A Christmas Surprise

Handmade Christmas Card by Sarah and Matthew
two members of the Children's Rosary from
Corvallis, Oregon USA.

Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas!!

There is a wonderful Christmas surprise which I wanted to share with you.  As many of you may not be aware, this website for the Children's Rosary was begun in February 2012 and was dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

  

On the bottom of the page the site records how many people visit the site.  This morning something wonderful happened the register hit 100,000!  This is not the first time that such a gift has been given.  Last spring on Good Friday between the hours of noon and 3PM the register hit 40,000.  As it had taken over a year to reach that number there was no way to plan for such a thing.  

Reflecting on the 100,000 number given on Christmas there is a deep feeling of gratitude that comes for Our Lord for bringing so many people to the Children's Rosary.  Many have shared that by chance they found themselves on our website or by chance heard about this movement from someone else.  All these chance events and today one could say hitting 100,000 during the early hours of Christmas was another chance event.  Yet within my heart this number speaks to the fact that Our Lord is watching every detail.  Nothing goes without His notice.  As we toil and work each day we may not feel His watchful eye or His gentle hand but all along He is there.  Each person brought to us a gift and one given purposefully.  So many of you have worked so hard this year bringing prayers to Our Lord.  Challenges have arisen and yet you have persisted.  Look at this 100,000 and know that this is a gift to everyone who helped this Children's Rosary prayer movement or said a prayer that it would spread to just one more child.  The gift Our Lord is giving us is us bound together in prayer of the Rosary.  Led by his Mother and brought to his very crib.  This gift of so many wonderful children now praying the Rosary for our tired world and so many individuals guarding these children with their prayers.  It is a blessed and wonderful thing to contemplate.  The thought that now at least 40 Children's Rosary groups exist across the globe and almost daily Our Lady can find children coming together to give her a bouquet of prayers to give to her son Jesus.  We began with a simple prayer some time ago that the Children's Rosary would be the extended hands of Our Blessed Mother and her Son and gather a great many souls especially young people for the Lord.  Today I renew this prayer for all of us.

Thank you all for your friendship and your prayers.  May Our Lord Bless you and your family abundantly. Amen.

Your Grateful Friend in Christ,

Blythe

A Gift to Our Lord Jesus

Today at Mass the Gospel was read in which it is described how one of Jesus' friends, Judas Iscariot, was paid thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus. We know that this was an extremely painful betrayal as Jesus' says to Judas: "What you are going to do, do quickly."  (John 13:27)  Just before Jesus utters these words we are told satan entered Judas. As we move forward toward Holy Thursday I would like to humbly ask that we consider standing in the face of this evil.  May we consider saying a rosary in expiation for one of the silver pieces that was used to betray Our Lord.  May each rosary float to Heaven and act as a healing suave on the wounds inflicted on Our Lord's heart as a result of such a personal betrayal by a friend?  May this concrete act, be a way of showing our deep love and friendship toward Our Lord who will in two days lay down His life for us.  

It is so beautiful that we have a Children’s Rosary group meeting tonight at 7PM EST at St. John the Evangelist Church in Hopkinton, MA.  It is so fitting that the Church they will be meeting in is named after the Apostle so loved by Our Lord and such a consolation to Him.  May we all be that dear friend to Our Lord who does not leave His side?  

It is my hope that we may have at least 30 rosaries said today as a gift to Our Lord who suffered such betrayal for the sum of thirty silver pieces.

Thank you all!

So far we have 38 rosaries which have already been said today as a gift to Our Lord.

We Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends

Things with my health haven't been all that good as of late.  As I have a genetic condition that results in joint dislocations leaving my house and interacting with folks is as one person put it, "living dangerously".  Sometimes injuries happen in the places you would never suspect such as last night at a healing service.  For someone like me the prospect of folks I don't know touching me is of significant concern with my joint instability.  However,  I recognize the wonderful benefits of healing prayers and love to attend this Monthly Mass.   After a couple of accidental injuries with my hands and neck last night I left trying to focus on the beautiful Mass and not my aching joints.  A friend stopped and talked to me as we were leaving. He had just come back from leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land the day before.  He was clearly tired from the travel and jet lag.  I mentioned my declining hands and joints and the loss of my medical provider.  He prayed over me for a few minutes and then told me he would keep me in his prayers.  A poor night sleep followed but something wonderful happened.  When I woke up I went to the computer and there was a message from my friend Scott who I had seen the night before.  He told me that after he left the Mass he went to adoration for one hour and prayed for me and then planned to offer his bread and water fast for me today.  As I knew how tired Scott was when he left the Mass at 9:15PM I knew how hard it must have been for him to stay awake at adoration.  The kindness and sacrifice that he made out of charity humbled me.  Walking to Mass this morning I looked down at my pieta prayer book.  On the back cover I had written something a priest had said 3 weeks ago, "We get by with a little help from our friends".  How true were these words.  When one is feeling really low the simplest act of kindness or offer of prayers has the ability to lighten the weight of whatever we are carrying.  Each time someone has written to me these past few days and offered prayers there is a such a deep gratitude which wells in my heart.  As our lives ebb and flow I think we all find ourselves one day in need of a prayer or word of support.  When those prayers come, oh how beautiful they are..

