Happy Wednesday everybody! And indeed it is a happy day, the feast of St. Therese! I am on the lookout for roses this fall day. :)
I have mentioned that I am starting a 54 day rosary novena in
previous posts, but I thought I'd create a dedicated post for ease of finding it and praying along, for those who would like to. I'm going to sticky it as a separate page at the top of the blog for the duration of the novena, for quick referral.
The logistics go like this: for 54 days we pray a full five decade rosary for a specific intention(s). The 54 days (doing a little public math here) represent six novenas (which, of course, consist of nine days each). For the first half of this time period, 27 days, we pray in petition for the intention of the novena. The subsequent 27 days we pray in thanksgiving for God's will regarding the result of the novena, even if that hasn't been made clear to us yet. So, it is really a "power novena" of a considerable length of time. :)
If you're praying along with me right now (and I know at least a few of you are, yay!) we are starting on October 1st, 2014. So, our petition period is through October 27th, kind of easy the way the dates fall. Then, our prayers of thanksgiving will go through the last Sunday in Ordinary Time, which is November 23rd.
According to several articles I've read on this devotion (like
this one), regardless of what day you start, you pray the mysteries of the rosary in a very specific order. If you were to do that, you would begin with the Joyful Mysteries on the first day, which aren't the traditional mysteries unless it's Monday or Saturday, but you would begin in this fashion regardless. If you want to really be "by the book" :) you can do it that way. I know myself, which is to say I know that I will not remember what mystery I'm supposed to pray each day using such a system, I will lose track. I like the good old fashioned traditional system, which for Ordinary Time is:
Monday: Joyful Mysteries
Tuesday: Sorrowful Mysteries
Wednesday: Glorious Mysteries
Thursday: Luminous Mysteries
Friday: Sorrowful Mysteries
Saturday: Joyful Mysteries
Sunday: Glorious Mysteries
So that is how I will be going about it. Since it's Wednesday, I already started the Glorious Mysteries in my car as I drove in to work. I have one primary petition that I'm praying for, and I'm also including intentions that others have asked me to pray for on their behalf. If you would like me to include your intentions, leave a comment and indicate whether you're ok with me publishing it or not. :) If you'd prefer, I can note down your intention but not publicly publish your comment.
For the duration of the novena, I am praying with a new rosary that I broke down and purchased :) from
Allison's Etsy shop. A photo of it appears at the top of this post. I was drawn to it because of the Blessed Mother Teresa centerpiece. A good reminder, in my mind, of the power of prayer and staying close to God even amidst spiritual dryness. I wish I had a photo of it in action in my hand, but alas, I left it in my car this morning since that is where I will resume praying on my commute home. I have a little nook in the drivers' side door that I tuck the rosary I'm currently praying with into for ease of grabbing. It's all very sublime. I just adore the new addition to my prayer arsenal.
I have prayed this novena in the past (relating to items in
this post :)), and have seen concrete things happen subsequently that I believe are a direct result of my prayers. Has anyone else had this experience?
Happy rosary praying for the duration of Ordinary Time, everyone! I hope that you will join in if you are able. And if you can't commit to praying a rosary every single day (which I totally understand, life and responsibilities can interfere in the best of intentions) if you do it as often as you are able to during this stretch of time, keep all of us in the Catholic Librarian community in your mind and prayers as you do so. We will be united in prayer. :)
