"Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire"

The picture above was done by Abigail a member of the Children's Rosary when she was just 6 years old. It captures in a special way the vibrance and magnificence of the Feast! There are many graces that are available to us this day and we should remember to ask for them. 

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are:

1. Wisdom - Embodying all the other gifts. Wisdom strengthens our faith, fortifies hope, perfects charity, and promotes the practice of the virtues in the highest degree.
2. Understanding - Helps us grasp the meanings of the truths of our holy religion. By faith we know them, by understanding we appreciate and relish them.
3. Counsel - Endows the soul with supernatural prudence, enabling it to judge promptly and rightly what must be done, especially in difficult circumstances.
4. Fortitude - Strengthen us to do the will of God in all things.
5. Knowledge - Enables the soul to evaluate things at their true worth in their relation to God. It shows us the loving care of God even in adversity.
6. Piety - Begets in our hearts a filial affection for God as our most loving Father. Piety finds the practice of religion not a burdensome duty but a delightful service.
7. Fear of the Lord - Fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread nothing so much as to offend Him by sin.

A novena of 9 Masses was completed yesterday for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Children's Rosary. We pray for all those who are involved with the Children's Rosary that you may be filled with the Holy Spirit.  While the evil one scatters and causes division the Holy Spirit is the unifier. The Holy Spirit is especially important in strengthening families. Thus on this Feast of Pentecost, may we invite the Holy Spirit into our hearts and homes.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

Find out ways to become involved and help the Children's Rosary

How to Start a Children's Rosary

EWTN Interview about the Children's Rosary

Don't forget to unify prayers with the children during their meetings. A schedule of meetings is present on our website. By clicking "Join in Prayer" you can add your gold flashing light to our View from Heaven map.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH OUR NEW VIDEO:

A VIEW FROM HEAVEN 

UNA PERSPECTIVA DESDE EL CIELO

For more information about the Children's Rosary visit our website: www.childrensrosary.org
Visite nuestro sitio web en español para obtener más información: www.rosariodeninos.org

Pour plus d'informations sur le Rosaire des Enfants, visitez notre site Web:www.rosairedesenfants.org 

Easter Celebrations in Pakistan 2017!

We have received some beautiful pictures from different Children's Rosary groups in Pakistan. Throughout Lent there were reports of the children praying, offering up little sacrifices and also visits from priests to celebrate Mass and offer reconciliation to the children. But now with Easter the children were ready to celebrate the glorious Resurrection of Our Lord. The children held candlelit processions. They also had celebrations on Easter Sunday. As each group met during this Easter Season there was celebrations. 

The group leader shared that there were little Easter parties in the groups with some indoor and outdoor games. They also were able to distribute some religious photos to the children. 

He relayed that the children were very happy. One can see the smiles on the children's faces.

They also distributed 18 packages of food to orphan women and children. Indeed even though there is considerable poverty the spirit of charity is beautifully alive.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
A Window to the World Through Prayer
Resources to Help Begin a Group

Don't forget to unify prayers with the children during their meetings.  A schedule of meetings is present on our website. By clicking "Join in Prayer" you can add your gold flashing light to our View from Heaven map.

12th Day of Christmas!

May I share a little Christmas story.  Several of the Children's Rosary groups in West Hartford, Connecticut USA heard that there was a Children's Rosary group meeting in a Church in Pakistan without walls or ceiling. The children were very cold during their meetings and most did not even have socks or shoes.  
They hoped to receive something to keep them warm.  Their little Christmas wish was heard.  Two Children's Rosary groups came together to help them.  Hats, socks and gloves were sent along with a few sweaters.  Two of the three boxes arrived in time for Christmas.(Another one is still on its way...please say a prayer it gets there soon). 

On Christmas eve pictures came of the children receiving the warm clothes. A few are included here.

The top picture is of one of the boys in the Children's Rosary group receiving socks.  The second picture is of a mother with her baby receiving a warm hat for her baby.  

The story does not end there.  A few days after receiving these pictures more came.  Babu Chand shared that after receiving the gifts from the children in Connecticut he was impressed and felt moved to do what he could to help even more of those in need within the Children's Rosary in his area.  

