tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172419982011-07-29T01:02:51.564-05:00This is a journal on a beginner's experiences praying the Rosary.Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.comBlogger301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-5483246158156545132010-05-16T17:06:00.000-05:002010-05-16T17:06:09.102-05:00

St. Blogs was kind enough to welcome this blog over there, where the company is more apropos. Please, use the new URL, http://rosarynovice.stblogs.com. +JMJ+

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-6234800627248351242010-04-12T23:40:00.000-05:002010-04-13T11:39:04.795-05:00

Profession ofEvandro of the Good Shepherdin theSecular Order ofDiscalced CarmelitesSunday, April 18, 2010at 11:00 in the ChapelCedarbrake Retreat Center5602 N Hwy. 317, Belton, TXDear brothers and sisters in Christ,Please, pray that Our Lord grants me the graces to live out the Evangelical Counsels in the spirit of the Beatitudes as a son of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, St. Teresa of Jesus and St.

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-12720346106199105732009-08-18T00:27:00.000-05:002009-10-04T17:32:06.434-05:00

In the second chapter of St. Teresa of Avila's "Way of Perfection", she refers to how St. Clare of Assisi described the Evangelical counsel of Poverty as providing tall walls around a community.I had never thought of the Evangelical Counsels as protection. Against what can they protect? Even today Our Lord recommended the young, rich man Poverty in order to tend towards perfection (Mt 19:21).

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-78919204019927539352009-05-10T00:48:00.000-05:002009-05-10T00:56:31.975-05:00

+JMJ+

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-22863962952293915252008-03-29T11:27:00.000-05:002009-05-10T00:47:46.090-05:00

Whenever Holy Thursday comes and the Triduum starts, Lent ends with the apex of the Last Supper, immediately followed by the nadir of the removal of the Blessed Sacrament from the church. Then, the church is not the House of God anymore, our contemporary House of Bread (Bethlehem), but an empty shell immersed in darkness and drabness.Come Good Friday and the gloom is overwhelming at the memorial

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-10816605114289001072007-12-23T18:52:00.000-06:002007-12-23T17:08:42.567-06:00

There are some films and paintings that have left an impression in my imagination even after years having last seen them. I cherish to recall some of these works of art, in particular when saying the Rosary to deepen my appreciation of its Mysteries.I can find in the Gospels a lot about these events, especially about the context in which they took place. Through its text, it's then feasible to

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-24651859487267731572007-09-09T17:33:00.000-05:002007-09-09T18:38:33.564-05:00

I must say that after the previous post I refrained from adding new ones until I could jog down my thoughts on the remaining four petitions of the Pater. But it never happened and this journal ended up neglected.After reading Morton Kelsey's "Adventure Inward", I confirmed how helpful journaling is to my spiritual life. So let me get this "impediment" out of the way and resume posting.Instead

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1162167551623468402006-10-29T16:45:00.000-06:002006-10-29T18:22:24.776-06:00

St. Thomas Aquinas refers to the first three verses of the Pater as desires. But desires for what? For things that only God can give: graces. But which graces?The three desires that begin the Pater are:Hallowed be your name.Your kingdom come.Your will be done.As St. Augustine said, it is not that God's name is not holy, but rather it expresses our recognition of God as god. In other words, it

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1156742816567167802006-08-27T22:39:00.000-05:002006-10-29T15:14:01.276-06:00

I really like the way that St. Thomas Aquinas subdivided the Pater: three desires and four petitions. In these three desires we were taught to approach God as His children, asking to live in His house according to His love.As St. Matthew tells us, Jesus taught us the Pater from atop the Mt. of Olives. As His hour approached, He went with His friends to the garden at the foot of the same mount.

