Rosary Reunion

Can you believe I’ve never Blogged about my fascination and belief in the Rosary? I’m not so disciplined that I say the Rosary daily, but I pray it often. I collect Rosaries, which is to say, I’ve never gotten rid of any of my Rosaries. I have my own. I’ve been gifted a couple. My Catholic School children (and Catholic School Teacher wife) have made Rosaries. Over the years, sometimes at Church, they’ll hand out Rosaries and I always accept the gift.

At last count, I have about 26 Rosaries. Also, at last count, I have 3 Rosary stories and now I have a 4th Rosary story and it’s practically miraculous.

Rosary Story 1 – The Origin Story

This Rosary-thing comes from my Grandma Lillian Kowalewski. She seriously prayed the Rosary. Daily. I know this because when I was a young kid, we’d spend the night at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house and on more than one occasion I woke up early and saw her sitting by herself whispering and praying the Rosary. She would wink at me and I would sit and play with toys or just sit and watch until she was done. I think we would make breakfast after she was done praying. Or she’d turn on the TV so I could watch cartoons. It’s a blurry memory, but what isn’t blurry is seeing her sitting and talking with Mary and Jesus through her Rosary.

I believe I have one of her Rosaries (which is part of my new amazing Rosary story). And then I lost it. And now, by some miracle, I have it back.

Among my Rosaries, I have a couple of them I consider special. One of the “special” Rosaries was this one of my Grandmother’s. It’s dark reddish-brown (pictured above). The beads are wood. Definitely not plastic. The medallions are old and tarnished. I’m convinced this is my Grandma’s Rosary. I wish I’d been more organized years ago and took notes when Rosaries came into my life and my collection. All I knew then was I would keep all the Rosaries …just because.

Over the years, I started praying the Rosary from time to time. Then I started praying it more often. Praying the Rosary and focusing makes me feel at peace. When I pray the Rosary, I’m able to focus and the worries of the world and day-to-day headaches, for 10-15 minutes … they fade away. It connects me to my Grandma and Mary and Jesus and my faith. I wish I was better and more disciplined about doing it daily. Or every other day. Or a couple times a month.

I think I’m being called to do that.

Rosary Story 2 – Sound the Alarm

Years ago, one of my best friends’ father passed away. I wasn’t sure I could make the funeral but I moved my schedule around and was able to attend. My friend found me before the ceremony and explained he’d be giving the eulogy and he was nervous and needed something to distract him or make him laugh a little so he wouldn’t break down during the eulogy. He had this idea to park his car very close to the Church and he gave me his key FOB. He asked me, “when I start talking, if you see me start to get choked up, could you hit the panic alarm on the key FOB so I can comment on that and maybe get my head back on straight?”  I agreed. I felt like it was ridiculous, like, why couldn’t I heckle him or cheer or whistle? But I agreed. He gave the eulogy and he started describing his parents and how amazing and inspiring their marriage was. I think his Mom was a Nun, or about to be a Nun, then fell in love and got married, instead. His parents, he explained, woke up every morning and together prayed the Rosary and at that part of his eulogy, he stopped talking and I could see he was choked up. I hit the panic button. Nothing. I hit it again. I raised the key FOB above my head. Nothing. I quick flicked it with my finger and kept pressing the panic button. Still nothing. It felt like forever was passing by and he wasn’t talking and I wasn’t helping and so because he’d just mentioned the Rosary, it made me think of my Grandma, I actually whispered, “Grandma, I need your help,” and … honk, honk, honk … the panic alarm started and my friend smiled and looked up. He was able to continue and my Grandma has a sense of humor. While she might have helped make the panic alarm start, she wasn’t going to turn it off and I got up and walked to the lobby pressing the panic button and finally it turned off – but not before my friend gave me crap (his strength comes from giving his friends crap) and getting some laughs from everyone in the Church.

Maybe not the best Rosary miracle, but it’s a Rosary moment. Hearing about his parents devotion to the Rosary made me think, “huh, people sure used to be better at being Catholic … I should get better at it.”

Don’t worry …I’m getting to my newest Rosary miracle.

Rosary Story 3 – The Good Son

My son is a good person. Not like me when I was his age when, occassionally I would “try” to be a good person. Nope. My son is good. He is kind. He is a very, very good Catholic. He makes “goodness” seem like it’s just ho-hum and the easiest thing in the world. I think, in life, we grown-ups and parents are supposed to inspire the kids. All three of my kids inspire me.  Each of them in their own way. Since this Blog is about the Rosary, we’ll just talk about my son. 

As I mentioned. He’s a good Catholic. He’s faithful and never misses Church. When he was in middle-school, one year before Lent my family got to talking about what they would give up for Lent … or what each of us would start doing during Lent. I read an article that suggested how about I try praying the Rosary every day? Make it a habit during Lent. I brought it up and my son said, “yes …let’s do that, Dad.”  

As a Catholic family, we’re “pretty good” at being Catholic. We’re not great or “expert level”, but we’re pretty good. We pray sometimes. We mostly always go to Church. We carry on many Catholic and Polish Catholic traditions. But we’re not the “pray at every meal” types or “go to Confession often” types.