He was able to purchase shawls for a number of the mothers in the Children's Rosary groups that have been widowed. He went door to door to give the gifts. Some of the pictures below show them receiving the beautiful shawls. 

 

A special thank you to all the children and members of the Children's Rosary who have been so generous.  These acts of love send a ripple into the world.  It is a ripple of kindness that once started is hard to stop as is seen here. 

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Come on a Journey with us
Hear from the Children

Spiritual Bouquet

Dear Friends, 

I am happy to share a very beautiful gift that was given to the Children's Rosary for Christmas. One of the members of the Children's Rosary enrolled the Children's Rosary to receive a Spiritual Bouquet. The message in the card reads:

As my very special and spiritual gift to you this Christmas you will share in the blessings and graces of 900 Masses offered by missionary priests throughout the world beginning on Christmas Even and continuing throughout this Holy Season.

This enrollment was made through the Capuchin Missions.  It is also very special that the gift of this Spiritual Bouquet also is able to assist in the support of missionary priests bringing the Good News to different corners of the globe.

Many thanks for this most precious gift.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Feast of St. Thomas Becket

A Present for Our Lady of the Rosary

Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.  For such a special day, we wanted to give Our Lady a special gift.  What does one give to the Queen of Heaven and Earth?  Could a gift be found that could have meaning for all time.  It would seem, just as a little child wants to give a gift to his parents, so often it is the parents that give the gift that the little one simply packages up and then gives back to the parent.  Such it seems is the case with the small gifts we give to Our Heavenly Mother and Father.  Without Their grace we would have nothing to give.  

Today the Children's Rosary comes before Our Lady with a perpetual enrollment for her intentions. This perpetual enrollment means that Our Blessed Mother's intentions will be remembered for all time in the treasure of Holy Masses and Prayers and in particular 2,500 Masses offered each year through the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal. As long as there are Vincentian Fathers the enrollment will continue.

As the familiar sentiment is true, "it is better to give then receive," I wanted to share the giving of this gift with all the members of the Children's Rosary.  For this gift is being given on behalf of the Children's Rosary to Our Blessed Mother.  Just as little children love to look up with eager eyes to see if their Mother is happy with their gift, so too we can come to meet Our Lady in prayer with a happy heart full of excitement with our small but precious gift since it involves the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which has infinite value.

Other Posts You May Enjoy
The Lord Speaks to Us with the Voice of a Child
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Children's Rosary Collection

A Spiritual Gift for the Children's Rosary

Today the Children's Rosary received a wonderful gift.  A card arrived from our Children's Rosary group leader in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania.  She had enrolled the Children's Rosary into a special Novena of Masses offered through the Capuchin Missions. The Children's Rosary is being remembered in a Novena of Nine Hundred Masses offered in honor of St. Pio beginning on September 23 and concluding on October 1st 2016.

In thinking about this gift to the Children's Rosary a Scripture quote comes to mind:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
(Matthew 6:19-21)

We are very grateful for this generous gift.  More and more there is a yearning to turn our full attention to our true home which is heaven. It does not make sense to focus on earthly riches. Instead it is gifts like this that are the post precious.

Through the Children's Rosary and this tapestry of prayer it is our hope that all the members of the Children's Rosary will be sanctified and assisted spiritually in getting to their true home in heaven. 

A special thank you to the group leader who shared this gift with all of us. We are all weak and need grace to help us. To have others praying and offering gifts such as these helps each one of us on our journey. 

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Avenue of Grace
Children's Rosary Materials

There is Still Time to Find Just the Right Christmas Gift

This time of year can get pretty hectic.  At Mass on Monday the priest emphasized this point by mentioning that with hospital calls and so much happening with Christmas fast approaching he didn't even have time to take a shower or put on socks.  He held out his foot to show his bare ankles.  He further said he was so busy he couldn't even find his comb so he had resorted to using his dog's comb.  We were all laughing but indeed things can become busy as one wants to make sure no one has been forgotten and everyone is remembered with something special.  The problem is finding that something special that will mean something to the person receiving it.  A few years ago, we began a little family tradition of saying Rosaries for family and friends.  This has continued to grow so that our time approaching Christmas and the 12 days of Christmas is consumed with prayer.  The added benefit to giving spiritual presents to loved ones is that as one spends this intense time of prayer we are all receiving grace, too.    

