Hail Mary, full of grace … Holy Mary, Mother of God … Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace … and meanwhile my mind drifts away and I can’t stop yawning! Providentially, I have my Rosary beads. Otherwise, I won’t know at which mystery I was on. But is my Rosary valid? I hope it is. After all, it is true that thoughts on what I still need to do and how to get things done come to mind while I pray the Rosary. But at least I had chosen to dedicate some time to stop and meditate on the mysteries of Jesus, in Our Lady’s company, while yawning because I feel at peace, cradled in the arms of our merciful Mother.
In all honesty, at times distractions are not the only problem because they, for the most part, come on their own and are beyond our control! Sometimes we don’t feel like praying. But in life, we undertake many things we don’t feel like doing because we understand their necessity and the commitment we took. Prayer is one of those things, and this type of prayer is valid because it is a sign of mature fidelity.
And when we have one of those days in which we feel irritable, this repetition begins to get on our nerves and feel bored … probably because we get caught up with the structure and the ‘correct’ emotions that we are supposed to have during prayer, rather than imitating Our Lady and simply gaze upon Jesus as she did.
However, when my mind is exhausted and cannot find peace, that monotonous repetition becomes my salvation because in certain situations we don’t even have the strength to pray. When our hearts feels heavy and our minds are racing the only prayer that we can pray is a chain of prayers that we know off by heart, that although we don’t give it much importance, because we feel that we’re not really praying, in truth we are holding on tightly to our Rosary beads that serve as a chain with the Cross serving as an anchor to keep us grounded despite the waves …
After all, neither God nor Our Lady require our eloquent and precise words; their hearts only wait for us to turn to them because prayer is not something we achieve ourselves through our own abilities. We can only make space for God to enter our hearts and nurture us. And maybe the monotony of the Rosary can be the only life belt that can keep us afloat … and the last mooring line is Our Lady, whom God sends us, so we won’t drown …
And in the meantime, we have arrived at the Hail Holy Queen and the Litany, just like the days of this month dedicated to the Holy Rosary can pass us by without even having prayed at least one decade each day to unite ourselves with Our Lady in prayer. And it is also possible that our lives suddenly become like our Rosary beads, mysteries that lead us deeper into the Gospel and Tradition, which in turn, gradually lead us to Heaven.