Merry Christmas

God bless us all as we celebrate with family and friends the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas to all.

The last day to donate to help buy furniture for our guys that are moving into their own apartments will be 12/31/09. Thanks to all who have donated and/or prayed for help with this endeavor. You have been a blessing for these men.

Bill

Okay... Here is the story.

To start, I received a donation of $10.00 on 12/15/09 to help homeless veterans.

Then, on 12/17/09 I received another $10.00 donation from this same family. After one week, these two donations were the only ones received.

Then again today I received the following email:

"Dear Bill,

I have been saving for something I want but I'd rather do without and help out homeless vets. I'm sending you the rest of the $200.

God Bless ...

Richard"

This was followed shortly by a $180.00 donation from Richard and his family.

I was so touched that I asked Richard if I could share his generosity on the blog. This is the response I received:

"Sure you can share my story. Maybe it will inspire others to donate as well. My wife and I live on Social Security. I try and save a few dollars each month from my small allowance.

Bless you for all you do.

Richard"

Bless me for all I do? With Richard and his wife on Social Security I am truly humbled by all they do!

Thank you Richard and family for your very generous gift. May God Bless you and your wife for your sacrificial giving. You both are a wonderful inspiration and I am having difficulty finding the words to express my gratitude.

Bill

One More Thing...

Yes! We have surpassed our humble goal of $200 and it is wonderful. However, if you want to help please do so. This money will help the 3 veterans that are moving out this month. We have more that are working hard to qualify for the VASH housing benefit. All donations will continue to be used to help our veterans move into permanent housing.

So... please give if you can. How about we set the new goal to $500?!

Bill

Thank you... Thank you... Thank you!

I'm still waiting for permission to tell the story but here is the abbreviated version.

We received another $180 donation today. From the same person that donated the first $20!!!

What a wonderful, wonderful blessing.

Then... I was telling my brother about the very generous donor and I mentioned that one of the veterans had asked for help with obtaining a washer and dryer. Unfortunately, I had to tell this veteran that this was not a likely scenario but we were doing our best to help with a bed, dresser, living room furniture, etc.

It wasn't long before my brother and his family made a donation so that this veteran can get a washer and dryer. I've already found a used set for sale and I'm waiting for the sellers to call me back.

It's been a very, very good Friday.

My heartfelt thanks goes out to all that have helped with their prayers and/or donations.

Bill

We Are At 10% Of The Goal

We now have $20.00 in donations to help a few homeless veterans move into their own permanent residences. That's 10 percent of our goal of $200.

If you can afford to help, please make a donation. If not, please pray for these men so that their transition will be smooth and they will have the basic things necessary to make it on their own.

I thank you all for your continued prayers.

First Donation Received!

The first donation was received this morning. I was too excited to wait until tomorrow to share the good news. We received $10 to help homeless veterans. That is awesome!

Thank you! Your generosity is greatly appreciated and will go directly to help a homeless veteran furnish his new home.

God Bless!

Maybe We Need A Goal...

So far... no donations to help our veterans that are moving. Please see the post below if you are not sure what I'm talking about.

Let's set a goal of $200. This would probably be enough to get the basic necessities at the Salvation Army or the Sharing Center.

Each morning I'll post the amount donated to date so everyone can see the progress.

Bill

Homeless Veterans Need Your Help!

I've never tried this before but I figure it can't hurt.

I currently work as a Program Director for a transitional housing program for homeless veterans. This program provides temporary housing for veterans until they are able to move into their own permanent residence. This month, 3 of our veterans were able to find affordable housing. They should be moving into their new homes within 30 days.

They need furniture. The Salvation Army and a sharing center in our town provide an opportunity to purchase used furniture at very reasonable prices. Our vets still need dining room tables and chairs, living room furniture, bedroom dressers, etc.

