The Rosary, Interesting Info
Last week I spoke about the Rosary at our Village because October is the month of the Rosary. In preparing, I came across information that I had not known or forgotten. I pass it on to you here.
What famous people prayed the Rosary?
Hadyn prayed the Rosary when he had trouble composing.
Martin Luther prayed it all his life.
Thomas Merton said, “I would ever do without the Rosary.”
Father Patrick Peyton is famous for promoting the Rosary, in particular, his slogan, “The family that prays together stays together.”
Saint Pope John Paul II said it was his favorite prayer. After 9/11, he asked families to pray it every day for peace.
How is the Rosary related to roses?
You hear that flower when you say “rosary.”
The rose is queen of all flowers, the most beautiful, most fragrant. It’s given to beloved ones.
Praying the rosary is like giving Mary a whole garland of roses.
One of Mary’s titles is Mystical Rose.
Why pray to Mary?
We are pleased when someone praises our mother. God is pleased when we praise his mother.
When we honor Mary, we honor her Son.
Mary is our mother Jesus gave us on Calvary.
Mary has power: She prays to Jesus for us like she interceded at the Cana wedding.
Saint Padre Pio said, “In times of darkness, holding the rosary beads is like holding your blessed Mother’s hand.”
What is the origin of the Rosary?
John Smile’s cartoon here is title “the first Rosary.” In the Rosary we call on our blessed Mother no less than 53 times as we pray its Hail Marys.
The Rosary evolved. People have kept track of their prayers for ages using pebbles, notches on wood, knotted cords, and beads.
The word “bead” comes from Old English bede, which means “prayer.”
Muslim prayer beads have 99 beads, for the 99 names of God. When I was in Arabia, I purchased a smaller one. It has 33 beads, three sets of 11. The sets represent “Glory be to Allah,” “Praise be to Allah,” and “Allah is the greatest.”
The Church prays the 150 psalms, called the Psalter. Long ago illiterate people prayed 150 Our Fathers on circle of beads called paternosters. In 1075 Lady Godiva willed her paternoster of gems to a monastery.
Then in the 12th century people prayed 150 Hail Mary’s instead of Our Fathers, “Our Lady’s Psalter.”
What about Saint Dominic?
A legend holds that the rosary began when the Blessed Virgin gave it to Saint Dominic. However, he was born in 1170, after the first rosaries. The legend probably arose because Saint Dominic and his Dominicans promoted it. The mysteries were added in the 15th century by a monk 200 years after Dominic lived.
What are the mysteries?
Praying the rosary, we multitask, praying verbal and mental prayer at the same time—like patting your head and rubbing your stomach or eating while watching TV! The prayers are like background music.
For each decade we think about an event in Jesus’ life. There are four sets, five mysteries in each: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, Luminous. In 2002, Saint Pope John Paul II added that last set.
Where did the prayers come from?
The Rosary is “the gospel on beads.” Its prayers are Bible-based. The Hail Mary combines the words of Gabriel and Elizabeth. In 1569, the Church added the rest of this prayer and made it official. Jesus taught us the Our Father.
How did October become the month of the Rosary?
In 1571, the Ottoman Turks were sailing to Italy with 450 warships, aiming to take over Catholic countries. Pope Pius V, a Dominican, asked Catholics to pray the Rosary. The Christian nations won the Battle of Lepanto, and Europe was saved on October 7.
October 7 became the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, which was changed to the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
How has Mary encouraged praying the Rosary?
In 1858, when Mary appeared in Lourdes, a rosary hung from her arm, and she and Saint Bernadette prayed it together.
At Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, Mary appeared to three children and called herself Our Lady of the Rosary. She told them to pray for peace. She also gave them this prayer to say after each decade: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy. Amen.”
How is Saint Pope John Paul II connected to Fatima?
He was shot by an assassin on May 13, Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, the anniversary of the first appearance at Fatima. The bullet took a zigzag path, avoiding vital organs. The pope attributed this to Mary. So he had the bullet placed in the crown of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal.
What kind of rosaries are there?
There are rosaries made of jewels, metal, cord, and crushed rose petals.
There are rosary rings, bracelets, and strings. God also provided us with ten fingers for praying a decade.
As part of our habit, we used to wear a large rosary at our side.
A Story I Love
A university student on a train seated next to an old man praying the rosary remarked, “I don’t believe in such silly things. Take my advice. Throw the rosary out of this window and learn what science has to say.” “Science? I don’t understand,” replied the man. “Maybe you can explain it to me.” The student said, “Give me your address and I’ll send you some literature.” Fumbling in his pocket, the old man drew out his business card. The boy looked at it and burned with embarrassment. It read, “Louis Pasteur, Director of the Institute of Scientific Research, Paris.”