Last week we had two friends over for dinner.  The kids wrapped up the presents we had for them.  As our friends gathered in the living room the kids began to giggle.  They thought it was so exciting to share the gifts they had helped to present.  The gifts included the prayers we had said for our friends.  Each prayer was written on a colored paper shape.  Some of the shapes were stars, the moon and a manger.  The name of the person who had said the prayer was written on the back of the shape.  

The laughter seemed contagious and even I was laughing, too.  There was a feeling that maybe some of the laughter was nervousness.  As we all wondered what our friends would think when they opened the boxes.  I was surprised that little thoughts entered my mind.  Questions came wondering if they might be disappointed or wonder if we didn't care enough to buy them something.  I was actually very surprised these thoughts came as we waited for the boxes to be opened.  

Then as the boxes came open and each person saw what was inside, there was excitement.  It was just as the children had hoped, our friends loved their presents.  They were so touched that so much time had been spent praying for each of them and their families.  For each of us were re-learning about Christmas.  The kids were watching and learning.  I was learning.  Each time I take a chance and move in the direction of gathering treasures for friends from Our Lord I am never disappointed.  Another area we are re-learning is the fact that Christmas in not just one day.  It is 12 days and it ends on Epiphany.  That means all the Christmas gifts and cards do not need to be in each persons hands on December 25th.  Rather it is just the beginning of the celebrating.  In this way, the pressure of a December 25th deadline to remember each person is alleviated.  If you are reading this and feel stressed that so much is left undone or you wished you had done things differently this Christmas.  Don't worry there is still time.  The shelves are not empty in Heaven.  Take as much as you want for your loved ones.  One last thought, if you ever feel paralyzed that there are too many people in your life that you would want to pray for so hence it might be better not to start.  Let me share, I had that thought several weeks ago but in prayer I could feel Our Lady saying, begin start with one person.  Our Lord does not work at 10,000 feet he works person to person.  And so let us work in the same way.  Do not worry that you may not have time to pray for everyone...just rejoice with each soul you can pray for.  You may be surprised by how many souls you can cover in prayer.

Thank you all dear friends.  All the members of the Children's Rosary are being remembered in our Christmas Novena and on December 25th a Mass has been requested for all the members of the Children's Rosary and all who help the Children's Rosary.  God Bless you all.

Other posts you may enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
We Took You All With Us to the Papal Mass
Avenue of Grace

Gifts

Several members of the Children's Rosary

This past week during our 9 days of prayer and fasting, the Lord has showered a great many gifts down on the Children's Rosary.  I would like to humbly share some of those blessings.  The first 5 days of the fast we spent in San Antonio, Texas.  During those days in San Antonio we met a great many people who interested in helping spread the Children's Rosary.  With members of the Children's Rosary intensifying prayers and also fasting it seemed that many hearts were open to hearing about the Children's Rosary. I would like to share several of the meetings that have happened during the fast.

On our third day in San Antonio, we met a beautiful young blind women in San Fernando Cathedral.  She was very interested in the Children's Rosary and immediately thought of three children she gives singing lessons to at the Cathedral who might be able to help her begin a group.  When I offered to have braille materials sent to her about the Children's Rosary through the Xavier Society for the Blind, she said she could not read braille as her blindness is very new.  My eight year old son and I felt our meeting with her a very special blessing.  She also mentioned that she would be going to a conference in the New Year of cantors from around the country.  She expressed interest in telling those she might meet about the Children's Rosary.  To see such a heart so open to help especially when she was dealing with her recent loss of her sight seemed overwhelming to us. Yet the Lord would continue to show us the charity and love in the hearts of many we would meet on our trip. 

Later in the week during Adoration at St. Joseph Church in San Antonio a father approached my son and asking for prayers for his own 11 year old son who he is having trouble bringing to Mass.  We told him we would pray for his son and shared with him about the Children's Rosary.  Indeed it was also a gift to see a father reaching out and asking the children for help and prayers.  We are all broken in some way and we need each other.  To see another soul asking for help especially from a child was very special.  