If you are interested in helping please use the donate button to the right. Instead of promoting the rosary website, I will use all donations to assist these veterans with their moving needs. Once this mission is complete I will announce it on the blog. If it is successful, perhaps I can continue this practice as more of our veterans successfully complete the program and are able to move into permanent housing.

The prices at the Salvation Army and the sharing center are very reasonable. We won't need a lot of money... anything that you can afford to give is greatly appreciated and will most certainly help.

Thank you,

Bill

A Medjugorje Story From Steve

The following story about a visit to Medjugorje was recently submitted by a participant of the scriptural rosary website. If you don't know about Medjugorje you could start here. You will also find much information if you google "Medjugorje".

Here is Steve's story:

I went to Medjugorje for the first time in 1989 during Easter week. I went with two Catholic friends, Neil and Kevin. I was there mainly out of curiosity. Although I was a practicing Catholic, my faith was fairly superficial and I was there hoping to see the phenomena of the spinning sun that I had heard about and that echoed the miracle at Fatima.

I was disappointed, I was surrounded by people seeing various phenomena but I saw nothing and neither did Kevin, though Neil seemed to spend all day, every day, staring at the sky in which he saw the sun gyrating and changing color. Nevertheless I loved the place and was spending a great deal of time praying, going to the Church and talking to other pilgrims. It was spring and it was a lovely place to be, I loved the mountain air and the crystal clear drinking water and climbing Mt Krizevac, which we did several times.

It was announced that on Good Friday night, some of the visionaries would receive an apparition on the top of Mt Krizevac. The three of us, naturally, went up the mountain that night.

There were perhaps a thousand people on Krizevac. We sang hymns and recited the Rosary until the apparition began when total silence prevailed.

Our group was close to the back of the cross, the visionaries were in front of it. As the silence fell, I looked up and saw a ‘neon sign’ on the cross, it appeared to have no religious significance. I thought that it was odd that this should be displayed on the cross and wondered why it was shown, I thought that it might be some sort of symbol of local importance. No one around me appeared to look at it or react to it.

The ‘neon sign’ was bright red in color (like the red of the digits on a bedside digital alarm clock), and was formed of numerous wavy lines which were moving alternately from left to right and right to left. It appeared just below the horizontal bar of the cross and was, perhaps, three feet high and extended over the whole width of the cross.

As we walked down the mountain at the end of the night, I asked a number of people about the ‘neon sign’ but no one had seen it. I kept saying to people, “you must have seen it, it was big and red and unmissable”, but no, not one had seen it. I met up with Kevin, one of the two people I had travelled with and he said that he had seen it and thought it very strange that there were no cables leading to the cross as these would be needed to carry the necessary power for such a display.

We could find no-one else who had ever seen this sign and no-one who could explain what it meant but we were happy to have joined most of the other pilgrims in witnessing an extraordinary ‘sign’ but we were aware that this was intended to convey some sort of message to us and we had no idea what it was.

I sought out our English pilgrimage organizer who was a constant visitor to Medjugorje, feeling sure that she would have met someone who had shared this experience. She did not nor could she explain it. However, she said that we would know what it meant at some point in the future, perhaps the next day or the next week or the next year, or at some other point in the future. I was eaten by curiosity and a bit deflated.

Our organiser went on to ask if we had been to the Church at Tijualina where Father Jozo was the priest, I said that we hadn’t and she advised me to go and listen to one of his talks. She then went on to say that he had recently asked a group of pilgrims if they knew where the rod of Aaron was today, the miraculous rod that gave the wandering Israelites water from the rock and had parted the Red Sea. He then told them that he not only knew where it was, but that he himself had it! He then produced his Rosary and said to the pilgrims “the Rosary is the rod of Aaron”.

I went home, not understanding what the sign was about but the moment I arrived home I remembered the reference to the Red Sea and the Rosary. What I had seen was a coded and unforgettable message to say the Rosary and to believe in its power. I rang Kevin to tell him, he said that he had opened the bible at random on his arrival home and found himself reading about the crossing of the Red Sea and had reached the same conclusion as I had.

