Holding on to the beads

Saturday Thoughts: hold on to the beads.

These are Rosaries that were made by Catholic prisoners in Nazi concentration camps.

They made them from bread and thread from their clothes.

They made them from bread.

They were starving and they gave up their tiny rations of bread to make the beads.

They were freezing and they took threads from their clothes.

They made Rosaries knowing that to be found with them meant a beating, torture or even death.

But they held on to the beads.

They held on because they knew that to hold on to the beads is to hold on to the hand of the Mother.

They held on knowing that not even the power of hell can cut the cords of love between the Blessed Mother and her people.

They held on to the beads knowing she was with them in her pain and in her sorrow and that she would be with them always.

They held on to the beads when Mass was impossible and the Church looked like it would never live again.

They held on to the beads as a witness to the power of faith, of hope and of love to light the darkest of times.

They held on to the beads and their testimony speaks to us down the ages.

Whatever you are going through… hold on to the beads… 

Your Mother is holding on to you.

Saturday thoughts for May

 Thoughts for a Saturday of May...

Rosary

Unite 

bead with 

breath 

and being

so

awareness 

appears.

Inspiration 

ignites

Love's 

luminescence 

as

mysteries 

manifest 

in

meditation

with

the

Mother

and

then,

in heat of

Heart's 

hearth,

warmed by 

wonder,

the seed of 

silence

long planted 

in

prayerful 

possibility 

grows 

greatly

until,

in

sacred 

stillness,

the

red rose

buds,

and,

blooms

blessing.

(Pic uncredited on web)

Our Lady of Fatima

Today is the 104th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima to the three shepherd children Lucia, Jacinta and Franceso which culminated in the miracle of the sun in October 1917 witnessed by thousands. All over the world today is a day of celebration and thanksgiving as we remember that our heavenly mother never abandons us but returns again and again to show that she is beside each of us guiding us home and protecting us from evil. The Holy Father Pope Francis when in Fatima celebrated the presence of Our Lady who calls her children to true peace in her Son. 

She is the Woman wrapped in the Sun who points the way to the Son! 

She is the Woman of Peace calling all to the Gospel way of conversion and joy! 

She is our Queen and Mother always! 

Our Lady of Fatima, Queen of the Rosary, pray for us always that we be made worthy of the promises of Christ +

O my Jesus forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy! Amen. 

(Pic1 is of the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Church St. Friary Dublin with thanks to @bridestreetchurch for pics 2,3. Pic 4 is of a very special crucifix that was sent as a profession gift many years ago, blessed by Sr. Lucia, one of the Fatima Visionaries.)

Rosary

 Saturday thoughts for May:

Rosary

Each

day 

dawns;

a 

bead 

strung 

upon

the cord 

of 

life.

Heart holding 

safe 

within

it

a gift of

joy 

or 

sorrow,

glory 

or 

illumination,

but always,

love;

as my

little mystery

loses

self in her

greater

mystery

of 

love's 

libation

poured out

purely

in

prayer.

Her yes

inviting 

always 

a

deeper

circling 

of 

the

chaplet 

of our 

days

until life 

and 

Divine Life

become 

one 

again;

then

mothered 

into

meaning,

wombed

into

wonder,

birthed

into

being

finally,

in faith's

long

fruition,

from our

thorny

heart

a rose

blooms.

(Artist unknown)