Day 13: saying a rosary for Ukraine

 
I've heard mention several times over that few weeks that praying of the rosary for Ukraine and the wheels in my head started turning. I've been pondering it for a while now and all of my catholic friends, I invite your commentary as I don't know this practice very well. 

I have a rosary hanging over a picture of me with my grandma.  She was a devout catholic and I received it from her when she passed away.  Occasionally I'll touch it and look at the picture and think of her.  I'll remember her faith. 

I grew up Lutheran.  We don't do rosaries.  But I went to church enough with grandma to learn my hail Mary's and glory bes. I remember grandma saying rosary for someone who died or someone who was sick.  I think she did it for no reason at all,  just for the practice. 

So as I've been listening to the news and hearing talk of rosary prayers for Ukraine, I see the image of grandma with the chain above my head nestled between her fingers. 

What I've been pondering about this is the idea of saying rosary for something specific. The prayers recited in the rosary are not words that make a particular request.  There isn't space for a "God be with so and so." You repeat prayers that come from scripture in a cycle as you move your fingers from bead to bead. To me,  it has felt like a meditation. Listening to the same words again and again to allow yourself to be open to the mystery of God. 

I decided to look up the wiki page on the history of the rosary to see if I could learn better how you might do it if you are aiming to pray for something specific. I was fascinated by the history and breadth of practice.  But what was most profound,  was the steadfast timelessness that is connected to the practice. 

God is always with us.  When the world is going to shit. When we edge near to death.  God is there.  When babies are born and we celebrate a wedding.  God is there.  The rosary seems to draw us into a connection with the steadfast promise of God to be present in our darkness.  We don't need to pray specifically for God to be with so and so,  because God already is and in praying the rosary we find connection with pervasive presence of God.

I imagine churches filled with catholics saying rosary for the war in Ukraine and know that millions of people are mediating on the ever present spirit of God with us now and at the hour of our deaths.  And... it feels like a light shining in the darkness. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.