Steve

Price Increase Coming 12/1/2009

The price of our #1 selling "Live The Mystery" Scriptural Rosary Book will be increased from $4.95 to $5.95 effective 12/1/2009. The bulk purchase prices will also be increasing as follows:

5 books - $24.75 (avg price $4.95)

10 books - $44.50 (avg price $4.45)

20 books - $79 (avg price $3.95)

All prices include shipping and handling!

If you've been thinking about supporting our mission by purchasing scriptural rosary books you will save some money if you purchase before 12/1/2009.

Go here to purchase a Scriptural Rosary Book or browse the store.

Thanks to all for your continued support and participation at www.scripturalrosary.org.

A 4 Day Week End...

I'm going to be out of town for a little rest and relaxation. I may not be able to update the prayer counts until I return on Monday.

Thank you all for your continued support and participation. Special thanks to all that have placed a link to www.scripturalrosary.org on their blog, website or in your church bulletin.

Have a great week end.

God Bless,

Bill

A Rosary Story From Rose...

Here's my story. I'm a psychotherapist. Currently I have a client who is a 38 year old single female. She has suffered from major depression most of her life, and it is untreatable with medications, and unresponsive to natural interventions. As such, she is chronically depressed, cries all the time and can barely hold a job. It's a miserable existence for her, further complicated by the fact she was raised with no faith (parents were atheists), and has no belief in God herself. A few days ago I was praying (to myself during our session) for guidance. It occurred to me to offer a sacrifice of some sort. So I promised on the spot that I would pray ninety rosaries for her. Frankly, praying a rosary is no sacrifice for me, but finding the TIME to do it is a challenge. I decided I would dedicate part of my morning exercise and prayer time to do it.

That night I had a dream I was in purgatory. I was sitting in a rickety shelter that was sparely filled with old, rusted junk. Outside the shelter was a frozen wasteland. I was acutely, terribly aware of being alone. Only one thing kept me from utter despair, and that was that in my left hand I clutched a beautiful, ornate rosary. When I woke from this dream I felt I had received a confirmation from the Lord to undertake this 90 day "sacrifice" for my client, who suffers constantly in a spiritual wasteland.

I knew the best way for me to do it would be to pray along with an audio version of the rosary. So I began searching online and fortunately found your website. I found several others, but felt yours is the best. I listen to Melissa's version, and it is very soothing, uplifting and prayerful. After just two rosaries, I feel more hope for my client, knowing I've got Mary's powerful intercession to aid me (eighty eight to go!). Thank you very much.

Blessings,
Rose

A Scriptural Rosary Testament...

This one is from William in Bedford, Ohio.

I began praying the scriptural rosary in 2001 and now I definitely become part of each mystery. The time needed to achieve a devout prayer increased and I found the scriptural rosary a rewarding way to begin each day. One unusual thing happened when I started reciting this meaningful rosary. Prior to praying the scriptural rosary, I was very concerned about the time it would take to complete the rosary. Now the opposite occurs. The time spent reciting the scriptural rosary is of little concern because my priorities of this life are more in accord with God's Will.

A ROSARY STORY FROM CLAIRE...

Hi! I saw your invite on your blog to send in rosary stories? I wanted to share mine. ^___^

I did a 54-day Irresistible Novena, maybe a little more than a year ago from when I write this.

My life has changed so much since then!!! For the better! It would be almost impossible to describe to you the innumerable graces I've received and how much my life has changed like never before, but I guess I will sum it up with this: God is the living God, and you really know that when you pray the rosary, because of how He actively changes your life. It's like He breathes life into your life! And your life can grow and change like it never has before! It's so amazing! It's so amazing that I wish everyone prayed the rosary and had their Mama to flee to with their problems.

I'll tell you the specific grace I asked for with the novena and how it was answered, although it almost doesn't compare to the graces I've received that I didn't ask for -- the graces that are the fruits of the rosary, and the sweet care of God and His Mother.