The following day we met a mother of eleven after Mass, she was there with several of her young children.  In talking to her about the Children's Rosary I noticed she was having problems hearing and had her daughter repeat many parts of what was said back to her.  She told me she is going deaf.  I felt an immediate connection to this mom and seeing her daughter helping her, it reminded me of my own daughter who is always helping me as I have a joint disability that prevents me from much use of my hands.  

This mother of 11 was very excited to help begin a Children's Rosary in her parish and took some of our materials and also was quick to tell her friends visiting from Sydney, Australia about the Children's Rosary.  

Photo taken by a member of the Children's Rosary

The blessings continued as we were flying home to Connecticut.  A kind women sitting next to my son began to talk to him.  We were preparing to land and she mentioned that she had a rare medical condition that leads to progressive loss of sight.  She said prayer really helps. I asked her what type of prayer.  She said the Rosary.  This opened up a conversation about the Children's Rosary and the possibility she might be able to bring this to her parish and grandchildren.

Indeed it would seem that Our Lord was bringing us special gifts all week.  Showing us the many people who have so much to give.  It would seem since the beginning of the Children's Rosary those with disabilities have had a special place.  As founder of the Children's Rosary, I have a disability and many children and group leaders that have been involved with the Children's Rosary have disabilities as well.  No matter what a person's physical, mental ability or age it would seem Our Lord has a beautiful role for them.  Recently we have been in contact with the priest who is in charge of outreach to deaf community in the Archdiocese of Boston.  This priest is also deaf.  We had the special grace of meeting him at the World Meeting of Families and have subsequently been in touch with him.  He is looking into holding a Children's Rosary monthly with the children who are deaf that gather together for catechises in sign language. To imagine a Children's Rosary composed of all deaf children signing the prayers is a magnificent thought to contemplate.  We pray that in the future this will indeed become a reality. 

May I humbly thank all of you who have increased your prayers this week and also given sacrifices to Our Lord as part of the International Week of Prayer and Fasting.  As a special thank you a Mass is being offered tomorrow, October 25th, through the Capuchin Missions for all the members of the Children's Rosary and all who help the Children's Rosary.

Thank you all and God Bless!

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Children's Rosary Book
EWTN Interview About the Children's Rosary

Beauty

Today is day six of our nine days of Prayer and Fasting.  There has been such beauty these days.  As we continue giving Our Lord sacrifices and prayers He shows us beauty as well.  
On Sunday something very special happened during Mass at San Fernando Cathedral.  A homeless man came in during Mass and went to a statue of Our Blessed Mother.  He placed before her two small plants.  They looked pretty sad but it was clear this was all he had.  The man had several bags that seemed to contain all his possessions.  He sat across from me during the remainder of the Mass and made great effort to get to his knees.  It was very moving to be praying with him.  After Mass we spoke and I asked him where he got the plants.  He looked off and with a smile said, "they were blessings".  In looking at the two small plants by all earthly measures they paled in comparison to a wedding bouquet that was present above them.  Yet I felt those plants were the most beautiful plants that Our Lady could receive.  The man had carried them from somewhere.  I can imagine with all his bags it must have been such a struggle to keep them safe.  I suspect the plants might actually have been given to him as a gift which he now was giving to Our Lady.  

To catch a glimpse of such a gift brought a smile to my heart and a joy to see a soul so in love with Our Blessed Mother.  This little window into the tender gift of one soul to Our Lord and His Mother was also an invitation to use this time of fasting to share that which might have been spent on myself on another.  Indeed Our Lord has been so good to open so many doors this week to deeper and deeper fasting.  

The gift of this small block by a stranger this week has also been a way to contemplate the many different ways we can extend our fasting.  While many may be fasting on bread and water, Our Lord seemed to be showing us many ways of fasting not all of them involving food.  In this way, even the children can participate and show Our Lord their love through finding that which they can spare for themselves, and sharing it with those that have less.

