to write for a new website as well as being able to proof a manuscript that I will eventually be able to share with y'all; the name of the manuscript, not the actual thing. Triple the amount of work. I ended the month tired but very happy.

I keep asking God to send me more work if writing is my (small v) vocation and I keep getting new work so... Your will, God, not mine. I learned (the hard way) that doing what I thought was the right path -- due to my own fears -- never ends well. I'll keep letting God guide me since He always knows the best path for my life; I know nothing. lol.

Anyway, I now have time to blog so I wanted to share with y'all my experience with praying the entire Rosary daily. And, by the way, when I say "entire Rosary" I don't mean just whatever Mysteries are assigned for the day. I mean all 15 traditional Mysteries.

Before I get any "you're such a trad snob" comments, yes, I will occasionally incorporate the Luminous Mysteries on Thursdays but I tend to stick to the traditional ones. If you want to do all 20, go for it. I prefer doing the traditional 15, even when I do the 54-day Rosary novena (which we're going to be doing again this year).

I got the idea for praying the entire Rosary after reading The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis de Montfort. I read it at the beginning of summer and I've tried to do it as often as I can. Some days, I can only manage one full Rosary (e.g. Glorious Mysteries on Sundays) because of crazy busy my day is or because of how terrible my fatigue is but I can usually do more than one. I have noticed one thing about the days on which I can manage to pray the entire thing: my heart and mind are at peace and very little disturbs me.

Things that would normally test my patience, upset or sadness me, things that would "ruin" my day don't even make a blip on my radar. That doesn't mean that I'm not aware of them. It simply means that the graces that come with praying the Rosary help me get through the negative. I feel more confident, more courageous, and happier overall. I feel our Blessed Mother's protection. I'm less prone to doing dumb things I'll later have to tell a priest in the confessional. I don't normally pray for personal intentions when I pray the Rosary -- I try to focus solely on the Mysteries -- but I have no doubt that I would receive what I asked if I did.

If I have any worries, they no longer seem to matter as much as they did the day or even hours earlier. If I'm feeling upset over anything, I'm able to look at any silver lining I can find in the situation. If I have fears or doubts, they are soothed and I'm able to think about things more clearly.

It all goes deeper than that, too, but I don't know how else to put it into words. I guess the closest I can get to describing it is in this way: my weary soul is refreshed and at peace and I feel close to both Mama Mary and to her beloved Son. Like I said, those words don't even adequately describe or even scratch the surface but it's as close as I can get without getting into what others have described as "syrupy sweet St. Therese mode."

Have any of you ever tried praying all of the Rosary mysteries (either the original 15 or all 20) in a single day? Do any of you pray the entire thing frequently? If so, do you sort of understand what I'm trying to say? It feels weird to be at a loss for words but that's where I am. In fact, I've frequently found myself in this state; unable to speak eloquently about the wonderful changes that have been going on in my interior life.

For this month of the Seven Sorrows of Mary -- and as an idea for those who are unsure of what they can do following the abuse scandals -- I propose you give it a try. Even if you only do it once this month, I lay this challenge down for whoever wants to do it. You will not regret it.

Anyway, I just wanted to get these thoughts down today because 1) it's the beginning of a month of Mary (and her birthday is coming up), 2) some people need more ideas on what to do for the Sackcloth and Ashes campaign, and 3) it's the 33rd anniversary of my baptism and I wanted to celebrate by blogging about this. Yes, I already went to confession to celebrate it but this part two of my celebration. ;)

Alright, that's it for now. I hope to blog again soon but it's all contingent on my workload. The fewer blog posts I write, the more work I have... and the closer I get to paying off my student loans. Oh yes, the war paint has been applied when it comes to paying them off. lol.

I hope y'all have been doing well... or, I should say, as well as you can be while feeling heartbroken,  hurt, and/or angry due to scandals that have hurt us Catholics in recent weeks. Keep praying, doing Acts of Reparation, and fasting.

As always, thank you for reading and God bless!

The 54-Day Rosary Novena Begins Tomorrow!!

The 54-day Rosary novena begins tomorrow. I'm so happy new people are joining in this year! This is just a friendly reminder that if you want to join in and want me to send you daily reminders -- either by email or tagging you on a daily novena post on the blog's Facebook page, you need to let me know today or ASAP so I can add you to the list.

Since the novena begins tomorrow, here are some tips and notes for y'all who have never done it before.

• There are two versions of it, one includes the Luminous mysteries and the other has the traditional mysteries. You are free to choose whichever you like. I had done the version with the Luminous mysteries the first couple of times I did it but I went the traditional route last year.
• Find a way to keep track of what mysteries you have to do for the day. I will be letting those of you who want reminders know which day we're on, but not what mystery to do because some people will do the "original" version and the others will add the Luminous mysteries.
• If I'm not reminding you, please find a system that works in reminding you. I'm personally using my Wunderlist app to remind me of the day... which, in turn, will help me remind y'all. I made a calendar for my mom last year so she would just cross out the day we were on as soon as she completed the Rosary.
• If you have a tendency to space out on intentions from time to time (*points to self*), you can write them down on a Post-It next to your screen if you're using the website I've always used or you can print out the prayers/novena and write them down somewhere to remember. If you have a booklet you're using, you can write it down on a scrap of paper or an index card and place it in your booklet.
• Be sure to carve out time in your day to do this novena... and don't do it last minute. This novena takes a bit longer than the normal Rosary because of the additional prayers. It personally takes me about 20-25 minutes but that's because I'm used to it. It took my mother, who did not pray the Rosary regularly, 30-40 minutes. You'll soon get in the groove and it won't take you as long to complete it.
• Don't let the length of the daily Rosary novena OR how long this novena in general (the 54 days) intimidate you. I know it seems daunting at first but it will fly by quickly before you know it.
• Please feel free to share any big intentions on the blog's FB page if you feel inclined. Also, please pray for others' intention if you wish to. This is not an obligation.
• If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. If something isn't making sense (and some things didn't make sense to me when I first did it), please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you out in any way I can. :)

And that's it for today. I have two exams to study for as well as a slew of other things I need to do before it gets any later in the day since Mom and I have planned to shut ourselves up for the evening/night. We're not big on Halloween (e.g. we watch Elf today instead) and we live in a somewhat dodgy neighborhood so, for safety reasons, we choose not to give out candy either. 

I hope y'all have a lovely day and week. If you're going out tonight, please be safe. Oh! And, please, don't forget that tomorrow is a Holy Day of Obligation. There. Now you can't say you didn't know. You're welcome. ;) 

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D

I Enrolled in the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary

One of my many rosaries and my crucifix from Jerusalem.

Yesterday was Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati's birthday. Happy 116th, PGF! A couple of days ago I found out that the Tipi Loschi group (which was founded in Italy and mirrors the group Bl. Pier Giorgio belonged to prior to his untimely death) was planning to gather all of Bl. Pier Giorgio's devotees/fans/friends to pray the Luminous Mysteries for his birthday. Being a card-carrying member of the Frassati fangirls, I knew I was going to participate. I put it into my Wunderlist app (while I'm using until I can get a physical planner) and even put an alarm on my iPod touch since the plan was to pray it between 3 and 8 p.m. 

While I was reading the letter of invitation to join in the spiritual gift, I found out that he had been enrolled in the Confraternity of the Rosary when he was only 17 years old! Despite having read many books and having watched many specials/videos about his life, this was the first time I'd heard of it -- of both the Confraternity and Bl. Pier Giorgio's enrollment. Curious person that I am, I searched more information about the Confraternity. I landed on the Eastern U.S.'s Confraternity page (the U.S. has 4 separate Dominican provinces) and read a bit about what it was. Thinking that perhaps I wanted to enroll myself, I followed the link to the Western U.S.'s Confraternity page and read everything about what the Confraternity was.