Note: Everyone in my family goes to Confession at least once a year, so it’s really me who needs a little more work.

I share that to say, when committing to praying the Rosary daily during Lent, it wasn’t easy. Heck … I had to re-learn it and make a how-to cheat sheet because I didn’t have the prayers memorized. In fact, my son and I found a Rosary Podcast that guided us. 

We did it. We did it for Lent for multiple years. Why it affected me so much was multi-layered. First, it was quality time with my son. Every night. We never missed.  Second, it was time with Mary and Jesus and I felt a calm and peace every evening after we said the Rosary and then got ready for bed. A two-thousand year old tradition obviously has some staying power because of how powerful it is to silent your mind, say prayers, dedicate the prayers to someone or some thing, and forget about all the stresses and the world for a few minutes. Third, my son prayed every night on the Rosary handed down from my Uncle Jerry, who my kids affectionately called “Grandpa Jerry” and together, he prayed on my Uncle Jerry’s Rosary and I prayed on my Grandmother’s. And finally, it showed how much better my son is at being human and a person than I am (and definitely as I was at his age). If I’d decided to pray the Rosary, daily, during Lent, on my own, I know myself too well . . . I don’t know that I would’ve found time to actually do it daily for 40 days of Lent. But my son was the warden. Because he doesn’t break promises. When he says he’s going to do something, he does it. Maybe he learned that from me (the 40something version of “Don”), but the pre-teen, teen, and even 20-something “Don” didn’t have the honesty and commitment standards of my son at the same age. My son might say “we kept each other honest and committed to the Rosary during Lent” . . . but I say it was all him.

The power of prayer and of following through on even the little things is something, in my mid-40s, was a chance to get better and be better. 

Rosary Story 4 – The Rosary Returned

If you’re still reading, here’s the reason I wrote this entire Blog. A miracle. Or … a story about goodness and someone, somewhere, doing the right thing when no one is looking and doing it anonymously, even when no one will ever know.

I’ll go to Confession if this is blashpemy and not how I should be “using” Rosaries. I put Rosaries everywhere. I carry a backpack with my laptop and notebook every day to work and meetings. I have a Rosary tucked down in a pocket. I have a Rosary hanging over the pictures of my kids I keep on my desk in my home office. I keep a Rosary in my nightstand. I hang a Rosary in a tree the night before an event where I need good weather. I always put a Rosary in my suitcase or duffel bag before a trip.  I sneak a Rosary into my kids’ backpacks before they travel somewhere. And I have a Rosary hidden in every car we have. 

For some reason, my prized Rosary, my grandmother’s, made it’s way into my previous vehicle … a Jeep Cherokee. About six months ago (as of writing this Blog), I traded it in and got a new car. I thought I had emptied everything out before giving it to the dealership, but obviously, I forgot I had hidden a Rosary somewhere. If you’ve ever traded in a car in the midwest, you know those cars pretty much get loaded onto a truck and head south or west based on a dealership looking for certain makes and models that sell well in their city and region. 

I didn’t remember what Rosary was in that Jeep Cherokee, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t my Grandma’s Rosary. I couldn’t find my Grandma’s Rosary, but assumed it would turn up again at some point. But, remember, I have many, many Rosaries and it wasn’t like I was looking hard for my Grandma’s Rosary. I just hadn’t seen it.

Then, one day, a package arrived from UPS.  My daughter grabbed it from the mailbox and asked, “what did you order?”  We shook the envelope and whatever was inside was sliding around and sounded like beads. 

It was beads. It was Rosary beads. Someone at a dealership in Indianapolis, IN must’ve been detailing my old Cherokee and I’ll bet, in that job, a person finds all sorts of treasures. Probably money, loose change, charging cables, lipsticks, gloves, umbrellas, mugs . . . can you imagine all the little things that get left behind in a used car? You and I both know, had this person at this mystery used car dealership in Indianapolis … had this person found anything on that list, I wouldn’t be getting a UPS envelope. But this person did trace down the previous owner (me) and rather than keep the Rosary or throw it away, this person decided to return my Rosary to me. No note. No name. Just my Grandma’s Rosary in the mail from a good person who knew, or heard my Grandma whispering in his ear to return it … this person knew it was important to return the Rosary to me.

If all the things described above, and all the good, spiritual moments in my life weren’t enough to keep me inspired . . . this? This took my breath away. It’s my Grandma trying to tell me something. Maybe just saying “hi”.  Maybe just telling me she loves me and wants to make sure I still have the Rosary and think of her from time to time. Or maybe, and I’ll keep praying on this, she’s telling me something bigger. Telling me to be bigger and better and never stop praying. 

Grandma? I hear you. Loud and clear.

Good things happen in this world. Good people are in this world and make this world good despite what you might think. And all it takes is a tiny, little bit of good and honest and Holy behavior from you … me … my son …all of us … or from some person at a used car dealership in Indianapolis 290-miles away to remind us … always do good and you’ll make the world better.