Mark Dohle
Well-Known Member
Good days, bad days, before God they are the same
“The Rosary is the best therapy for these distraught, unhappy, fearful, and frustrated souls, precisely because it involves the simultaneous use of three powers: the physical, the vocal, and the spiritual.-: Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
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One gift that the rosary bestows on those who faithfully say it from the heart, is that it brings one to the present moment. Holding the beads, allowing them to flow through the fingers, as the prayers are said, has a soothing effect on the body. It allows stress to be released. The prayers, when said in a mindful manner, help to keep out compulsive thoughts that can be a cause of frustration for just about everyone, to a minimum. Even on a bad day when the mind is jumping all over, the beads are a reminder to focus on the words. In fact on some days, that is all one can do, is to focus over and over again on the words. In our difficulties with prayer, the Rosary can be a source of help.
Prayer is hard work, and we are often tested in being faithful to prayer every day. To have certain times to pray and reflect before the Lord is very important. Devotions give us a well-worn pathway to see us through the chaos that we can often feel inside. No state of mind, heart, or soul, can lessen the effect of grace in our interior. For God does work in secret.
I have found that on days when I am tired, and can’t really ‘pray’. I simply say one decade of the Rosary very slowly, this seems to root me and leads often to inner stillness. Even if it does not, it does not matter. Never grade your prayer, for it is your intention that is important, not how well you actually do it. Being tired, anxious, and sleepy, depressed, all affect us in many ways. The important thing is to pray.
Sometimes, all one can do is to simply say, “Jesus I trust in you”, that is enough, or just one Hail Mary, or Our Father, that is also enough on those days when anything else is really impossible. Pray slow, there is no hurry, think of what is being said.
On good days, the prayers are a good backdrop for a deep mediation either on the mysteries of the Rosary or just being in the presence of God. Good days, bad days, before God they are the same. What is important is our deepening love of God no matter how we feel, or how chaotic we feel inside. It is normal to go through these movements of our souls, and hopefully, we can learn not to let it overly concern us.
Trust, pray, be at peace.-Br.MD