Please consider joining us for the remaining three days of the fast if you are not already participating.  Each sacrifice given to Our Lord with love has immense merit.  This international week of prayer and fasting was something Pope John Paul II supported and blessed during his Papacy.  As tomorrow is his Feast it is very special that we are participating in something so close to his heart.  For more information about this week of prayer and fasting click HERE.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Children's Rosary Book
Totus Tuus

Knotted Grotto in Honor of Pope Francis' Visit

Blessings from Philadelphia and the World Meeting of Families!!  As you may have read in earlier posts 9 children and 4 adults are here representing the Children's Rosary.  The children have been helping to run an informational booth about the Children's Rosary at the World Meeting of Families.  In between our time at the booth we have been visiting the Adoration Chapel at the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul.  They have had perpetual Adoration all week beginning last Sunday evening.  

As one enters the Basilica Chapel for Adoration, one passes through a most beautiful Knotted Grotto inspired by the painting of Mary Undoer of Knots. As a special gift to Pope Francis who will celebrate Mass at this Basilica tomorrow morning, thousands of intentions have been woven into this grotto.  Each intention knotted together.   Many of those that wrote the initial intentions were children and the homeless from the area.  These intentions were joined by many added by pilgrims visiting from around the world. Thousands if not millions of people have flooded into Philadelphia for this historic week. 

It is breathtaking to see this Grotto with so many intentions from people traveling here from around the world and also those who call this city home.  

Dear friends, please know we prayed for you all in Adoration and included you in this Knotted Grotto. Asher is holding a ribbon which reads: for the intentions of the members of the Children's Rosary.  Another ribbon that was tied on read: for all the members of the Children's Rosary. A third ribbon which was added to the Knotted Grotto was for the intentions of Our Blessed Mother.  

Having attended Mass this week at the Cathedral it was beautiful to hear that during Mass the intentions placed in this Grotto were being lifted up in prayer. There is a hope that tomorrow Our Holy Father will walk through this Grotto as he enters the Cathedral and pray for these intentions.

Thank you for all of your prayers and please know we are praying very hard for you here.

Other posts you may enjoy
Welcome Video to Pope Francis from the Children's Rosary 
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Tears of Joy

Lord Give Me Wisdom

The first reading in Mass today spoke so beautifully about the value of seeking Wisdom:

"When I was young and innocent,

I sought wisdom openly in my prayer

I prayed for her before the temple,

and I will seek her until the end,

and she flourished as a grape soon ripe.

My heart delighted in her,

My feet kept to the level path 

because from earliest youth I was familiar with her". (Sir 51:13-15)

Throughout the New and Old Testament we are told of the importance of Wisdom.  The reading above is particularly interesting in that it speaks not only of praying for this gift but also of the value of seeking the gift of wisdom when one is young and innocent.  The reading goes on to say that because from earliest youth he was familiar with wisdom his feet were kept to the level path.  This is such a beautiful way for a child to begin his or her journey.  To possess this precious gift from an early age is to "walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble." (Proverbs 4:23)

Indeed today at Mass the priest suggested that daily we should ask for the gift of Wisdom.  He tried to think for a moment about a person who would not benefit from this request and he concluded in saying, yes we should all make this our daily prayer.  Recently during a novena to the Holy Spirit leading up to Pentecost I had the chance to read more about this gift of the Holy Spirit in the Novena written by the Archdiocese of Hartford.  This was their description of the gift of Wisdom:

The gift of wisdom is nothing less than loving, contemplative union with God, which makes it possible for us to see all things from a divine perspective.  When it is understood in its full breadth, wisdom can rightly be called "communion," since it is a share in divine life, a union made perfect in the truth of love.  Embodying all the other gifts, as charity embraces all the other virtues, wisdom is the most perfect of the gifts.  It strengthens our faith, fortifies hope, perfects charity, and promotes the practice of virtue in the highest degree.  

Thus may I humbly suggest that we should waste no time in seeking this precious gift.  May we daily ask: LORD GIVE ME WISDOM.

Other Posts You May Enjoy:
"Light Spreads Darkness Stays Where It Is"
Global Rosary Relay for Priests
How To Start A Children's Rosary

May We Be One

"I am praying for them" (John 17:9)

Indeed we know that Our Lord is praying for us but what is His prayer?  This too he shares with us:

"Holy Father keep them in thy name, which thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as we are one" (John 17:11)

Indeed the Children's Rosary seeks to joined children together around the globe in prayer of the Rosary.  A prayer that allows each of us to ponder and contemplate the life of Our Lord.  
Through faithful time in prayer, Our Lord allows us to see that our world is actually very small indeed. Children are children whether they be in Singapore, Africa or here in the USA.