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1148280200446324102006-05-22T01:01:00.000-05:002006-05-22T02:28:22.820-05:00

St. Paul tells us that it's necessary to pray always (1 Th 5:17) and this sentence has mesmerized me, not unlike how the Pilgrim was mesmerized by it in The Way of a Pilgrim, where I first read about it. The Pilgrim called this prayer Prayer of the Heart. But I soon found out that I'd easily fall into mechanic repetition. It wasn't until I made aquaintance with Br. Lawrence's Practicing the

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1147642038492431152006-05-14T15:04:00.000-05:002006-05-14T16:27:41.513-05:00

Only now I realize that it's been about a year since I've started to pray the Rosary daily. A Lent later, I can say that it's been like a new Easter for me.Jesus calls all of us to holiness, to love Him as He loved us. He loves us first and patiently awaits us to love Him back. By grace we find out about His love and, though imperfectly, we try to correspond. We yearn to know Him intimately

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1145854833601543692006-04-23T23:45:00.000-05:002006-04-24T00:00:48.490-05:00

After a very long hiatus, a friend encouraged me to post again. I thank him very much, for, as someone suggested me before I started this blog, it is quite profitable to me to collect my thoughts when writing here, though I often fail translating them in words here.Today, when we celebrated the feast of Divine Mercy, after the visions of St. Faustina, I was granted a very special gift, one I

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1139713768476417662006-02-11T21:08:00.000-06:002006-02-11T22:03:39.390-06:00

Someday this past week, I don't really know how, I found myself meditating on the Pater when saying the Rosary. I'm sure I didn't find out anything new about the Lord's Prayer, but I thought I'd share my thoughts here.I think that it started when I started thinking on what others had said about it. St. Augustine once wrote a beautiful meditation on this prayer which can be found almost in its

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1139124970011129912006-02-05T00:33:00.000-06:002006-02-05T01:36:57.090-06:00

It's not that I am preoccupied with the order of the Mysteries of the Rosary to bring it up again, but this week I had an idea that I wanted to give a try: repeat the traditional order on Thursday and on Friday and say the Luminous Mysteries on Saturday, and then the Glorious Mysteries on Sunday, as usual.I was wondering what went through between the Apostles and other followers of Jesus' in the

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1136751101716606962006-01-08T14:10:00.000-06:002006-01-08T14:29:20.536-06:00

I said before that I've struggled with keeping my mind in the mysteries and developed some techniques to help. Perhaps I'm not unlike others, however, when it comes to humility though. I'm tempted to say that I'm the champion of pride, but that would be boasting. :-)Lately I've been trying to pay attention to my actions and thoughts in order to weed out pride. For example, I've been trying to

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1136069467363026722005-12-31T16:24:00.000-06:002005-12-31T16:51:07.380-06:00

As I write this, I'm recalling the special coincidence on Christmas and now on the eve of the New Year: as I pray the 4 sets of mysteries of the Rosary, meditating on the Joyful mysteries on Christmas Eve and on the Glorious mysteries on Christmas Day was particularly fitting. The expectation of the coming of the Lord, the miracle of His conception, His birth among us and then His growing in

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1135577382016090702005-12-25T23:44:00.000-06:002005-12-26T00:09:42.026-06:00

The greatest Christmas gift is Jesus Himself, "for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son." (Jn 3:16) And Jesus gave us life through His Spirit. God fulfilled in Him all His promises through the centuries and made with us a new covenant, always out of His mercy for His beloved creatures.I can't express in words my awe at God's plan as it unfolds before the eyes of my soul. I

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1134799873907858482005-12-16T23:57:00.000-06:002005-12-17T00:14:13.996-06:00

After about nine months praying the Rosary daily, today I found out that my memory rosary has only nine Ave Maria beads!I'm puzzled how this could be... Perhaps a bead broke off, I suspect when I stepped on the rosary once.I'm now considering the choices of just adding an Ave Maria or buying a new memory rosary (they work pretty well for me). Adding an imaginary bead is no big deal, but I'll

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1134256798426484742005-12-10T16:57:00.000-06:002005-12-10T17:25:34.256-06:00

As I said before, in order to keep my attention focused, even if only for a few moments, I repeat an ejaculation based on the Mystery being meditated on as I say the Ave Maria. It indeed helps when I pray the Rosary while driving, but praying also helps my driving.It's not only the way of driving that's helped, becoming a more fluid conduct on the road, but also where and when driving takes

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1134255366223197362005-12-10T16:29:00.000-06:002005-12-10T17:35:18.680-06:00

I've been posting new entries less often than I'd like.I prefer to post not long after a Confession and always after some time of prayer, but my busy days eat up all time.I could probably post from work, but I'd rather not. I try to give my employer a full day's worth of work.I could probably post from home, but I'd rather not. After a whole day spent in front of a computer, I refrain from

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1133033515250780752005-11-26T14:00:00.000-06:002005-12-17T00:35:04.896-06:00

