Yesterday morning I began praying with my prayer circlet for the first time. Suddenly, on the seventh bead, today’s blog started to arrive:
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1; NLT).
Lord,
Teach us to pray,
As you taught your disciples.
Help us to pray,
And make our hearts your own.
Pray, Lord, on our behalf,
Without cessation,
Making our fragile souls
Your earthly home.
Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them” (John 14:23; NLT).
References
The Spirit [comes to us and] helps us in our weakness. We do not know what prayer to offer or how to offer it as we should, but the Spirit Himself [knows our need and at the right time] intercedes on our behalf with sighs and groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26; AMP).
I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19; NKJV).
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion (Ephesians 6:18; NLT).
Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17; NKJV).
The Rosary Hospital
Now, with plenty of slack in my prayer circlet, and a cross after every ninth bead, I can hold each bead with space on both sides whilst praying. This makes it very easy to know where I’ve got to: I count the beads I’ve already prayed with, and remember which number bead I’ve reached. Then I continue from that place later on.
This new approach does away with the need for a marker. I’m also keeping silence on the cross-beads for as long as it takes for the next prayer to arise in my mind. This silent waiting gives a very unhurried, unpressured and spacious feel to praying with my circlet. It doesn’t even matter if I don’t get to the “end”, as I can simply start afresh next day.
Of course, the whole point of the circle of prayer is that it has no end, so what I’d like to discover next is a way to join the cord which doesn’t “interrupt” the circlet of beads. If anyone has any ideas about how to do this, please could you let me know?
Stop press: Yesterday evening I found a couple of different connectors at my favourite on-line rosary parts shop. Having sent for them, I’m now waiting as patiently as possibly for their arrival!