In an effort to continue to share our faith we have a wonderful opportunity. Recently a women named Maria contacted the Children's Rosary.  She had stumbled on our site and felt moved to reach out.  She wanted to feature the Children's Rosary on her blog.  In speaking with her she shared that she is originally from Mexico and was named after Our Lady of Guadalupe.  She is now a dressmaker in California.  As she speaks Spanish I mentioned that we are trying to reach out to the Spanish community and that we have a Spanish website www.rosariodenino.org  

After visiting our Spanish site she wrote us with a very generous offer.  She wanted to give the Children's Rosary a gift.  She wanted to offer one child per month for Feb, March and April 2015 the opportunity to pick one item free from her website.  Her site features beautiful dresses and boys suits from small sizes through teens.  The link provided is to the first communion section of the site but she also has many other things. Maria was very generous indeed as she indicated that the chosen child per month could choose any one thing on her website and she would ship anywhere in the world.  

After prayer and reflection this is how we would like to choose the recipient of this beautiful offer.  We would like to invite all children who are a part of the Children's Rosary to send in a drawing of a mystery of the Rosary.  Each month will have a theme:

February Annunciation
March Resurrection
April Descent of the Holy Spirit/Pentecost

Each child who submits a picture will be entered in a drawing.  There will be three drawings one per month.  Three children total will be selected. We would also like to highlight some of the drawings submitted on our Children's Rosary website so please only submit if you are comfortable with your drawing being featured.  Please include in pencil on the back the child's first name, city and state with country and child's age. Please also send us your email address so we can contact you if your child is chosen.

The deadline for submission is:
Annunciation drawings Feb 25th
Resurrection drawings March 25th
Pentecost drawings April 25th
One can include in the submission all three pictures and the child will be entered each month.
Please send pictures to

Children's Rosary 
PO Box 271743
West Hartford CT 06127 USA
or if you live outside the United States and postage would be a hardship, pictures done by a child can be scanned into a jpeg format and emailed to contactchildrensrosary@gmail.com
If you live outside the US and one does not have access to a scanner one can take a digital picture of the child holding the drawing and mail it to contactchildrensrosary@gmail.com

Example of artwork sent previously to the
Children's Rosary "Nativity"

Different mediums are encouraged for the hand done pictures of the mysteries: crayon, marker, watercolor, paint etc.  White or colored paper would be wonderful.  We truly would like to see how children from all around the world envision these beautiful mysteries.  To see into the eye of children praying around the world is a blessing indeed.  Paper size approximately 8.5 x 11 inches. 

Regarding how one defines a member of the Children's Rosary.  This would be any child who attends a Children's Rosary prayer group or a child who has told the Lord in his heart he would like to be a part of the Children's Rosary and has unified prayers with one of our groups when they are meeting.  We usually have a schedule of when groups are meeting up each week on this website.

Other Posts you may enjoy:
St. Apollonia
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Start the New Year By Blessing Your Children

Humbly Bringing Our Gifts Before the Lord

Drawn by a 10 year old member of the
Children's Rosary

Let's Help Religious Book and Gift Stores

Do you know where your closest religious book and gift shop is located?  May I humbly ask you to find out.  The future of these little shops depends on it.  You might wonder why it matters if these little brick and mortar shops exist when there is the internet with inexpensive prices and merchandise that comes right to your door... fair question.  If one knows exactly what they are looking for, the internet may be the most efficient and possibly most inexpensive way to get what you want.  But what if the book or picture that would truly touch your heart you have not seen yet?  What if while you were walking through one of these shops you stumble on something completely different from what you were looking for and in that moment the Holy Spirit is able to guide you in a new direction.  Maybe on that turn around the corner you see just the right thing for your child that they absolutely would love.  A gift that doesn't involve a battery but stirs their soul and leads them on the road to sanctity.  What if the person who happens on this store never set out to look for a religious gift at all and in looking through the store finds a spiritual awakening after years away from religion.  This is leaving out the most important piece that exists in a religious store that is completely absent on the internet.  There is a person there.  

