Une Minute avec Marie
Faire connaître et aimer Marie
When I was a little child, we had rosaries around the house. Before I learned exactly what it was and how to pray it, I used to put it around my fingers when I held my hands together in prayer because I knew it was something sacred and having to do with prayer. When I was a little bit older, when family members or other loved ones died, the vigil always consisted of praying the Rosary. So that was really my first exposure to praying Rosary.
When I made my first Holy Communion, I received two rosaries at the same time. My godparents gave me a missal with a pocket in the cover that contained a rosary, and the nuns instructing us at the parish also gave rosaries to the first communicants. The Rosary in the missal was black, and the one I received from the nun who taught me First Communion was a multicolored rosary. So I had a variation of rosaries.
I started praying the Rosary ever since then. I remember specifically in bed, if I couldn’t fall asleep, I would pray the Rosary and would eventually fall asleep before I got to the end of it. When I woke up, I would find it under the pillow or somewhere in the sheets. I didn’t know at the time, but I later learned that an angel finishes the Rosary for you. That was my first exposure to the Rosary.
As I grew more in my faith, I learned more about the Rosary and how to meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary. I learned how the Rosary is a biblical prayer because the mysteries are contained in the Gospels, and most of the words of the prayers come straight from the Gospels. (...)
My favorite mystery? That is kind of like asking me my favorite spaghetti sauce or asking a parent who is their favorite child! Everything in our religion revolves around the Incarnation, that God became one of us. So I would say it would be the mystery of the Annunciation when Mary gave her “Yes” to God’s plan for his Son taking on flesh and coming into the world because it is the fulfillment of God’s plan. This meditation helps us to understand how unique God’s plan really is. It is God coming to man so that we can go to God. And it provides us with a reflection on Mary’s model of discipleship in saying “Yes” to God even in the midst of difficulties and uncertainties.