Mass To be Offered for all Members of the Children's Rosary on Christmas

Our monthly Mass for all the members of the Children's Rosary and all who help the Children's Rosary will be celebrated tomorrow by the Capuchin Missions.  It is a wonderful blessing to have such wonderful friends who have come together to bring children to the Rosary and the Baby Jesus.  This painting done above on a slice of a tree is a wonderful example of the kindness and generosity of all of you.  This painting was done by a religious sister and given to us by a member of the Children's Rosary.

Thank you all for all that you do to help spread the Children's Rosary.  May Our Mother Mary and the Infant Jesus Bless you all abundantly with Christmas Joy in your families and a deeper love of all those we struggle to love in our lives. Amen.

It is Not Too Late to Give the Baby Jesus a Novena of Prayers

Traditionally a Novena is "a form of worship consisting of special prayers or services on nine successive days".  

However, tonight is Christmas Eve and there may be a feeling in your heart that you wished you could have done more leading up to Our Lord's Birth.  A desire to give him something special.  May I humbly suggest a nine hour novena.  On the top of each hour three Hail Mary's to be said for nine consecutive hours.   

In this way we can join with Our Blessed Mother in the patient waiting, the looking at the clock and anticipating the birth of a child.  This child is like no other and may our hearts join together in a special way with His Mother and Our Mother. 

I am planning to begin at 9AM EST but the starting hour is completely up to you.  

Thank you all and may you all have a Blessed Christmas Eve.

The Last Children's Rosary Group to Meet Before Christmas

Today at 4:30 PM EST may be the last Children's Rosary group to meet before Christmas.  The Children's Rosary at St. James Church in Mahopac, New York USA will meet before the Blessed Sacrament today.  As tomorrow is Christmas Eve, it seems like such a wonderful birthday gift to give Our Mother prayers from the little children to present to her new born Son.

Thank you all for being a part of the Children's Rosary and coming together in the prayer of the Rosary.  

Patiently Waiting with Mary

Yesterday in Mass we heard the Gospel of Luke and the beautiful description of the Annunciation.  Today the story of Mary's visitation to her cousin Elizabeth was read at Mass.  These beautiful mysteries of the Rosary unfold as we wait with Our Mother Mary for the coming of her son.  Tomorrow on the last Sunday of Advent we continue to ponder these wonderful events leading up to the birth of Our Lord.  Please consider joining the children in prayer.  We have two Children's Rosary groups meeting on Sunday Dec 22nd:
The Children's Rosary at Our Lady and St. Patrick's Church in Nottingham England will hold their weekly meeting at 8:45AM local time.
The Children's Rosary at St. Thomas Church in Thomaston Connecticut will hold their weekly meeting at 11AM EST.

PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING THE CHILDREN IN PRAYER EITHER AT THE CHURCH OR FROM YOUR HOME.  THE CHILDREN ALWAYS PRAY FOR THOSE UNIFYING PRAYERS WITH THEM.

Will You Join These Two Children in Prayer

Tomorrow morning at 9AM Pacific time these two little children will hold a Children's Rosary at St. Mary's Church in Corvallis, Oregon USA.  They are but two children yet imagine what Our Heavenly Mother would say about the value of their prayers.  Would she make a special trip with the angels to pray beside them and help them with all that worries them.  Yes, I believe she will come to them and listen to their prayers and all the longings of their hearts.  These two little children also pray for all the members of the Children's Rosay and all who join them in prayer either at the Church or from their homes.  My own children and I always try to unify prayers with the different Children's Rosary groups when they meet.  We feel a wonderful connection being able to pray together even from a distance.

Sometimes these little Children's Rosary groups struggle as we all struggle.  Group leaders wonder if they can lead a group as we all find moments of questioning and doubt (yes I have had those moments too).  Yet this is the time when we must not give up.  Such times of trial are when the Lord bends down so close and listens attentively to every whisper of our heart.  We are thirsting to bring Him souls and this pleases Him greatly. A particular passage from the Diary of St. Faustina comes to mind

[Once] when I saw how much my confessor [probably Father Sopocko] was to suffer because of this work which God was going to carry out through him, fear seized me for the moment, and I said to the Lord, "Jesus, this is Your affair, so why are You acting this way toward him? It seems to me that You are making difficulties for him while at the same time ordering him to act."Write that by day and by night My gaze is fixed upon him, and I permit these adversities in order to increase his merit. I do not reward for good results but for the patience and hardship undergone for My sake.(Diary of St. Faustina 86)

As we walk with Our Lord and through daily struggles prayerfully work to bring our precious children to Him, may we hold firm in our resolve and remain faithful to Him. Amen.

Thank you all dear friends.  It is through such a wonderful network of prayers that we all serve as a net to help each other.  When one is struggling another is finding encouragement and so we all make are way along this path to Our Heavenly Father. 

Soldier Credits a Rosary for Saving His Life

Private Glenn Hockton
photo credit EASTNEWS

One of the members of the Children's Rosary recently shared with me a true story about a soldier and his Rosary. The soldier is from Great Britain.

Private Glenn Hockton joined the Coldstream Guards at the age of 16.  Due to his young age his mother, Mrs. Jones, had to give permission for him to join. Then in October 2013 he was deployed to Afghanistan.  His mother felt it was one of the hardest things she has ever had to do to see him leave Brize Norton for Afghanistan. 

Before he left he asked to take a Rosary with him.  For his mother it was heart breaking to watch the news and wonder if he was all right.  Yet it would seem there was another Mother also watching out for Private Hockton.

"He was on patrol and his rosary fell off his neck. He felt like he had a slap on the back. He bent down to pick his rosary up to see it was broken. As he bent down to pick it up, he realized he was on a landmine," his mother Mrs. Jones explained.  His colleagues were able to rescue him after standing on the landmine for 45 minutes. 

This is not the first time the family has felt an unusual protection through the Rosary.  Private Hockton's great-grandfather had a similar experience during World War II.  "He was walking across a field with half a dozen of his platoon, he bent down to pick something up and was the only one to survive a sudden bomb blast. He had picked up a rosary."

Reading this beautiful story which can be read in its entirety at the Telegraph, one begins to appreciate the wonderful protection granted to those who pray the Rosary. For we know through the 12 Promises of the Rosary given to St. Dominic by Mary that Our Blessed Mother promises her "special protection and the greatest graces to all who shall recite the Rosary".

Welcoming Our Blessed Mother

Image courtesy of Monique d’Auteuil

Today the traveling Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa will be visiting St. Thomas the Apostle Church in West Hartford, Connecticut for a special procession, Children's Rosary and Mass.  The procession will begin a 6:30 PM EST with a Rosary led by the children immediately after the procession.  We are inviting all who cannot join us in person to join us in prayer from your home.  The children always pray for those unifying prayers with them. The Icon will then travel to St Lawrence Church in Brewster, New York tomorrow and a Children's Rosary will also be held before Our Lady beginning at 7PM EST with a Mass at 7:30.  This will have been the third Children's Rosary held before this beautiful Icon which has traveled from Poland, through Russian and across Europe. It is a wonderful thing to have so many children being able to come before Our Lady in prayer of the Rosary.  For many children the experience of kneeling before this immense Icon of Our Lady is something they may never forget. 

Today we are blessed to have a Children's Rosary also meeting at 12:20 PM EST at Trinity Academy in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania USA.  

For a list of the locations where the Icon will be visiting or to schedule a visit to your parish visit: http://www.fromoceantoocean.org/