Grace and her brother both members of the
Children's Rosary doing some
shopping for Christmas

Most of these shops are run by a family or a few individuals.  Not only do they want to help and answer questions there whole lives have been sacrificed and put on the line to be right there at just that special moment to help you. They have prayed and given up material dreams to help others on their spiritual journey. You may not realize that such sacrifices have been made.  Several years ago I knew very little about these stores or the people behind them.  However, over the past two years my children and I have attended the Catholic Marketing Network Trade show.  This past year I was a presenter at the Educational Day.  I had the blessing to meet these store owners.  They were deeply prayerful people.  Folks that would give their shirt off their back for you.  They were praying like crazy and drawing on their deep faith that help would come as times have been getting very difficult for them with big box stores, the internet and general lack of interest in religious items. As the children and I sat at our informational booth for the Children's Rosary. We were able to meet individual owners.  My minds eye goes back to a young married couple just opening a shop.  Two best friends in their twenties who had opened a store and were full of excitement.  A wonderful women who lectored at our daily Mass each day with a southern drawl.  An elegant women named Olga with a northern European accent who so wanted to help spread the Children's Rosary.  So many sweet people.  The last is an older man with a weathered face from Maine. He loved the Children's Rosary materials but sadly his shop had just closed.  We were too late to help him.

Yes many of these stores are closing.  I was told by a new store owner in Connecticut who just opened in Derby CT that she has seen 20 stores close in this state. She worries that she will be able to stay open as well.  It is a sad situation for sure.  

Okay so there is a value to these stores but you may wonder what can you do.  What will one purchase do to save all the little shops hanging on across the United States and beyond?  This is where I would humbly ask you to look at the situation as a child would.  A child sees someone in need and doesn't worry that their help is small, they simply want to help.  The rest is for people who know more to worry about.  It is in the smallest little ways that a tide of change can come.... an arm of help extended to these little stores.  As we know, the folks who began these little stores did not do this to make money but to touch hearts.  When they see someone in their store finding a treasure that touches their heart this goes a long way to sustaining them both financially but also spiritually.  

St. Anthony Book and Gift Shop, Derby CT

Each of us can surely help.  Members of the Children's Rosary are in a perfect position to help these stores.  While the internet and big box stores are the final nail in the coffin so to speak the real problem is that fewer and fewer people are praying.  When folks aren't praying what need do they have for Rosaries and other spiritual items that support growth in ones prayer life.  When prayer is gone quickly the glamour of the world distracts us.  However, when prayer comes back a thirst also returns to read and learn.  A hunger to understand Scripture and to read it.  An interest in saints and the rich faith we share.  This blossoming is so beautifully evident with children.  We have seen this thirst for all things that draw our heart to higher places in the little ones that come to the Children's Rosary.  The more time they spend with Our Lady and Our Lord in prayer the more They lead them to things that will continue to draw their hearts towards heaven.  Very quickly the children want little statues of Jesus and Mary, a special Rosary, a little scapular or miraculous medal. They love books on saints and the stories of the Bible.  They love music that involves prayer and celebration of their faith.  Yes it all begins to come together again.  So I write to you on the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States with people keeping vigil outside electronic stores for the best deal.  I wonder who thought to visit the little shop around the corner that sells religious gifts.  Presumably the presents that are being purchased are for the holidays and wouldn't it be fantastic if some of them had something to do with Christmas. 

A few weeks ago I had the blessing to meet the Children's Rosary group leader from Naples Florida and three of her children.  We spent the day at the Basilica of Mary Queen of the Universe in Orlando, FL.  During the day we visited their bookstore.  The children wandered around looking at the many books and gifts there.  With a $5.00 limit of what they could spend it was a hard decision as many presents were held for some time and then put back. It had to be right.  Mom made an offer the children could choose an additional present but it would be kept for Christmas.  Grace who is her 12 years old daughter had asked for a statue for Christmas of Our Lady.  There was no rapid decision though and we would spend an hour enjoying looking at everything they had and then we would come back after a visit to the Rosary garden for  a final pass.  This family of 6 had the tradition that each child could have 3 presents for Christmas and one would always be about their faith.  Indeed these children would not have been more excited in a toy store.  Her 6 year old son loved every minute in the Basilica store.  It was so beautiful to watch.

