The Rosary

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

I pray that you are blessed. I am writing this letter on Tuesday, and I am praying earnestly for peace this week. Hopefully the many threats of violence during the installation of our new president did not come to pass. I am also praying that we can begin to earnestly heal the divisions and anger that lay at the heart of all these protests, whether violent or peaceful, whether political or social. I share this with you for two reasons: first, in a hope that you will join me in praying for peace and healing, and secondly, to underscore the need for prayer.

The Catholic Church has a long history of prayer in all its forms: adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise. They all have their place and purpose, and together they make for a healthy relationship with our Lord. The Catholic Church has an almost infinite supply of pre-composed prayers. I have one I discovered in an old Irish book entitled “Grace Before Beer.” While it’s great to have a treasure-trove of prayers ready for almost any occasion, it is also important to be confident enough to compose your own prayers. Unfortunately, many Catholics have been discouraged from doing so. Having a relationship with The Lord, which is comfortable enough to just have a natural conversation that comes from the heart can be a very powerful and reassuring part of one’s faith. And so, I encourage you to explore writing your own prayers, or even better, simply praying extemporaneously. I was recently shown a version of one of those extremely popular prayers, “The Memorare,” in which a parishioner adapted it to fit her favorite Marian devotion, Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

Another one of the most popular prayers in The Catholic Church is “The Rosary.” We have a very faithful group that pray The Rosary every Saturday after the 8:00 am Mass, and I am sure many of you incorporate The Rosary into your daily or weekly prayer life. I would like to begin a new Prayer Ministry here at St. Alphonsus that will be based on The Rosary. Each week we will have a common parish prayer petition, which may range from praying for the repose of the soul of a parishioner to praying for those who have suffered some tragedy some place in the world. While you can choose to pray for this petition in any way you would like, the other part of this Prayer Ministry is to encourage more people to pray The Rosary. While I hope that everyone prays for our weekly petition, I will be asking parishioners to pledge to pray The Rosary once a week for these weekly petitions. When & how you pray this Rosary is completely up to the individual. You can join the Saturday morning Rosary Group, or choose to pray it privately, or even with family or friends. Praying The Rosary as a family, especially as a Lenten activity, would be a wonderful tradition to begin.

If you would like to make a one year pledge to pray a weekly Rosary for our weekly petition, there will be a sign-up sheet in the rear of church or you can simply send an email to the office and ask Sherri to add your name to The Rosary List. Beginning the first week of February, we will be posting a weekly petition online (on our Web Site & Facebook Page), as well as, announcing it at all the Sunday masses. If you would like this petition emailed to you then simply send the office your request to be added to the Rosary pledge list along with a note to be added to the “prayer-petition” email list. You can, of course, ask to be removed from this email list at any time.

Finally, just a reminder and hope that you will join us next Sunday, January 31st, between noon and 8:00 pm for a wonderful meal from Licari’s Sicilian Pizza Kitchen. They of course have a lot of things on their menu besides pizza. I recently enjoyed The Nico (beef tenderloin), which was great. All you will need do is present one of our fliers when you place your order and we will receive 20% of your purchase. Besides benefiting your parish, you will also be helping fellow parishioners who own Licari’s. If you really want to help, do what I plan on doing and have lunch and dinner from them. Enjoy!

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick