A Blessing in Disguise

Yes. Same here.
BTW maryrose how is your daughter doing? I keep her in my prayers.

 

Thank you, Josephite; a beautiful image: the wellspring of all heavenly grace! And it doesn't trickle out, but gushes forth!

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

 

She is doing OK but very exhausted. She has been on iron supplement but this week her blood is still not good enough. She is going into hospital for infusions. Hopefully that will work. Thank you so much for remembering her in your prayers. She needs them. She is on week 30 now and struggling.

 

I will keep praying! I especially prayed at Mass at noon. The infusions may very well fix the problem. My friend became severely anemic and she had infusions and it turned it right around. The supplements weren't enough.. Praying the infusions works for your daughter.

 

Still praying!

 

I am very interested in this devotion. However, I do not want to give up our normal family rosaries.
Hence my question, non-judgmental: do you pray this instead or in addition to the normal rosary?
God bless!

 

Praying

 

Michael Pio
I'm giving you my experience. I continue to pray my regular rosaries but I usually pray the seven sorrows with the aid of youtube. It helps me pray it at this stage.

 

Its kind of amazing but the older I get the more I realised what a wicked old sinner I am. There are black things I see in myself and my behaviour that I never even noticed before.

One little thing I notice ,for instance is that I always expect when I walk down a street I expect people to move out of road. I never noticed that before. I six foot tall and heavy built so I suppose people always did that as a matter of course. Now that I am older people do not always do this, which has taught me a certain humility. It shows a certain arrogance I always had. But if I had not gotten older I would never have noticed this.

 

great idea!

 

I confess that I still don’t pray a rosary daily and consistently as I should, so I won’t answer you directly… but what I noticed is that I like to pray this rosary mostly when I have a busy schedule or when I forget to take my beads with me. Firstly it’s easier for me to divide this rosary to pray it throughout the day, as you can pray one mystery quicker than a regular decade, and secondly it’s easier for me not to lose count of how many Hail Mary’s I’ve already said for a mystery… also I think I can focus more on the meditation when the prayer time for one mystery is shorter and the mysteries change more quickly… so I find it more practical, at least during the workdays (not very noble and virtuous reasons I know, but a 7S rosary is definitely better than none, which was a sad reality for me, as I couldn’t finish a “normal” rosary often times in the past)

That said, when I have the time allocated only for prayer (like family rosaries) and the peace of mind in that moment, I prefer to pray the regular mysteries. (So in the end I pray regular rosary not as often than the 7S rosary because of my bad prayer time management, may the Lord forgive me )

BTW I have noticed only know that promises for 7S devotion from St Bridget (7 Hail Mary’s and meditation on them) and 7S rosary promises mentioned in Kibeho are different.

Former ones being oriented more on peace and spiritual protection and the latter on conversion and freeing from sins.

 

We can only do what we can. Sigh.

I have only managed to say the Sorrowful Rosary once this week.

But I am getting on better and better with the Traditional one.

I noticed something beautiiful this week walking round the forest in the snow. I had managed two rosaries and after wards as I was walking up a hill I thought of Jesus carrying His Cross up Calvary. This cheered me up for if I can think of the Passion without the prompting of the Rosary I must be doing something right.

Anyway I don't want to burden myself with too many rules and regulations regarding Devotions. I made a mistake this morning I stayed on after mass for my devotions when I saw my brother in Church at mass. I should have left my devotions to talk to him, for I don't get to see him too often.
Devotions are not the be all and end of all.

 

I attempt to balance the urge of piling on devotion upon devotion with the following from Paul in 2Corinthians 3:

16 But when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit strengthens us with the grace of perseverance as expressed above, then it is the clutter (remnants of the veil) in our hearts which He demolishes step by step. As the Holy Spirit thus makes room in our souls, we need to ask the Lord what to do with the "extra time and space" He has provided. And that depends on our State in life, the duties at hand, and the available time.

I would say that additional prayer would be part of the equation, but that such prayer should gradually move from rote prayers to some form of Catholic meditation. A good book I think would help to grasp this process would be The Devil in the Castle by Dan Burke. But here I'm speaking of Carmelite spirituality; fellow member Carmelite, would better know.

I do want to say, after re-reading my post, that I'm not negative on adding on this devotion since I plan to do so when my wife finishes putting the Seven-Sorrows Rosary together for me!

St. Therese, pray for us.

 

I remember the Blessed Mother telling the girls that this was not to replace the regular rosaries but an additional prayer. Anyway I found this:

In addition, Marie Claire revealed that this Rosary did not come to replace the usual Rosary, but rather to complete it since it focuses mainly on the Sorrowful mysteries of Jesus and his mother.

Holy Rosary - Sanctuary Our Lady of Kibeho

 

Yes I think we can sometimes blind ourselves with our devotions so to speak, filling our head with them and in this way closing our hearts and minds from the prompting of the Holy Spirit… after all, isn’t the rosary just a guide and a (powerful) tool to unite our hearts with the most sacred heart of Jesus? If we can do it without saying the words, as you did on your way up the hill, is the rosary even needed or helpful anymore (at that moment)?

One thing I quickly noticed when I started to attend adoration somewhat regularly, is that my initial intention to use the time there to pray the rosary (because I thought I would not have anything else to do there) never came to fruition… it just never seemed neccesary, almost distracting for me. Once I kneeled before Him, all I needed and wanted was to gaze upon Him and give Him all my attention (even if not saying or thinking anything)…

As our priest said, adoration is like standing in the sun, you dont need to do anything to get suntanned, just be there… Well, I’m glad that this comparison doesn’t translate to sunburns as well during prolonged exposure

 

But there are indulgences for praying the rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament exposed. I feel a lot like you do, however.

 

MaryRose that is so wonderful. A double Blessing!

 

beautiful!

 

One time Saint Teresa of Avila was approached by some of her nuns who asked her why she was reading Holy Books during prayer time? They were surprised because since she was a Mistress of Contemplative prayer why would she be be going back to something that was essentially Meditative prayer.

I think different people at different times choose different aids. The Spiritual Life as my Spiritual Director once told me is a Marathon not a Sprint. There is not a one fix for all occasions and times.

Imagine the Captain of a Yacht sailing round the World. He might well choose to sail round the World and never stop at a port once. Staying sailing in Contemplative prayer all the way round. Another Captain may choose to stop at a dozen little islands of Devotion and rest.

There is no right or wrong perfect fit. All souls are different and their Spiritual Voyages.

A good example of this in the lives of the Saints are souls whom God has decided to bring home to heaven when they are very young. So they have little time for their feet to touch the Earth before calls them home. Their prayer journey may show this with them in a highly elevated state of contemplative prayer before their young deaths. St Dominic Bosco was a good example of this clearly going into exstasies and raptures. But if he had lived longer his prayer life might well have taken a different turn. Padre Pio who lived a very long time and was in the Highest State of Prayer prayed the rosary all the times as did numerous saints.

So their is no one fit. Its a case of horses for courses. Also what might suit at one time of life may not suit at another. There's just no telling.

 

Well said, God loves variety as some saint said somewhere