"He sent them out two by two"

"He sent them out two by two" Mark 6:7

April 10th will be the children's rosary's one year anniversary.  We will be celebrating that one year anniversary on April 15th as the second Sunday of the Month is Easter and many of you may be traveling or seeing family.  This upcoming year will be dedicated to Renewal of Family prayer.  There is something very exciting I want to share with you all.  The children and I have purchased over 30 read aloud children's Bibles.  This is the one we use in our family every night.  It is unique in that children as young as our two years old follow the stories but it is also appropriate for older children.  Each story has two questions at the end which makes reading very interactive.  My husband Seth usually reads and the kids love listening and answering the questions.  I realized after going through the Bible several times with the children how little I knew about the Old Testament and it has been extremely enriching for me as well.  It is our hope that each family will take a Bible and read it with their children at night.  Just as in the gospel, Jesus sent the apostles out two by two it seemed appropriate that we have someone to guide us in our readings and prayers as well as our spiritual development.  Through the grace of the Holy Spirit an inspiration came that we should pray a novena to a Saint for each family.  We should pray to a great many Saints and ask them to choose a family, individual, priest, Bishop or our Pope to lead in their spiritual journey. We would also pray to the Holy Spirit to inspire the pairing.  As not all of the members of our children's rosary have children and some are leading a consecrated life we would have handmade bookmarks for them.  A Saint would be written on all the bookmarks and Bibles.  At the April 15th rosary each family would choose a Bible and each single person would chose a bookmark.  The first bookmark to be randomly chosen will be for our Holy Father the Pope and the second for our Archbishop Mansell (these will be sent to them with a letter from the children's rosary). What leaves me in awe is that there is a Saint who wants to choose each one of us.  Often we pray to the Saint we like or relate to but often there are so many Saints we know nothing about that could help us in just the way God intends but we are unaware of this help which is available to us.   In order to allow the Holy Spirit to fully work and pair exactly the right Saint with the right family or person each saint's name will be placed on a piece of paper and randomly assigned to a bookmark or Bible.  On April 15 you will have an opportunity to randomly choose a Bible or bookmark (these Bibles and bookmarks will also be given out on subsequent meeting. Those of you following remotely I can randomly choose one for you saying your name and send it to you).

 January 27th the first novena was begun.  Nine novenas have been completed and sixteen more are underway.  Initially I had intended on saying at least 60 novenas myself.  The Lord through prayer has shown me that this is something that I should open to you all.  Why stop with 60 novenas when we could do many, many more with more people praying.  Maybe the Saint who wants to choose your family is just waiting for their name to be found and a novena to be started. As the first novenas were completed there was such a strong response from Heaven that I was quite overwhelmed.  Inspirations began flowing and a consuming desire to pray more.  I am including the prayer I say with each novena.  I have purchased the blank bookmarks.  On one side will be written Children's Rosary and the other ultimately will have a Saint's name.  On the side which says children's rosary I am inviting the children to draw crosses or spiritual images. Please keep the back blank as I will later write in the Saints name.  I hope to collect the bookmarks at our March 11th meeting.   

MAY THE CHILDREN’S ROSARY, THEIR FAMILIES, THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH THE CHILDREN’S ROSARY INCLUDING OUR PRIESTS, OUR BISHOP AND OUR HOLY FATHER THE POPE BE THE EXTENDED HANDS OF OUR BLESSED MOTHER AND HER SON.  MAY WE GATHER A GREAT MANY SOULS ESPECIALLY YOUNG PEOPLE FOR THE LORD.  MAY WE EXPERIENCE RENEWAL OF FAMILY PRAYER AND SPREAD THAT RENEWAL OF FAMILY PRAYER WITHIN THE CHILDREN’S ROSARY GROUP AND BEYOND. IN A SPECIAL WAY WE ASK (THE SAINT YOU ARE PRAYING TO) TO CHOOSE A FAMILY OR A PERSON OR A PRIEST, ASSOCIATED WITH OUR CHILDREN’S ROSARY GROUP OR OUR BISHOP, OR OUR POPE TO LEAD IN THEIR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY. DEAR SAINT PRAY FOR OUR EXTENDED GROUP THAT WE MAY EMBODY THE VIRTUES YOU EXEMPLIFIED HERE ON EARTH.

Novenas to the following Saints have been completed:

St Gerard majella

St. Joseph,

St. Theresa the Little flower

St Padre Pio

Bl. John Paul II

St. Rita

St. Theres Avila

St. Peter

St. Blaize

Novenas underway:

St. Bernadette

St. Thomas More

St. Ann

St. John Bosco

St. Philomena

St. Peregrine

St Faustina

St. Odilia

St Vianney

Bl. Mother Theresa of Calcutta

Bl. Pier Giorgio

St Michael

St. Dymphna

St. Gianna Berretta Molla

St. Cuthman

St. Apollonia

I began novenas to Saints I was familiar with, however, I am beginning to learn about Saints that are new to me.  If you decide to say a novena please read a bit about the Saint as we do not want these beautiful people to be strangers to us but to teach us and inspire us.  Please email or post the names of any Saints or Blesseds that you will be saying a novena to so that I will be able to assemble a composite list.  Once a Saint has been "enrolled" please choose another Saint.  I will periodically update the blog with the growing list of Saints.  My heart is burning as I writing this and I am confident that their are so many Saints who want to be asked to help us.  May we be the extended hands of Our Lady and her Son in this world.   If you have never said a novena before, it is a nine day prayer for a petition.  You can search the internet for a particular Saint and the word novena or you can search saints who were martyrs or saints from England, etc..  It is often recommended that novenas be said during certain times of the year but praying a novena at anytime of the year is a good thing.  I am including a short excerpt from the Dairy of St. Faustina, a Saint who lived during the 1940's and to whom Jesus had regular communication.  Jesus' words are in bold.

229 During this retreat, I myself will direct your soul. I want to confirm you in peace and love. And so the first few days passed by. On the fourth day, doubts began to trouble me: Is not this tranquillity of mine false? Then I heard these words, My daughter, imagine that you are the sovereign of all the world and have the power to dispose of all things according to your good pleasure. You have the power to do all the good you want, and suddenly a little child knocks on your door, all trembling and in tears and, trusting in your kindness, asks for a piece of bread lest he die of starvation. What would you do for this child? Answer Me, my daughter. And I said, "Jesus, I would give the child all it asked and a thousand times more. "And the Lord said to me, That is how I am treating your soul. In this retreat I am giving you, not only peace, but also such a disposition of soul that even if you wanted to experience uneasiness you could not do so. My love has taken possession of your soul, and I want you to be confirmed in it. Bring your ear close to My Heart, forget everything else, and meditate upon My wondrous mercy. My love will give you the strength and courage you need in these matters. 

The reason I felt inspired to send this to you all is that we the children's rosary (and I include anyone young or old who in their heart desires to be part of our group) are that small child trembling, begging the Lord to use us for His Will in this poor, peaceless world.  His response has been just as is described in the diary. He is granting our prayers and a thousand times more than we could have imagined.  Each Saint we are asking for help will need a person to be paired with.  We ask each Saint to bring the family or person he or she wants to lead to our group if that person is not already part of the group.  May every Saint and Blessed join us together and we may extend hand to hand across the globe.  Nothing is impossible with God. My hand goes out to you, may the Holy spirit guide you as to where your hand will reach and so on.  This is an exciting time and I thank the Lord for each one of you. Amen

Your Friend in Christ,

Blythe