A Final Comment
You can pray along with the Rosary with EWTN or clicking this Internet address: https://www.mydailyrosary.com/daily-rosary
Sense of Smell, a Fantastic Gift
Our sense of smell is the topic of this week’s blog. This was prompted by an addition to my home. A friend gave me a diffuser that permeates my apartment with the fragrance of a sea breeze with lemon and lavender. Every few days I invert the reeds in the oil to renew the scent.
The Importance of Smelling
Dogs have keener noses than we have. This enables them to detect scents that are very old as well as those that are under water! However, we can still be thankful that our noses can sense almost 20,000 different smells, each with about ten levels of intensity. They warn us about dangers — something burning on the stove, a gas leak, or a skunk nearby. A foul smell also informs us when food, like milk, is spoiled.
Losing your sense of smell due to a cold or Covid, is a serious deprivation. It hurts the quality of your life. You are cut off from a bevy of pleasures, including a savory meal because smell and taste are entwined.
How We Detect Smells
The mechanism for smelling is another ingenious product of the Creator. Our olfactory system consists of thousands of sensory cells in our nasal cavity that detect odors and produce an electrical signal that travels to the olfactory bulb that relays it to our brain through special nerves. Odor molecules also may enter along a path connecting the roof of our throat to the nose. A stuffed nose blocks this path. The part of the brain that interprets these odors is linked to a part that processes emotions and memories.
Good Smells
Odors can release feel-good hormones like dopamine. They also evoke happy memories. The pungent odor of a permanent emanating from our Village salon takes me back home to my mother who gave Toni permanents to neighbors and us daughters. So does the smell of freshly baked bread that reminds me of her mouthwatering loaves and rolls.
Just thinking of an odor, we can imagine it. Because of our noses, we can enjoy these pleasant smells:
Food: an orange, bacon sizzling in a pan, fresh bread, apple cider, pizza, coffee and toast
In nature: Pine trees, a bonfire, a newly mowed lawn, flowers like lilacs and lilies. By the way, flowers have scents to attract bees and butterflies so they are pollinated in addition to making our world more pleasant.
New things: a new bar of soap, new books, new car
Other: perfume, incense, scented candles, talcum powder, hand lotion, shampoo
I especially like certain fragrances. One is occurring now because we are in the season of autumn, dead leaves fill the air with a musky aroma. Then there is the earthy scent of rain on dry soil that has its own name: petrichor.
When I have trouble sleeping, I spray lavender oil on my pillow. This scent’s calming power promotes sleep. As a child, I liked the smell of our garage.
Impaired Smelling
Loss of smell is called anosmia. Another affliction is parosmia in which the perception of odors is distorted, for example, a pleasant odor may smell foul. Then too there is the problem of phantosmia, sensing an odor that isn’t there.
Doctors test people’s sense of smell by using a booklet with beads filled with odors. Patients scratch each page and identify the odor. If you lose your sense of smell, it’s possible to restore it by retraining your brain and sniffing strong scents like peanut butter and peppermint and recalling what they smelled like.
A Poem
One of the poems In my book of prayers and fingerplays for little children titled Heartbeat of Faith, is this one:
My Nose
With my nose I smell things like these:
Bacon, popcorn, and Christmas trees,
Babies, roses, and apple pie.
And this is probably the reason why
My nose has a real important place—
Right in the middle of my face.
For Fun
I couldn’t resist posting this:
What are your favorite fragrances?
What smell triggers a memory for you?
Yes, we are wonderfully made. Here is a moving version of Psalm 139 which celebrates this fact:
Last Words, Sacred and Silly Ones
The Final Words of Jesus
The final words of a person who is dying can have special meaning. Preeminent of these are what are known as the Seven Last Words of Jesus that he uttered from the Cross. To refresh your memory, they are as follows:
- “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
- “You will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
- “Woman, behold your son!” (John 19:26-27).
- “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
- “I thirst!” (John 19:28).
- “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
- “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit’” (Luke 23:46).
Some Dying Words of Humans
Those holy words are significant. At the other end of the spectrum are comical or ironic words some people said with their dying breath.
Moments before receiving a fatal gunshot would, during the American Civil War, General John Sedgwick is reported to have remarked, “Why, they couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.”
Some say that comedian Lou Costello’s commented, “That was the best ice-cream soda I ever tasted.”
Apparently when Bob Hope’s wife asked him where he wanted to be buried, his last words were, “Surprise me.”
Groucho Marx’s last words were, “This is no way to live.”
Dying Words of Some Saints
For my book I Am Going . . . : Reflections on the Last Words of Saints, I did a ton of research and uncovered some gems.