It is true, we do get by with the help of our friends and after all our best Friend is Jesus.  Today I spoke to Our Lord in just that way.  As my Best Friend, I asked for His support through this time of uncertainty.  One beautiful blessing He has given me this day is a keener awarenss of the gifts I am being given through the love, support and prayers of so many.

May I thank you with all my heart.

We are hope in the face of darkness

On Wednesday afternoon I was waiting for the bus at work when the dark clouds began to roll in.  The sky became light with bolts of lightning in the distance.  The hospital where I work is on a large hill almost like a small mountain.  It has views of the Hartford City skyline.  As the storm rolled in the wind began to blow the trees and more and more lightning strikes approached.  It was a strange sensation watching the storm roll in but have little control over whether it would hit before we made it home.  As we stood outside waiting on the top of this hill I began to speak with a women standing next to me.  As she was becoming more and more frightened of the lightening approaching she began to pray for protection from God. When we were able to get into the bus she sat down next to me.   The storm had been a wonderful icebreaker about faith and she mentioned that she had received a rosary when she was a child but that she had forgotten the prayers.  She had been wanting to pray the rosary for some time but did not know how to begin.  I told her I could send her a little booklet to explain how to pray the rosary and also include a children's Bible for her grandchildren.  As I got off the bus she said to me "now don't forget to send me those things".  It was as if it were Christ himself speaking.  Those words have been echoing in my head since I left her.  


It got me thinking about those movies you see where people are able to go back in time and if they change one very small thing the whole story is different.  -like that old back to the future movie.  I got to thinking that our own brief interactions with people however small acts like a bumper in a pin ball machine.  We can send the person in a whole different direction or if we miss the opportunity then they continue on the path they were on.  If we see a soul passing by, falling as a pin ball does into the hole from where the ball does not return. If we extend our hand and bump them up just for a moment might we save them from the hole that they might have fallen for good.  As I shared with you I struggle with patience with my children and pray for the gift of more love in my heart. Despite all the times when I feel like I am less than I could be I do take consolation in the moments when I did take a moment to interact positively with at least one person a day.  


The women I met on the bus had physical signs that she had a rough life.  Despite her outward scars I felt very strongly her heart was still gentle and searching for the Lord. She did tell me she misses going to Mass when she does not go. I had a feeling that this was an important moment in her life.  I thought of each day that goes by that she sees her mailbox empty.  When her heart wonders what ever happened to that person on the bus who said they would send me a letter and help me learn the rosary.  If the letter had never come would her hope in others be all the less bright and maybe one day blow out all together.  However, what would her face look like when she finds a box at her apartment.  A box with Bibles for her grandchildren, a rosary, and a prayer card explaining how to say the rosary.  Will she be surprised to also get a letter in the mail explaining that each Bible she received has a saint written inside that was prayed to by another family.  Each saint having been asked to choose a family to lead and that family that the saint has chosen is her family.  What will her heart say when she reads an invitation to her to pray the children's rosary novena for another family so another family can receive a Bible like she did with a saint inside to help her. 

Today I heard of the shootings in Colorado and the continued suffering in Syria.  One can think about this and become disheartened with the world.  Please do not lose faith or the bright light of hope.  Think about today.  Did you smile at anyone.  Did you encourage anyone?  Did you pray for someone?  How many people will have their life redirected even just a small fraction due to their interaction with you.  What does changing someones life by a small fraction mean.  It means a lot especially when there are ever growing number of others who will also redirect that person toward the Lord. Today despite all the sad news in the world I feel hope.  You all are hope to me. Each person that has written back from this blog and said something kind has lifted my spirit. Each family I see beginning family prayer brings more joy to my heart.  In a very real way you are all hope to me!!!  I pray that you all continue to bring the light of hope in this world. Amen.