Have you ever done something without much thought because it was one of those "no brainer"/"it feels like the right thing to do" deals? This was one of those for me. I pray the Rosary on a daily basis, only having missed it once this year and only because I felt so awful that I was passed out most of the day. As soon as I finish this latest (and, most likely, last) degree, I'm going to discern becoming a lay Dominican (or possibly an oblate of St. Benedict; more on this in a future blog post). All of these things -- as well as a slight change in how I pray the Rosary -- just slotted together and it made perfect sense to enroll. What better day to do it than on Bl. Pier Giorgio's birthday? Actually, I didn't think about how it was a perfect "birthday gift" until after I had done it. I was more focused on the fact that it felt a peace and a joy (and excitement) about enrolling. 

After I enrolled, I prayed the Luminous Mysteries with meditations based on Bl. Pier Giorgio's words and words of those who knew him. The meditations brought a new dimension to the Luminous Mysteries -- which have always been the hardest mysteries for me to pray and meditate on -- that I actually printed them out to pray more often on Thursdays. I had a few inspirations while praying the Rosary (which I acted upon after I finished praying; don't worry, they were all good) and I just felt so at peace with everything. 

It also got me thinking that I may return to praying the Rosary with the Luminous Mysteries more often. I hadn't prayed them for months because I had been doing the traditional 15-mystery (Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious only) Rosary since All Saints' Day last year and (mostly) only the Sorrowful Mysteries during Lent (with the exception of Glorious mysteries on Sundays). As much as I loved praying them in the traditional order, I think that I've prayed the Luminous mysteries for so long (since my reversion) that it felt like a huge hole in my prayer life when I skipped them on Thursdays. 

Is anyone else enrolled in the Confraternity? Is anyone a lay Dominican? I'd love to hear what you think of it and how it's enriched your prayer life!

It's really early (8:32 a.m.!) for a blog post but I've actually been up since 4:15 a.m. I only got about 2 and a half hours of sleep and I haven't been able to fall asleep since I got up to help Mom get to work. Since I'm now currently waiting for sleepiness to kick in so I can take a nap, and since I know that I don't have the mental sharpness to study for tomorrow's exam, I thought I'd blog about this new development. My spiritual life has been on a roller coaster this Lent but this is something positive that I wanted to share. :D

Alright, I'm going to go try to pray and hope that I fall asleep soon so that I can have the rest of the day to study with the concentration I need. I've already done all the things I normally do on a daily basis (such as check my email and do a daily online puzzle) that don't require much brain power so that I won't have distractions or the temptation of distractions for the rest of the day. 

I hope y'all are still having a lovely week!

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D

Praying the Traditional Rosary

One of my many rosaries. :)

Since All Saints' Day (when I began the 54-day Rosary novena), I've been praying the traditional Rosary. What does this mean? That I've been praying the Rosary as it had been prayed before Pope St. John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries. That means that I pray the Rosary like this:

Monday: Joyful
Tuesday: Sorrowful
Wednesday: Glorious
Thursday: Joyful
Friday: Sorrowful
Saturday: Glorious
Sunday: Glorious

The first time I pray it in the original order, it was when I attended my first young adult group meeting in mid-October and the FSSP priest (who is the group's spiritual adviser) led us in praying the Glorious mysteries on a Saturday. Then I did the entire 54-day Rosary novena with only these three mysteries from All Saints' Day through Christmas Eve. Once the novena ended, I was torn about adding the Luminous mysteries back. I think I did for a week or two afterwards but then I began praying the Rosary in the traditional order.

This big change was very hard at first. No, correction: it's still hard. I spent the first 10 years of my reversion praying the Rosary with the Luminous mysteries so this change has been a constant struggle and I sometimes consider adding them Luminous mysteries back into the rotation.

If you're wondering why I made this change, it's very simple: I had such an amazing experience praying the 54-day Rosary novena that I wanted to continue it, in a way. I liked the order of the mysteries. Though I like the Luminous mysteries, and I understand why Pope St. JP II added them, I sometimes struggle with them. I can focus on the importance of the Sacraments of the Church (which the Luminous mysteries represent) and I like that but I like focusing on the life of Christ more. Not to say that the Luminous mysteries don't; it's just a bit different.