Indeed I think one would be surprised to see how many beautiful things are in these shops. The store owners certainly take so much time and prayer picking each thing out that they carry.  The store owners I met were also very willing to help with getting the word out about the Children's Rosary both by putting up flyers or spreading news of this by word of mouth. Indeed these little stores are powerhouses of prayer and faith.  For all agreed they have been tried these last years through a great deal of suffering and struggle.  Maybe we can help them and lighten the burden they have been carrying and visit their stores.  Let them know you are a member of the Children's Rosary and that we are praying for them.

Thank you all.

Your Friend in Christ,

Blythe

For those who would like to buy our Children's Rosary materials in a gift shop we have a list of places that carry our books and CDs.  

Other Posts You may enjoy:

How to Start a Children's Rosary

Secret of a Perfect Christmas Present

Just When You Were Thinking to Give Up

As many of you may have read,  several years ago the children planted a Peace Rose as a gift to Our Lady on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.  We asked Our Lord as a gift to His Mother that with every pedal that forms on the bush that 1,000 families would return to family prayer.  Renewal of family prayer has been a particularly special prayer intention of the Children's Rosary.  The Rose the first summer surprised us by blooming on many beautiful Marian Feasts.  Last summer there was construction at our Church and a bulldozer was brought in which ran over the rose bed.  At first we thought all the roses were destroyed but a week later Our Lady's rose along with the other roses in the bed were found in buckets on the side of the Rectory.  They stayed in the buckets for several months and then were replanted in the garden maintained by the Knights of Columbus.  Mary's rose bush didn't seem to make the transplantation process very well and looked like it might be dying.  Through the long cold winter I wondered how the Rose was doing and when spring came all the other bushes began growing and bloomed though June.  The bush the children planted remained a small stump about 2 inches tall.  The Knights are so good about caring for the rose bed I thought for sure the rose stump would be removed at any time.  Yet the stump remained through July. Each day as I passed the stump on my walk to daily Mass I wondered if there was some reason this died, a meaning perhaps. As was read in the Gospel today,  "Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 16:25).  

It was still sad though that the children's Rose planted for Our Lady was dead.  Last Sunday morning we arrived from Chicago at 1AM and the children, my husband and I went right to sleep.  Then bright and early that morning a call came.  It was a member of the Children's Rosary calling to say something wonderful had happened.  There was a brand new shoot coming out of the ground by the Rose stump.  The rose thought to be dead might actually be alive.  The children and I were excited as we walked to Church that morning anxious to see if indeed the rose was alive.  As we bent over to look we could see two shoots.  The smaller of the two actually seemed to be pushing the ground up.  We came prepared with a camera to document such a happy find.  

I began to think of a homily I had recently heard about Saint Faustina who during her life had a vision of St. Therese.  She asked the Saint if she herself would also become a saint to which St. Therese told her, yes.  She asked if she would be raised up in the Church and St. Therese told her yes.  But St. Therese also told Sr. Faustina to have more faith. It occured to me that all those months through the spring and summer I had thought the rose was dead and nothing was happening.  It reminded me of the effort so many make to run their Children's Rosary groups.  Sometimes it is hard to gather children and there is a feeling nothing is happening.  One feels that they should give up.  But Our Lord shows us even when something looks dead there are things happening out of view.  Change is occuring,  a renewal in fact.  

In looking at the other roses which dwarf this little stump with a few tender young shoots,  one can see how such a little bush might seem insignificant but what is remarkable is that Our Lord often chooses the small and wounded to work great change.  This is so beautifully evident with  St. Therese who is the patron Saint of missionaries even though she lived in a convent.  In our efforts to bring the smallest among us, our very children, to the Rosary the Lord blesses these efforts even if by worldly standards nothing appears to be happening.  Through this beautiful story of the little rose, may we all hold on and not give up.

Other Posts you may enjoy: 
The Children Plant a Rose for Our Lady