Day One: All Over Again

It's a week later. I spent all of last week surrounded by six siblings, their kids, my parents and closing on a small house near "the farm" that our family will use as a little B&B when we come in and out of town.


Yep.


The rosary got pushed back. I let life interfere. But...

thankful for a second chance...

I start all over again as I drive from Sacramento back toward home. I had put a rosary in my coat pocket when I was home, fully intending to say it after Mass, but I got pulled into the flow of the crowd and well wishes from folks at home.

The rosary is in my pocket.

I pull it out. It has broken.

What the heck?

This is the second rosary that has broken...

I googled "meaning of broken rosary" and found several different sites discussing the meaning. What resonated with me most was part of a writing by Karen Edmisten in which she wrote about her broken rosary:

Gazing at it, I was struck by the incongruity. This once-perfect thing was now bent, crooked and imperfect, yet still beautiful. It was like us, like our lives. Though we were made in the perfect image of God, we are bent and crooked with original sin; even after baptism we are still crippled by its after-effects. We stumble through this life tarnishing the perfect image, while our Lord repeatedly tinkers with us, repairs us, and heals us.    

Isn't that a beautiful reminder?

So, I started the rosary holding both pieces of the broken decade.

Within a few Hail Marys, I am reminded of the challenge of concentration, exactly the same way I have felt when practicing Buddhist meditation.

I notice a sign, Strawberries for Sale, along the side of the road.

oh, that sounds good!

I remind myself to focus. Then float thoughts of many different things:

the house I was working on this week

my family members

returning home

leaving California in 2 months

Our Father

On Earth as it is in Heaven

(What will that be like?)

Glory Be

and then...rhythm of the prayers.

I was actually sad when I finished it.

I am getting motivated to learn more about the 54-day novena. To re-explore the meaning of the Mysteries. To intellectually and spiritually advance through this process.

Day One: I start again.