As I said, I still struggle with the change. Sometimes I consider praying the Luminous mysteries in addition to the Joyful mysteries on Thursday but have yet to actually do it, though that's mostly because I've had lousy time management skills lately. I don't know if I'll continue praying the Rosary with the traditional (original) mysteries or if I'll occasionally add the Luminous mysteries but it's been quite a challenge for me.

Question time: do any of you pray the Rosary in the traditional form? Have any of you switched from one to the other, specifically from having the Luminous mysteries to omitting them? Was it hard? Did it take some getting used to? Anyone have any tips for me regarding the change?

Anyway, this was just a short blog post to share this new change and, I guess, ask for a bit of help because I'm quite torn between continuing as I have since All Saints' Day and reverting to the order I had used for the first 10 years of my reversion.

I hope y'all are having a lovely start of the week!

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D

What I Learned Wednesday #25: Not a Valentine's Grinch Edition

First What I Learned Wednesday post of the year. Let's go!

1.) I'd like to clear something up regarding my Valentine's Day tweet last night: I am not a Valentine's Day Grinch. I am not bitter that I'm currently single. I'm actually enjoying my singlehood whilst future fella arrives. I love love. I am all for falling in love. I even helped organized a card exchange between single girl friends so that no one would feel bad last year. I don't like it being called "Singles Awareness Day." At the same time, I am not a fan of how commercialized the day is. I've been saying this since 2008 when I actually had a fella. That blog post was written by a 22 year-old me (yes, I'm that old, lol)... and my thoughts have not changed since. Things seem to cost more than usual for this day. Both guys and gals (but, let's be honest, more so guys than gals) get pressured into making a huge romantic gesture on the day. That doesn't sound romantic to me; it sounds like it's rather forced. Sure, I like receiving flowers as much as the next girl but I'd personally prefer a guy send/give them to me because they felt like it and not because it was expected of them. I have other thoughts on the day which I've written about it as recent as last year.

And I can tie this to Catholicism easily: Valentine's Day reminds me of the efforts. St. Valentine did -- risking death -- to marry couples when it was illegal to do so. St. Valentine reminds me of love... which reminds me of the constant love I feel from both God and Mama Mary. So the day is spent (regardless of whether I have a significant other or not) focused on the love I receive from them as well as my friends and family. See? No Grinch-ing from me; I just look at things differently. You have all learned something new (instead of the other way around). Now that that's been settled, can y'all start being nice to me again? I'd appreciate it. lol.

2.) This may get a huge eye-roll for those of you who are more savvy about all things Catholic but I'm still learning so this made me really excited a couple of weeks ago. As I was praying the Luminous Mysteries in front of the tabernacle, I realized that they (the mysteries) represented the Sacraments we Catholics receive. First mystery: Baptism. Second: Marriage. Third: Reconciliation. Fourth: Confirmation. Fifth: Communion. I know; there's 7 Sacraments so I'm missing Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick. I was so excited at this revelation (which I figured out on my own, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I'm sure) that I came home and Googled it just to make sure. Sure enough, I had been right. And now every Thursday I can pray the Rosary and focus on the significance of each other mysteries in a whole new way. For the record, I could be wrong about what each mystery represents; it's what I figured out. Someone correct me if one or more is wrong.

3.) As a future speech therapist (who will also be learning a bit of audiology), I loved hearing the news that a priest invented a confessional tool for the deaf! I've been saving this article as well, because it was something that I learned since the last WILW post and I thought it was pretty darn important. I've seen a sign language interpreter in Mass at only one parish in L.A. and it's always made me wonder if other deaf Catholics have the same assistance elsewhere around the world. Mass is such a beautiful thing that it would be a shame for others to miss it because of disabilities and/or conditions. This is coming from someone who would, once upon a time, go months without attending a single Mass due to her anxiety order.

And that's all. Short(-ish) and sweet. I have a ton of things to do so... I should probably go do them now. lol.

I hope you all have a great rest of week. And someone please poke me if I take more than 2-3 days to publish a new blog post. I definitely have the time to do so these days. :)