Have you ever fallen asleep while reciting the Rosary? I try not to,
but it happens to me more than I care to admit after an unusually taxing day,
or if I find other (more important?) things to do and wait until I’m bone tired
to start the prayer.
Then there are those times that I am reflecting on a particular
“mystery” of the Rosary and it feels like I am there! Suddenly I realize that my head is not bowing
at the name of Jesus, but falling down onto my chest and I awaken with a
“snort”! I have heard of others who fall asleep, but I hope they have the good
sense to awaken more quietly—and in private. Several times I have fallen asleep
while in Adoration! Not for long, mind you, but long enough to chastise myself as
Christ chastised Peter, James and John when he said, "Could you not watch
one hour with me?" (Mt 24:40)
I love the rosary. It doesn’t
matter what else is happening in my life, when I pray the rosary as it is meant
to be prayed it has a way of clearing my thoughts and putting my focus on what
(Who) is important above all else.
Mom used to gather all of us kids into the living room most nights
to say the rosary as a family. I
remember I didn’t appreciate it as much as I do now. I really hated it that Mom made us kneel down
to say it, too, while she was able to sit in the chair. I’m older and wiser (?) now and realize that
she couldn’t keep as close an eye on us if she were kneeling. I also remember mumbling the responses at
times and Mom would simply say, “Stephen!” and I would know I’d been caught. One time in particular it must have struck me
as funny to emphasize the ess sound while praying—“Hail Mary full of
Gracccccccce the Lord isssssss with thee.
Blesssssssed art thou among women and blessssssssed isssss the fruit of
thy womb, Jessssssussssss! Holy Mary,
mother of God pray for ussssss sssssssinnersssss now and at the hour of our
death, amen.” It must have really bugged Mom, because along
with the usual “Stephen!” she also said we were going to repeat the whole
previous decade of the rosary and I was going to say it right, by God! Part of my problem with the rosary was that I
thought of it as just a repetition of the same prayers over and over
again. It didn’t “make sense” to
me. That wouldn’t come until years
later.
Our nightly rosary routine changed after Dad died. My older brothers were married and it was
just Tom and I and Mom and I don’t think Mom wanted to fight the battle that
came every night with trying to get the 3 of us together at the same time. So I drifted away from the practice of saying
the rosary on a regular basis, although it has always been my “go to” prayer in
times of crisis or distress, even though in my early years I didn’t know about
what the rosary is intended to be—that is, a meditative prayer.
I think one of the gifts God has given me is that I am able to
interpret my own dreams. I can’t, and
wouldn’t even presume to interpret anyone else’s, but I can interpret my own
for the most part. One of my dreams years ago was one in which Our Blessed
Mother reached out, and took my hand. Then she said, “Come on a journey with
me, child.” As we walked along a path of roses, she began telling me a story.
It started with the Angel Gabriel appearing to a young woman to
announce the birth of a Savior to all nations. Then the pregnant young girl
visited her cousin, Elizabeth, whose own expected child "leaps in the
womb" because he recognizes the presence of God Incarnate. You know the
rest of the story. It continued with the Blessed Mother telling me the rest of
the Joyful Mysteries, then the Luminous, the Sorrowful (where the path of roses
turns to thorns), and the Glorious, ending with the “young woman” mentioned at
the beginning of the story being crowned as Queen of Heaven and Earth. What an
image, huh? Wouldn’t it be something to hear the story we all know so well from
Mary’s own perspective and voice? I believe that if we are in the right frame of
mind when we recite the Rosary, that's exactly what is happening.
While I believe the dream was meant to teach me to be more diligent
and attentive in my prayers, I was surprised when I came across many, many
other meditations on line that were remarkably similar and stated more
eloquently than I have.
For example, one of the first articles to come up on a Yahoo.com
search was the Apostolic Letter, ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE, written by Pope John
Paul II when he “introduced” the Luminous Mysteries (or “Mysteries of Light”)
in 2003.
In his letter, the Holy Father said, “The Blessed Rosary of Mary, a
sweet chain linking us to God, in a way similar to what takes place in the
Liturgy, the Christian week, centered on Sunday, the day of Resurrection,
becomes a journey through the mysteries of the life of Christ, and he is
revealed in the lives of his disciples as the Lord of time and of history. To
recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of
Christ.” He also wrote, “Mary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ, treasuring
his every word: “She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk
2:19; cf. 2:51). The memories of Jesus, impressed upon her heart, were always
with her, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her
Son's side. In a way those memories were to be the “rosary” which she recited
uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life.” The man sure could turn a phrase.
Of course love and devotion can do that to someone.
I realized that the Holy Father’s impression of the Rosary was very
similar to the one I had dreamed of. At
least I’m in good company. My question
now is “Won’t you join us on our journey?”
