Praying the Rosary
For nothing will be impossible for God. Luke 1:37
Not being a cradle Catholic, I didn’t grow up with a devotion to the Blessed Mother. And quite honestly, even after becoming Catholic, Renaissance paintings picturing her with the infant Jesus, their halos shining brightly, were so far from my lived experience as a mother of six, I had trouble identifying with her. It wasn’t that I didn’t pray; I simply resisted developing a relationship with the Mother of God.
I became more keenly aware of how God works in mysterious ways when two events occurred that helped me understand what I was missing. First was seeing a statue of Mary bathing her baby. I realized she not only wore a halo, she wore an apron! The second was being invited to join a group of women who, for 37 years, have been meeting to pray the Rosary. God was inviting me to grow in my spiritual life.
I’m not always able to join them, yet I know they include my prayers with theirs to this chosen woman who was far more than depicted by Renaissance artists—a woman who, in many ways, was like us.
Judy Schueneman
Originally published December 8, 2016
