About 10 years ago when I was a new mom, two women of my parish started a group called Moms N Tots. We met twice a month in a room at the church. It was a place to meet new friends, both for the moms and the children. Being new to the area and this vocation of motherhood, it was a small reprieve from the daily grind that sometimes defines our days.
As a way to enhance our prayer life, we decided to meet occasionally at one of our homes at night ( sans kids) to pray the rosary. As much as I enjoyed it, I was uncomfortable with sharing intentions aloud as was the custom at these gatherings. Through the years though it has become my favorite part of the week. We no longer meet at night. It was just too difficult to escape from family obligations for most of us. We now call the gatherings "Pray and Play." We still meet at someone's home, but it's in the morning, and the kids play. It is loud and hard to concentrate, but somehow it fill us with much needed peace.
I still find it hard to share my inner thoughts out loud, but it's easier than it used to be. When you are with a group of friends sharing their wishes, worries, fears, or just plain gratitude for their loved ones, it's hard not to be completely submissive to the power of prayer. And once you pray with someone, your relationship is never quite the same.
There is a line from one of my favorite movies ( Steel Magnolias ) where Truvy says, "Laughter through tears is one of my favorite emotions." As you can imagine this rings true plenty as we pray with a room full of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. We can be full of emotions listening to someone's heartfelt intentions, then hear a toddler with a lightsaber say to a friend, "Do you want a beatdown?" Priceless!
Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Listed here are some of the benefits of reciting the rosary.
Benefits of the Rosary
As a way to enhance our prayer life, we decided to meet occasionally at one of our homes at night ( sans kids) to pray the rosary. As much as I enjoyed it, I was uncomfortable with sharing intentions aloud as was the custom at these gatherings. Through the years though it has become my favorite part of the week. We no longer meet at night. It was just too difficult to escape from family obligations for most of us. We now call the gatherings "Pray and Play." We still meet at someone's home, but it's in the morning, and the kids play. It is loud and hard to concentrate, but somehow it fill us with much needed peace.
I still find it hard to share my inner thoughts out loud, but it's easier than it used to be. When you are with a group of friends sharing their wishes, worries, fears, or just plain gratitude for their loved ones, it's hard not to be completely submissive to the power of prayer. And once you pray with someone, your relationship is never quite the same.
There is a line from one of my favorite movies ( Steel Magnolias ) where Truvy says, "Laughter through tears is one of my favorite emotions." As you can imagine this rings true plenty as we pray with a room full of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. We can be full of emotions listening to someone's heartfelt intentions, then hear a toddler with a lightsaber say to a friend, "Do you want a beatdown?" Priceless!
Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Listed here are some of the benefits of reciting the rosary.
Benefits of the Rosary
1. It gradually gives us a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ.
2. It purifies our souls, washing away sin.
3. It gives us victory over all our enemies.
4. It makes it easy for us to practice virtue.
5. It sets us on fire with love of Our Lord.
6. It enriches us with graces and merits.
7. It supplies us with what is needed to pay all our debts to God and to our fellow men; and finally, it obtains all kinds of graces for us from Almighty God.
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I find it helpful to have a guide of some sort so that you are able to read along with the mysteries of Jesus' life. I use one that has the virtue Jesus is displaying so we can imitate that in our own lives. For example, the first Joyful Mystery is the Annunciation. The fruit of this mystery is "Humility". For the fourth Sorrowful Mystery, Carrying of the Cross, the fruit of this mystery is "Patience". One I am particularly drawn to is the second Luminous Mystery, Wedding At Cana. The fruit of this mystery is "To Jesus through Mary". Jesus perfomed his first public miracle because of his mother's request. That is why we can feel comfortable in asking Mary to ask her son for the favors we need.
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| Matthew: Member since 2008 |
This is one of my favorite posts of yours, Kathleen. When I first joined Moms & Tots I was so uncomfortable with praying my intentions that I recall having feelings of anger! Anger! Now, these years later, I see that the Holy Spirit was nudging me along through the grace of the mothers. My feelings were, quite simply, growing pains. You capture the total picture of pray and play honestly, with humor, and without betrayal of the specialness. As we pray togther, our trust grows, and we are able to share more and bring those barriers down. Very special, indeed. God is good!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kathleen. Being a convert, this post was very enlightening for me. Praying with friends does create special bonds.
ReplyDeleteI love this post and I love the Rosary gatherings the most of all the M&T get-togethers. It just goes to show that mothering and praying go hand-in-hand!
ReplyDeleteAlso, Stellie likes to wear Rosary beads just like Matthew is in the picture. It must be a toddler thing!
I finally got a google account so I can comment on here! LOL