Acquiring the habit of prayer does not make me holier. On the contrary, it makes me more aware of my sinfulness.My proud little soul is then tempted to recoil from prayer out of a misguided sense of shame. Yet, the Lord keeps calling it back to Him, although it's unworthy. Or if there's anything it deserves is eternal damnation, for there is where it'll end up if it is to follow my ways. But its

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1132436783816637902005-11-19T15:30:00.000-06:002005-11-19T15:46:23.826-06:00

As I said before, I have great affection for some mysteries. However, some of them are indeed mysterious to me. Not that this makes them a chore to meditate on, quite the contrary, they invite deeper reflections, even if I'm still left unaware of their spiritual depth.One such mystery is that of the Transfiguration. I know the significance of those involved in that event and the words by God, the

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1131312698464498932005-11-06T16:00:00.000-06:002007-12-23T17:08:01.702-06:00

As I said earlier, I try to mean the words of the Rosary I pray. However, oftentimes I find myself having to wrangle the wandering mind back to the task. It seems that it's sometimes easier for the heart to command the body than the mind, for the latter can be fairly presumptuous about the importance of its doings. For instance, yesterday when the mind was mulling about this present entry while I

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1130738611089383632005-10-30T23:00:00.000-06:002005-10-31T00:03:31.116-06:00

When my soul looks back, it's like it's been with its eyes shut as a babe's. As it shyly starts opening its eyes, it can see the light of the day at last. A day illuminated by Our Lord's light, a light which doesn't glare, not even its babe's eyes.As it wonders at the just unveiled reality, the soul soon looks at itself. Not anymore in the dark, it can now see many stains and mends on it, when

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1130214114889093902005-10-24T22:30:00.000-05:002005-10-24T23:21:54.903-05:00

Wow, it's been a while since my last entry here! I've actually had to contain myself as I set the house in order.As I said before, I started praying the Rosary including John Paul II's Luminous Mysteries. However, at one point, I started to become intrigued by the order of the Mysteries through the week. Evidently, it's not easy to fit 4 Mysteries in 7 days, particularly when Fridays are

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1129083124725239602005-10-11T20:40:00.000-05:002005-10-11T21:53:15.846-05:00

My routine praying the Rosary works pretty well on weekdays, but I still struggle to find a routine that would work on weekends. Perhaps it's got to do with the fact that I don't have any deliberate routine on weekends, except baking home-made pizza on Saturday and going to Sunday Mass. I haven't tried many new routines, but I've often found myself late in the evening with the Rosary yet to be

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1128754879791022242005-10-07T23:45:00.000-05:002005-10-08T13:50:32.083-05:00

Yesterday there was a Rosary service in the church as part of the Respect Life month. It was the first time that I've ever prayed the Rosary along with the community, but, most important, it was also the first time that I've ever prayed the Rosary with my wife!Men and women, boys and girls were present. Both the pastor and the associate pastor were there too, as well as a permanent deacon

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1128751013283574272005-10-07T23:30:00.000-05:002005-10-08T13:48:48.386-05:00

I couldn't let this day pass by without adding an entry to this journal, a feast established almost 5 centuries ago, even then it was already a centuries-old popular devotion.There's nothing I can add about the origins of the Rosary that isn't already extensively documented. I can only say that, to me, praying the Rosary is witnessing the mystery of our salvation by Jesus through Mary's eyes.

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1128477819923718442005-10-04T21:00:00.000-05:002005-10-04T21:08:33.190-05:00

Fully equipped to then pray the Rosary, I went about it.I have to say that praying the Rosary didn't change my routine of stopping at that small parish to say my morning prayers. So I figured it'd be better if I prayed the Rosary on my commute back home late in the afternoon, when it's more relaxed.My commute takes 30min, give or take. However, I found myself getting home with a few beads yet to

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17241998.post-1127945894604686112005-10-02T21:30:00.000-05:002005-10-04T21:08:59.710-05:00

I can't say I've ever prayed the Rosary before in a regular basis. As a matter of fact, at all only a couple of times before.Over 15 years ago, I thought I prayed the Rosary daily, or almost. I had bought a Rosary ring but I just said the Pater and the decades of Ave Marias, skipping the introduction, the closing and announcement of the mysteries. The intention was good, but was I misinformed or

Augustinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141414361291882691noreply@blogger.com4