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