I asked to go to school again. I didn't have any plans and my life was a complete mess - both inside and out (I could go on and on for pages about how messed up it was), but I had always wanted to go to animation school, since I was very little. There was no way, for so many reasons, that I could go - financially, my parents, my own personal life and emotional problems - it would take a miracle to be able to go to school. It would, actually, take a couple buckets full of miracles for me to go to school. So I asked Mary.

I had to pray for 54 days, which was, at first, very, very difficult. (I look back on it now as being amazing that it was ever so difficult. It would be much more difficult for me not to pray now than to continue praying...) Spiritually, I really didn't know as much or have as much spiritual strength as I did a year ago -- since then, I've learned so much, and so many prayers, and gotten so closer to God, that it isn't possible to describe to someone who hasn't traveled the same path (the path being, one who prays the rosary). It would have been ridiculous, a year ago, to try to tell me the mercies of God, because I just don't think I would have believed it, or comprehended it, and His mercies are something I can delight in all the time, through the good and bad.

At the time I was trying to get into school somehow, I was working at a job that I absolutely hated, but it actually turned out to be good for me because I got a lot closer to God through my trials and pain at the job. I learned to trust so much more in the Hand of God. I don't think the "door to grace," so to speak, would have been open for me to gain something from my suffering if I hadn't prayed the rosary.

Physically (temporally?), I got medicine for my physiological problems, and we just "somehow" found a way to make the money work... (Bless Mary!) My parents "coincidently" had a sudden change of heart about me going to school and we also suddenly had a closer, better relationship (that continues to grow and get better all the time). I suddenly "found myself" with a new set of friends who were encouraging and very nice to me, and were a big help in me getting over some problems I had with a bad sense of self-respect (it's hard to try to go to school when you don't respect yourself -- it's hard to do anything when you don't respect yourself; but not "self-love", just a healthy sense of self respect). I found a beautiful school with really high credential about 30 minutes from my house that I didn't know about. The first school I applied to rejected my portfolio (low admissions rate - only 6% were admitted) but the school close to my house that also had good credentials LOVED my portfolio and gave it one of the highest ratings for a portfolio that the admissions rep had ever seen.

BEST OF ALL, I was scheduled to go down and register for classes before I was supposed to
start school on my 21st birthday!!! It was so exciting to register for classes on my birthday
because it was my life dream! And it was a life dream that God and His Mother practically just
handed to me! It all went so smoothly!

My birthday is on December 10th, and I registered Dec 10th 2008. That was the one day in December that it snowed where I live (I live in Houston - if you don't believe me, you can check the weather reports ^_^ ).

That night, my dad gave me a pillow that had a picture of Our Lady of Guadelupe on it as a birthday gift to me -- and he didn't know that I prayed an Irresistible Novena to get into school!!! It was definitely the Hand of God. I also found out that the feast of Our Lady of Guadelupe is on December 12th, which neither my dad nor I had known until the day of the feast!! It was all so, so exciting!! And so mind-blowing!

The blessed Virgin has not abandoned me a single step of the way while I've been in school, either! I always turn to her for help with projects and my grades and getting my homework done.

God's gifts that He will give to those who pray the rosary are truly unfathomable!

Bless your efforts to get more people to pray the rosary, especially the scriptural rosary!

- Claire

A Message From Pat

I started the daily scriptural rosary fairly early...count about 2000 and pray daily. When we travel I take a printed copy with me and add to the count when I get back to the computer. I have shared the site with devout friends in our parish and will ask the pastor to include it in our bulletin. The lower count could be due to others who are on vacation. If they, like me, continue using a printed copy when away from the computer, perhaps you could encourage them to enter their count when they return. Good luck with your wonderful mission.

Thank you Pat!

What If.....?

If you haven't participated yet, there is a poll at the rosary site asking if you've ever used the site to pray. This was originally posted in November, 2008 and as of this posting, 258 unique individuals have said yes.

I started wondering what the numbers would look like if everyone of the 258 prayed one rosary every day. The results are below:

In one week: 1,806 rosaries prayed

In one 30 day month: 7,740 rosaries prayed

In one year: 94,170 rosaries prayed

It's a great habit to develop. You might find it very helpful to walk each day with Jesus and His Mother by praying the Holy Rosary.

It's just a thought.

As always, I continue to appreciate everyone's participation and prayers.

God Bless,

Bill

Advertising Update

How did you learn about our scriptural rosary site?

Please post a comment and let us know.

I need your help more than ever before getting the word out.

Why? Well... In the beginning I advertised on both Google and Yahoo. Many if not most found the site while searching information about the rosary.

If you don't already know, I'm a volunteer working in Florida. It is a one year commitment. I am paid a very small stipend. After a while, I had to pause the Yahoo advertising. Yesterday, I had to pause Google advertising. Both due to a shortage of funds.

Only 17 rosaries were prayed yesterday... our lowest count in a long time.

I thank all of you for your prayers and participation. For those interested in our mission to spread awareness and devotion to the Most Holy Rosary, I really need you. Please help spread the word. Blogs, emails to friends (no spam please), word of mouth, church bulletins and anything else you think may work. If you find something that works well please let me know and I will share it with everyone else.

Perhaps when my volunteer service ends I will be able to resume the advertising again.

I wrote this post particularly for those that follow the daily count. If yesterday was any indication, it looks like it may be down for a while.

Thanks again to EVERYONE that uses our site to pray the Holy Rosary. I am eternally grateful for your participation and prayers.

Bill

Happy Memorial Day!

What a wonderful day to reach a milestone.

Memorial Day 2009, near to my heart as my father was a veteran and I currently work with homeless veterans... a little more special this year as we surpassed 10,000 rosaries prayed at our scriptural rosary site.

Thank you all very much!

Please continue helping us in our mission to increase awareness and devotion to the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

God Bless,

Bill

Attention Marketers!

Hello Everyone,

Many people market online. If you are one of these people there is a new free text ad exchange that can help you advertise. I am renting the site and may purchase it if this works.

If you don't market, you probably won't find this post useful... at least for now.

Membership is FREE and EVERYONE has an opportunity to earn commissions from referral purchases. If you decide to upgrade, your commissions are increased as well as your points received for various activities.

This is an easy way to help support our Scriptural Rosary site for anyone trying to earn extra money online!

One very important thing to know! While there is never any obligation to purchase anything and membership is FREE, you will receive emails from other members that are promoting their products and services.

So... please DO NOT join if you do not wish to receive these emails!

You will need a free email account from google to join.

I own two other similar sites and you'll find them in the members area. I never intended to invite Scriptural Rosary participants but the theme of this new site seemed appropriate. You can see what I mean by visiting the link below:

Heavenly Adz

Thanks to all for your continued support and participation. We're approaching 10,000 rosaries prayed. I think that is truly amazing and hope that EVERYONE is experiencing the Benefits and Blessings of the Most Holy Rosary of Our Blessed Mother in a new and powerful way.

God Bless,

Bill

Please Pray For My Intention

Hello,

Many of you know that I am currently serving as a Catholic Volunteer. I work with homeless veterans at an organization named WIN/Vet.

My volunteer service ends in August, 2009. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will guide me so that the choices I make about what to do when my service is complete will be Christ centered and not self-centered. Perhaps you will be kind enough to include this intention in some of your rosaries prayed.

I thank you for your prayers.

On a different note, it looks like 10,000 rosaries will be reached this month. I hope that all are experiencing the joys and rewards of this Holy prayer. May our prayers be pleasing to Our Lady and her Son, the Son of God, Jesus and may God produce many good fruits from our efforts.

Thank you all for your participation and prayers!

God Bless.

Something New!

Here is a new way to promote the Scriptural Rosary site.

Please visit http://www.cafepress.com/rosarystore.

Every purchase helps!

Lord, Prop Us Up

I received the following from one of our participants and thought I would share it with you on the blog. If you have something to share please send it to me.

While on retreat the members of Catholic Volunteers In Florida worked at the Camillus Home in Miami, Florida. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner to over 300 homeless people every day. They do a whole lot more too! If you are interested you can check it out at www.camillushome.org.

Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old deacon

who always prayed, 'Lord, prop us up on our leanin' side.'

After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.

He answered, 'Well sir, you see, it's like this...

I got an old barn out back.

It's been there a long time; it's withstood a lot of weather;

it's gone through a lot of storms, and it's stood for many years.

It's still standing.

But one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit.

So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up

on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall.

Then I got to thinking about that and

how much I was like that old barn.

I've been around a long time.

I've withstood a lot of life's storms.

I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life,

I've withstood a lot of hard times, and I'm still standing too.

But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time,

so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side,

'cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning at times.

Sometimes we get to leaning toward anger,

leaning toward bitterness,

leaning toward hatred,

leaning toward cussing,

leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't .

So we need to pray, 'Lord, prop us up on our leaning side,

so we will stand straight and tall again, to glorify the Lord.''


If you stare at this barn for a second you will see

who will help us stand straight and tall again...

Happy Easter

First, I will be on retreat this week with Catholic Volunteers In Florida. I will do my best to maintain the site while I am away but there is a chance that the rosary count and prayer requests may be delayed until I return on Saturday.

This also means that orders from the Scriptural Rosary Store will be delayed. I will not be able to ship any orders until Monday, 4/20/09.

Finally, you may have noticed that the weekly rosary count was down by about 50. This is probably due to the fact that I had to quit advertising on Yahoo. Before last week, I was advertising on both Yahoo and Google. The budget was set at $2 per day for both so the total budget was $4 per day. The average click cost on Google is $0.07 per click. The average click cost on Yahoo is $0.09 per click. So we have lost about 22 new visitors per day last week because I could no longer afford to advertise on Yahoo.

If you don't already know, I serve as a Catholic Volunteer and I live off a very small stipend. I rely heavily on store purchases and/or donations in order to advertise the Scriptural Rosary Site. Unfortunately, at present, these do not cover the costs of advertising.

If you want to help so that we can continue to attract new visitors and spread awareness and devotion to the Holy Rosary you have a few options. First, you can spread the word yourself by telling friends and family or asking your priest to post a notice in your church bulletin. If you blog or use My Space, Facebook or the like, please advertise the Scriptural Rosary. Second, every purchase from the Scriptural Rosary Store helps with costs. Finally, if you are able, a small donation goes a long way. Every dollar donated will allow us to advertise to 25 new people.

Thank you all for your prayers and participation in the Scriptural Rosary site.

God Bless and Happy Easter!

Bill

Notre Dame Missionary Retreat

Just a quick note to let you know I'll be in Washington, DC from 2/13/09 to 2/16/09. I will not be able to process orders from the Scriptural Rosary Store until I return on 2/17/09. I also will not be able to update the rosary counts until I return. It's a mandatory retreat for Catholic Volunteers In Florida sponsored by Notre Dame Missionaries.

I hope you've noticed that over 100 unique visitors have answered "yes" to the survey posted on 11/18/08. Thanks to all that have been helping with prayers, word of mouth, purchases from the store and donations. Please continue your support, it's working! Our efforts are helping many to renew, or come to know, the joys and rewards of the Most Holy Rosary of Our Blessed Mother.

I continue to advertise, though with quite a low budget, and it appears to be bringing us more and more new participants.

Have a great week end and God Bless!

Bill

January Recap

I had a great time on my retreat with Catholic Volunteers In Florida.

We went to two houses that are homes for recovering addicts. One was all male, the other all female. After families have spent tens of thousands of dollars on failed rehab attempts, these unique homes are saving lives with a 92% success rate. It is a world wide organization. It is free for the members to join. Stay tuned. I will have more on these homes later. The girls make rosaries and religious crafts. I'm trying to set up a way for you to purchase these items or make a donation if you like.

The rosary numbers look better in January. I'm advertising again. Thanks to all that made a donation or a purchase from the store to help with the advertising costs. I still lost money. If anyone can afford to help it will be greatly appreciated. Just make a small donation right here at the blog or go to the store and make a purchase. You'll be helping to spread devotion to the Most Holy Rosary.

Thanks to all for helping to spread the word. Occasionally, our numbers are really helped when a group submits that they prayed at the site. Today, February 1, will be one of those days. We had a group of 25 pray the Scriptural Rosary.

Time to get ready for the Super Bowl.

Bill

Going On Retreat

I'm leaving today for a week-end retreat with Catholic Volunteers In Florida. I will not be back until Sunday afternoon.

While I am gone I will not be able to update the rosary count. I'll get everything caught up Sunday evening.

Please keep me in your prayers.

Thanks and God bless!

Bill

What A Wonderful Birthday!

I woke up this morning to publish the weekly numbers and was pleasantly surprised. A group of 33 and a group of 4 helped us reach a total of 47 rosaries prayed on 1/17/09. That's a record day! The total of 193 prayed for the week is also a record.

Thanks to all for your help.

It was a great way to wake up on my birthday.

January 20, 2009 marks the 1 year anniversary for the Scriptural Rosary website.

It's been a very good year!

Thanks again to everyone for your prayers and support.

Praise God!

154 Rosaries Prayed WE 1/10/2009

It looks like the new site and the advertising is helping to get the prayer count up. We had many, many new visitors last week. I hope all enjoyed our scriptural rosary and the time spent in prayer with Jesus and His mother.

We're open 24/7. Come back often!

Maybe as we grow in numbers, a few of you will be willing to be authors in this blog. Your thoughts and stories would be very welcome.

May God bless you all. Your participation is so very much appreciated.

Promise #12

"All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities."

Maybe it's the New Year. Maybe I'm excited because advertising the new site is bringing us lots of new traffic. I'm not sure, I just know I'm really looking forward to many new people joining us in our mission to pray and promote the Holy Rosary.

There are many ways that you can help. You don't have to spend money if you don't want to. Here are a few free ways that could make a significant difference:

1. Include the site and its mission in your intentions for each rosary that you pray.
2. Volunteer to be an author in this blog. Share stories. Help attract more visitors.
3. Create your own blog and link to the Scriptural Rosary or new Holy Rosary site or both.
4. Add a signature with the site url in it at your email account. Encourage others to pray the rosary at our site.
5. Ask your priest to promote the site in the church bulletin.
6. Tell all of your friends and acquaintances.

Be sure of this: whatever you do to promote the Holy Rosary is going to be good for you as well as those that receive your message.

Thanks to all for a wonderful 2008.

Please help if you can. Review the blessings, benefits and promises attached to the Holy Rosary. It is a powerful, powerful prayer. Padre Pio called it the "weapon". It gets me fired up. I hope it does the same for you!

New Rosary Site Bringing Many New Visitors!

Just a quick update on the new rosary site. Designed to bring more visitors to our Scriptural Rosary, the new site brought us 30 new visitors today!

That's great news. It could be more but I'm on a very, very limited budget.

If you can help, it would be greatly appreciated.

Simply use the donation button to the right. Your gift will help create awareness of our Scriptural Rosary and will help increase devotion to the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

If you can't make a donation, please pray for the success of this campaign.

Thank you!

Promoting The New Site

I've talked about this before. The Scriptural Rosary site is easy to find when you search for "scriptural rosary" but no where to be found if you search for "rosary" or the like.

When I first started promoting the site, I used google Pay Per Click to advertise. This is how we moved up to a top 3 position.

With the new site up and running, I've decided to try this same tactic again. Last year it wasn't so hard to afford. This year, as a volunteer working with homeless veterans, it is much more demanding on my budget.

I placed a donation button on this blog. If you are able and would like to help, please consider a small donation. If this works like before, I can quit the Pay Per Click advertising as soon as we make it to the first page of a google search.

Every donation helps tremendously!

If you aren't able to help in this manner, please help with your prayers.

I am very excited about this new opportunity to attract more participants and thereby increase devotion to the Holy Rosary. The first year was good but it can be so much better. Let's make 100,000 rosaries a reality as soon as possible.

Thanks to all for a wondrous first year. Based on the feedback received in 2008 we have touched many lives. Or rather, God and His mother have touched many lives. I like to think he used us all to help make it happen.

If you haven't checked out the new site you can do so now at www.holyrosary.ws. It's more of a gateway site with some useful information on the Holy Rosary as well as links to the site we all use to pray.

Thanks again to everyone for your continued prayers and participation!

Check Out The New Rosary Site!

Still trying to capture more people searching for "rosary" on google or yahoo I decided to add another website to our arsenal.

Since all of the dot.com names are already taken, I went with a new domain called .ws.

There are plenty of available domain names and the price was cheap. I like cheap! Cheap is good. Each site comes with 10 email addresses that you can create. So, for example, if your name is available as a domain, let's say it's Mark Hanson, you could create the email address: mark@markhanson.ws. This could be your email address for life!

If you ever wanted your own site you might want to take a look at this opportunity. There is a free site building tool that allows anyone to create their own website. It was very easy to use. In addition, there is an opportunity to make a little money by referring others to the program.

To see the site go to www.holyrosary.ws.

If you are interested in creating your own website, go here. They will even give you a free seven day trial. Watch the video, it's very interesting.

Hopefully, this new site will get ranked high enough to help attract more participants to the scriptural rosary.

Don't worry, it's not going to replace the scriptural rosary site. I'm just hoping it will lead more people to the online rosary.

That is the mission. To make more people aware of the joys and rewards of spending time with Jesus and His mother by praying the Holy Rosary of Our Blessed Mother.

Happy New Year!

This year, 2009, will be the first complete year for www.scripturalrosary.org. Our one year anniversary is 1/20/2009. It is possible that more than 6,000 rosaries will have been prayed by this date.

This is a tremendous blessing and I want to thank each and everyone that has contributed to the success of the site. Your prayers, your donations, your purchases from the Scriptural Rosary Store have made this mission possible. I hope and pray that God is pleased with all of our efforts.

A special thanks also to those that have linked to our site from online church bulletins, blogs, directories, etc.. Through your efforts, we have moved to one of the top three positions when "scriptural rosary" is searched on Google, Yahoo and MSN.

The mission remains to spread devotion to the Most Holy Rosary of Our Blessed Mother. Another goal is to have 100,000 rosaries prayed as a result of the site. I thank you all in advance for your continued support towards both of these goals in 2009.

On 11/18/08, I posted a poll in an effort to see how many unique individuals have prayed at the site. Since that time, 55 individuals have stated "Yes" to have prayed at least one time at the site.

There are two sure fire ways to reach our goal of 100,000 faster. We all can pray more often or we can work together to bring new participants to the site. Please God, let it be both!

Here is some interesting math. If all 55 participants prayed at least 4 rosaries a week (each Mystery one time) we will pray 11,440 rosaries in 2009. If we all could manage to pray daily, this number would be 20,020! That's accomplished even if no new participants come to the site.

The new year is usually a time for announcing "improvements" to our lives. Many of these resolutions involve improving our physical health.

I ask you all to consider making a resolution to spend more time with God. To improve upon your spiritual well being. Daily recitation of the Holy Rosary is a great step in this direction.

God bless you all. I truly appreciate your prayers and participation in the mission. May 2009 be your best year yet!