Hints of the Next World
As Steve Jobs, cofounder and CEO of Apple, Inc., left this world, he looked past those gathered around his deathbed, and mysteriously uttered, “Oh, wow! Oh, wow! Oh, wow!” Some saints’ last words indicate that death is only the door to the next life:
St. Anthony of Padua claimed, “I see my Lord.”
St. Dominic Savio said, “What wonderful things I am seeing!
St. Frederick said, “I will praise the Lord in the land of the living.”
St. Pope John Paul II said, “Let me go to the house of my Father.”
St. Charles Borromeo prayed, “Behold I come. Your will be done.”
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity said, “I am going to Light, Love, and Life.”
The Blessed Virgin
Saints who, like us, prayed that Mary be with them at the hour of their death seemed to see her based on their dying words:
St. Elizabeth of Portugal instructed, “Draw up a chair for the radiant lady in white who is coming, Mary, Mother of Grace.”
St. Josephine Bakhita exclaimed, “I am so happy . . . Our Lady! Our Lady!”
Praying a Holy Name
Many saints died with the name Jesus on their lips: St. Francis de Sales, St. Francis Xavier, St. Gemma Galgani, St. Joan of Arc, and St. Paschal Baylon.
Others invoked Jesus and Mary, praying “Gesu, Maria”: St. Pio of Petrelcina and St. Rose of Lima.
A few called on the Holy Family:
St. Gabriel Possenti prayed, “Jesus, Mary, Joseph. Jesus, Mary Joseph, I offer you my heart and soul. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, assist me in my last agony. Jesus, Mary Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul with you in peace.”
St. Rose Philippine Duchesne said, “Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I give you my heart, my soul, and my life—oh, yes, my life, generously.
St. Ignatius’s last words were “Oh, God.“
Traditional Prayers as Last Words
St. Hugh prayed the Our Father.
St. Julie Billiart prayed the Magnificat.
St. Bede the Venerable prayed a Glory Be.
St. Peter Verona prayed the first article of the Apostles’ Creed.
St. Bernadette said, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me, a poor sinner, a poor sinner.”
Profession of Love
St. Teresa of Calcutta said, “Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you.”
St. Pope John XXIII said, “Lord, you know I love you.”
St. Therese of Lisieux exclaimed, “My God, I love you!”
St. Jeanne Jugan prayed, “O Mary, my dear Mother, come to me. You know I love you and how I love to see you.”
St. Kateri Tekakwitha prayed, “Jesus, I love you.”
Surrender to God
Saints echoed Jesus by saying “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” These include St. John of the Cross, St. Angela, and St. Vincent Ferrar.
St. Agatha prayed, “Lord, my creator, you have protected me since I was in the cradle. You have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer. Now receive my spirit.”
Others
After singing Psalm 142, St. Francis of Assisi left an instruction: “I have done what was mine to do; may Christ teach you what you are to do.”
My favorite dying words are those of St. Clare of Assisi: “Blessed be you, my God, for having created me.”
Recently I received a booklet to help me plan my funeral. One thing it didn’t ask was “What will your last words be?” That is something for me and you to ponder.
Which saint(s) do you look forward to being with in heaven?
Here is a lovely Litany of Saints:
Angels, Our Powerful Friends
Feasts for Angels
Angels have feasts on September 30 (the Archangels St. Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel) and on October 2 (the Guardian Angels), so I was going to blog about angels this week. However, then I discovered I already have seven blogs about angels! These contain several fascinating stories about how they came to the rescue for various people as well as information about them. Consequently, after a list of angel facts, you will find the links to a few of these blogs. Click on the title to open the blog.
The digital editor of the National Catholic Reporter posted this today:
“St. Michael is one of my patrons (my Confirmation Saint!), so I am celebrating today’s feast by making my blackberry cobbler. Why blackberries? According to an ancient tradition, St. Michael’s Day is the last day that blackberries can be picked and eaten because when Michael cast out the “evil one” from Heaven, he apparently landed in a blackberry bush.”
Ten Facts about Angels
- Angels are pure spirits. They are not bound by time or space. Although they are invisible, they can assume human form. G.K. Chesterton wittily noted, “Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.”
2. The main job of angels is adoring God. Some of them also serve as God’s messengers.
3. These heavenly spirits play important roles in Scripture stories, for instance, St. Gabriel at the Annunciation.
4. The nine choirs of angels is deduced from Scripture references to them.
5. From the book of Revelation we learn that some angels rebelled and a war broke out in heaven. The conquered angels we know as devils were consigned to hell. Jesus said, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning” (Luke 10:17). The devils still war against God by trying to turn us humans against him.
6. Artists depict angels with wings because Scripture describes them this way. Plus wings symbolize that angels can travel swiftly.
7. Often the holy spirits in artwork are playing instruments. As the most disembodied of the arts, music is fitting for angels.
