Franciscan Focus

Just a simple blog of a Secular Franciscan trying to live with a Franciscan focus.
(And one of these days I'll fix the template and add a Search feature. :-P)

11 January 2007

Have Rosary, will travel 

This past Tuesday as I was plugging along, prayin' the Rosary before falling asleep, a pretty firm thought came to me out o' the blue: "Go pray the Rosary with your mom".

Huh, I thought, that's interesting. And completely out of character for our relationship, since we never, ever prayed the Rosary together while I was growing up.

We were one of those "Catholic In Name Only" families -- we went to Sunday Mass and I got all the Sacraments like I was supposed to, but that was it. The faith was something we didn't talk about or live in any sort of meaningful way. (In fact, I taught myself how to pray the Rosary as a tyke when, rummaging through the dining room cabinet, I came across my grandmother's Rosary and was immediately drawn to it. Mind you, I didn't pray it with any sort of regularity, but every so often, I took out my little blue Daughters of St. Paul Basic Prayers pamphlet and tried to follow its Rosary instructions.)

This was also unexpected because I had a wholly craptastical childhood. As a result, the usual mom-daughter relationship never existed between us, and it's been an ongoing struggle to develop what relationship we do have.

You can see why this thought of praying with my mom caught me by surprise.

But, no matter the weirdness, I resolved to act on it because a few years ago I learned the hard way that when God nudges, you'd better act: Some months before my dad died, I kept getting persistent thoughts of "You should call your dad", which I knew I should do. However, my relationship with him was even worse than my mom's (see aforementioned crapulent childhood), and I had zero inclination to talk with him. And since he lived half a continent away, talking by phone was really our only point of contact.

So when that late-night call came from my brother, I knew at the first ring who was calling and why, and also instantly regretted having ignored the promptings to talk with my dad.

Anyway, if ya think I was surprised, imagine how my mom felt when I called her yesterday about this. She was astounded ... and delighted. Why, of course I could come right over! What a great idea for us to pray together! And it was a great idea.

The visit was brief, but praying together -- actually sitting down, pulling out our Rosaries, and praying together -- was a definite step forward in healing. No, it wasn't anything grandiose; no trumpets sounded, no Deep Mom-Daughter Moment happened, but it moved us forward One More Step. It was, at least, Something.

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3 Comments:

Blogger Mel said...

Amen.

11 January, 2007 14:14  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

nicely done...on all counts. it will bring peace where you least expect it.

11 January, 2007 17:13  
Blogger Brother Charles said...

Lovely story, thank you, from your early experiences with Our Lady to the little reconciliations that God works each day!

12 January, 2007 06:27  

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