Holy Rosary: A meditation prayer for forgiveness

I remember when I was a kid my mother would gather all of us, meaning all of us kids, were 3 boys by the way and I'm the youngest, at exactly 6 o'clock in the evening in front of the altar where you could see the image of Our Lady of perpetual Help and there a lighted candle and we all started praying the holy rosary.
At first it was really exciting learning a prayer memorizing all the mysteries, but as time passed by it was boring. It was not exciting anymore specially when we have to watch a new cartoon or animation series and you missed one episode and you know how you wish that the routine is too much of an obligation for us.

But as we grew up and have gone to college it's like our mother just set us free of the obligation.Suddenly i thought that there is something lacking in my prayer life if I will not pray the holy rosary.And now, I heard the talk of Bro. Bo Sanchez how he described beautifully the ancient prayer The holy Rosary.  He said that Holy Rosary is a meditation of the life of Jesus Christ.  It is a prayer that summarizes the bible.  Born again christians and some christian sects will not believe this, but as a catholic I"m priviledge to learn and pray the Holy Rosary.

It's very often these days that I really pray the rosary except when we go to someone's wake where I and my ministry, say a holy rosary to pray for the repose of the soul of the dead. We usually sing songs in between mysteries.  Then I saw in the youtube how St Ignatius do his meditation.  St Ignatius meditate by putting himself in a situation in the bible reading.  Say for example, when there is a storm and jesus with his disciple were in the boat, and Jesus was pretty cool about it while his disciple worry too much because of the high waves pounding their boats. Now St Ignatius in his meditation would actually smell the air with saltiness, feel the rocking of the boat, see Jesus in a very relax way. feel the cold water and the air. You getting my point?...

So this night, I was having colds, sore throat, dry cough hard to breath and i really could not sleep. So I decided to pray the holy rosary and try to meditate the mysteries the way St. Ignatius of Loyola did.  I was hesitant at first because its a sorrowful mystery today and I will try to imagine that I'm in that situation. But still I prayed and meditate.  First mystery, Agony in the garden. So what is happening in the agony in the garden? According to my memory of the bible, Jesus together with some of his disciple go to gethsemani. after praying he saw his desciples asleep probably snorring too, how would you feel if you are Jesus. In my case how would I feel if I'm on the apostle asleep and snorring..Gosh I feel ashame..so I continued praying..now In all honesty when I got to the fifth mystery, tears comes down from my eyes, I could not control it, because I imagine myself seeing Jesus Christ died on the cross...I felt very ashame of myself, \I remember all oy my many and repeated sins. And this sins is killing Jesus in the cross..I asked for forgiveness...I suddenly realized I am not even worthy of saying this ancient prayer..But also i realized the beauty of the holy rosary..

Some people maybe religeous in praying the holy rosary but that doesn't make them holy in the eyes of God. Asking for forgiveness, admitting we are not worthy and forgiving people who have wronged us makes us holy.  Repenting sincerely of our sins and not doing our favorite sins daily draws us closer to Jesus Christ. Try to imagine if you sinned, Your'e killing Jesus in the cross and you know who's seeing you do that, Mama Mary...but still the Holy Rosary is a constant reminder that Our Mother cares for us.  She wants us to be drawn closer to God specially in his Son  Jesus..

So if you try to pray the Holy Rosary Again, meditate and imagine the life of Jesus and put ourselves in the situation...Praying the Holy Rosary will never be the same again...

By the way, after I prayed the holy rosary I felt better got my strength back and even able to write my experience.

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN WHEN YOU PRAY THE HOLY ROSARY!!!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of wisdom you bestowed on us so that we may learn, experience, and pray the beautiful prayer "The Holy Rosary".  Dearest mother I thank you for continuially guiding us and protecting us from evil.  Thank you for the gift of "The Holy Rosary" that I was able to pray and appreciate how God Loved me.  Lead me the way Dearest mother to draw me closer to your Son Jesus Christ.  Let me not commit my favorite sins anymore and that I may be able to share the beauty of praying the Holy Rosary.In the name of Jesus I asked all of these, AMEN.

Pang  Pangilinan

A life of simplicity: St Francis of Asisi

"Do not be afraid of living in simplicity, no matter how much pressure is upon you"

St Francis of Assisi

In the culture of today, people are define of what clothes you wear, what restaurant you have eaten with, what house you are living in, what car you are driving with, what position you are taking, how much money you are earning, and a lot more of whatever extravagant lifestyle you can think of.  But have we realized that God dwells in utmost simplicity, humility and poverty.  Just like what the story of St. Francis is telling us, you can encounter God through its simplest creations. He encountered Christ in birds, in wild animals, in trees (St Francis is a tree huger) , in sun, in moon, My God how I wish to see St Francis love all those stuffs.  How I wish to see him very happy with all smiles and telling stories and preaching to the birds.  But sad to say only few people specially the young do little to appreciate and be happy of what surrounds them.  The spirit of ownership, domination, and commercialism is the recent state of mind of most people.  How I wish and pray that  the destruction of man to his nature stopped.  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, the creator of all things, the creator of small things and big things, may your people appreciate them and feel blessed that you created them.  May all of us learned the value of worshiping you through living the life of simplicity and humility.  May St Francis inspire us to be like your son Jesus Christ. May we always think and remember what St Francis did when he was transformed by you. May learn and able to love the birds, the dogs that are in the streets, the cats that are our rooftops, the grass that grows in the streets, the trees, the air, the sunlight, the rain, all of these are your creation Lord. So that as we may learn to appreciate and love this creations may it also draw us to love one another, In Jesus name I pray

Amen.