8. The Sadducees denied any sort of spiritual beings, while the Pharisees, like Jesus, believed in angels.
9. Seraphs have visited a number of saints. Among them are Saints Frances of Rome, Joan of Arc, Teresa of Avila, and Padre Pio.
10. The appearance of an angel to a human being is called an angelophany.
One Rescue Story
This Monday, Bishop Robert Barron recounted this story in his daily email: A man was flying a single-engine plane during a severe storm. At one point, his communication system failed, and he had no means to make it to the airport. Just as he was about to give up hope, a strong voice came through the radio. It gave directions to an airport the pilot knew nothing about. The voice guided him to its runway. When he landed, he realized that the airport was abandoned. No personnel were on the ground or in the tower.
More Blogs about Angels
Have you ever had a close encounter with an angel?
Has a person been a good angel to you?
Do you pray the “Angel of God” prayer? If so, when?
Sunflowers: Mysterious, Meaningful, Glorious, and Useful
Sunflowers mean something special to me. A fourth-grade project was planting a garden at our house that our teacher would judge. I recall that my garden alongside our garage boasted tall sunflowers. That was exciting in itself, but added to that, my teacher came to my home! Now I belong to a religious community for which sunflowers are a kind of mascot.
In Ohio there are several large fields of sunflowers. One notable one is Maria’s Field of Hope in Avon where 477,000 seeds are planted on 18 acres in honor of Maria who died of cancer at age seven. A memorial wall lists other children who passed away.
Sunflowers’ Heliotropism
Right now a stray sunflower is blooming next to our Village building. Perhaps a bird or animal deposited its seed in the soil. Sunflowers with golden ray-like petals resemble the sun, but their colors can range from lemon to near chocolate.
Their faces appear to follow the sun across the sky. During the night they reorient themselves toward the east again, as though knowing where the sun will rise. Science has yet to offer a definite explanation.
The sunflower is the state flower of Kansas. At a gift shop there, the clerk informed me that a whole field of sunflowers following the sun is an awesome sight. The sunflower is also the national flower of Ukraine.
Notre Dames
St. Julie Billiart, the foundress of the original Sisters of Notre Dame, taught that we should be like the sunflower. Our face should always be turned toward God. Even on cloudy days, sunflowers sense where the sun is and face it. Likewise, during our gray and gloomy days, we need to keep our eyes fixed on God for life and hope. Aware of the link between Notre Dames and the sunflower, Loyola Press gave it prime place on the cover of my last book, Cherished by Jesus. Coincidentally, Sr. Melannie’s last book, Sunflower Seeds of Hope, also sported sunflowers. She too is a Notre Dame Sister. I put a large one on the cover of my biography of St. Julie, The Walking Love of God.
This year the editor of my book sent me a card with exquisite quilled flowers, yes, sunflowers.
BBQ
These books and others that Notre Dame Sister authored will be at the Book Nook in NDCL cafeteria this Sunday. You are invited to come to this BBQ and boutique:
Surprising Form
Sunflowers belong to the daisy family but are the giants. One grew to be 30 feet tall. This year a man in Indiana beat this record and cultivated one 35 feet tall to honor Ukraine.
These cheerful flowers have a stiff stem and usually heart-shaped stems—another symbol?
While we regard the whole head as the flower, it actually comprises two different kinds of flowers. The center is composed of myriad five-petaled flowers (disk flowers) that eventually become the seeds. What we call petals are individual flowers (ray flowers).
God amazingly formed the seeds for the most efficient packing mathematically possible. For those who understand math, Wikipedia explains: “Generally, each floret is oriented toward the next by approximately the golden angle, 137.5°, producing a pattern of interconnecting spirals, where the number of left spirals and the number of right spirals are successive Fibonacci numbers. Typically, there are 34 spirals in one direction and 55 in the other.”
Sunflower Uses
This rich yellow flower, which is native to North and South America, brightens bouquets and arrangements. However, it also has practical uses. Since 3,000 B.C. it has been used for dye, oil, healing skin ailments, and food. Currently a bag of sunflower seeds sits in my kitchen, waiting to be added to salads. These seeds are nutritious, described as “rich in health-boosting compounds.” Each sunflower can produce up to 2,000 of them! You can roast them or grind them into butter.
Sunflowers in Art
Famous Paintings
Fascinated by this flower, Vincent van Gogh produced two series of paintings starring them. In 1987 a Japanese man paid over $39 million for Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers.
Outhouses
Once my friend, a gardener, planted sunflowers in a garden plot in front of one of our institutions. The boss ordered her to cut them down them because they are associated with outhouses. Photos show this is true.
What role have sunflowers played in your life?
When do you look to God like a sunflower gazes at the sun?
Carey Landry composed this song that conveys St. Julie’s message:
