Some great prayer resources

I am always looking for things to help me in my prayer life. I am so distractable, and will either fall asleep (I am embarrassed to say this but I also fall asleep all the time in the car, sitting in the dentist's chair, the doctor's office- you get the picture... lol.) What happens though is that many times I forget whether I've moved my fingers to a new bead or move it twice for the same prayer! The rosary many times used to take me up to two hours to finish- so I didn't say it very often!

I have known for a long time that it's easier for me to pray with a group, so recently discovered that the interactive rosary programs available online help me immensely. Since praying with a group is so helpful, a good alternative to this for me is a rosary CD.  One that is well done and free besides is from The Mary Foundation. There are other good CDs out there, and I have some , but it seems to me that a free resource should be supported so that is why I am only mentioning this one right now.

I also found several different kinds of aids, from webpages that offer visual or audio that help to stay on track, to downloadable programs or audio files. There are probably many more resources out there, but this is a good start. Hopefully they will help others like they have helped me.

http://www.ourcatholicfaith.org/onlinerosary.html

Clickable beads keep track of prayers said. Prayer text appears as you click on each bead. Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries each have pictures to help visualize the event of each mystery. Has a "Latin" option. Music option can play in the background.

http://www.familyrosary.org/TheRosary/HowToPrayTheRosary/PrayTheRosary.aspx

Has clickable beads to keep track of the prayers said, and brief scripture passages to assist with meditating on the mysteries. An audio version is available on the site as well. Has Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries

http://rosary.virtualave.net/joy.html

Has check boxes to keep track of prayers said. Beautiful meditations help with the 5 mysteries of the Rosary.  Has Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries

http://www.comepraytherosary.org/

Has worldwide prayer intention capacity.  Shows how many are praying online at once. Audio as well as written text assists in two ways to keep on track.

http://www.how-to-pray-the-rosary-everyday.com/rosary-mp3.html

Downloadable mp3 files for each of the sets of mysteries. Explains a bit about the mysteries. 

http://www.scripturalrosary.org/audio_rosary.html

Tracks number of rosaries prayed. Scriptural rosary. Two audio options available to choose from.

http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/prayers/therosary/scripturalrosary.asp

Scriptural Rosary with themes such as "Love", "Sin", "Obedience", etc. 

http://www.virtualrosary.org/index.php

Downloadable program with multiple features such as images and/or music to assist with meditation, the ability to enter prayer intentions for worldwide prayers from many worldwide "prayercasters" Has a reminder feature that will pop up once a day to help with developing the habit of praying the rosary daily.

Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Information page

As I've mentioned before, I am a member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Praesidium of The Legion Of Mary. There are many icons of the Blessed Mother, and I never felt too enthused about this particular one. Until now. Tonight I happened upon this site that detailed not only the history of the image, but also the significance of the treatment of both Our Lord and His Mother. NOW I understand why Our Lady has the expression on her face, and why Our Lord is depicted in that way. It makes for very interesting reading. 

It's late but I had to share this. Hope it benefits someone else like it did me!

Also here is a youtube reflection and prayer to Our Lady Of Perpetual Help.

Today we went to the Dead Sea, Masada, and Jericho. We also went to Qumran, the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

When I get home, I will post many more pictures and accounts of the places we've been to, but I am finding that I am just so tired that I cannot post as much as I want to.

Here are a few photos:

This is taken at Masada, where in order to not be taken and made to be slaves, the last rebels that resisted being taken over by the Romans committed suicide en masse.

This is one photo of the Dead Sea. I painted while we were there, and did not try the waters. I had fun anyway :-)

Day One In Jerusalem

Today was so massive I know I can't write about it all at once. The whole day was a highlight but I will add some pictures and a bit of background information and photos. I am fading fast here folks too so a lot will have to be added tomorrow. 

We started on the Mount of Olives, specifically the Pater Noster, which is the place where Jesus taught the Our Father. Our incredible pastor wrote a description of all of these holy places, so we could follow along and know where we were, etc. He also wrote a Stations of the Cross meditation, which I will discuss later.

 

  
 The view from the Mount of Olives.
 Pater Noster

And that's it for today I am falling asleep as I type lol, See ya tomorrow!

In Jerusalem...

We made it.... we are in Jerusalem. It's a beautiful ride from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem, even at night. I wish I'd had my camera out - but if I did, I don't think much would have come out as we could see was from the moving bus. The only photos I have from today is from Heathrow airport while waiting to hear what flight they were going to be able to put us on.The photo below was from when we started out about 1:45 pm on Wednesday.

What an amazing 24 hours! We started out yesterday by being delayed on the British Airways flight out of Dulles- A bad storm along the eastern seaboard caused a 2+ hour delayed take off. This, plus the fact that the jetstream dwindled down to almost nothing once we got much past the storm, caused us to miss our connecting flight in London to Tel Aviv. While waiting to take off, I slept. (Amazing - I was so terrified of even getting ON the flight!!)  Then of course, I couldn't go back to sleep - I watched a great movie (Secretariat) and said my "Total Consecration to Mary" preparation prayers, etc. Then when I decided to go to sleep, I found that I was too overheated. So I tossed and turned and eventually I watched the sun come up - well at least I watched the cloud layer under us turn rosy pink! A few parallel clouds were dark purple so it was kind of cool. Then I fell asleep for the last hour and a half of the flight.  Then we were able to step out of the plane and walk on the ground of the United Kingdom... that was pretty cool to me. (I know, it would have been better to get on over and see "Big Ben" but this was pretty cool to me- all my heritage is British, so there was a strong feeling of happiness at being there.

 

      

At Heathrow, once we got to the "Flight Connections area" (photo above), there were several problems they discovered when we went to try to book a new flight. Part of it was that the computer somehow scattered the names of the passengers needing to be rescheduled in the system and the list of those needing to be on the same flight had to be reassembled in the computer system. In the end, they were not able to reschedule all 40 of us on the same flight. Joel and I were part of the larger group that left at about 2:30. There was a small group of 9 that will  not arrive here till about 5:30 am in the morning. I would have wanted to go and see Buckingham Palace at the very least but the airline was able to get them hotel rooms for the day so they could rest, so hopefully that will help them arrive bright and smiling a bit more than they would have. The group of us that left earlier were given food vouchers to get lunch, and an hour to accomplish this before we were supposed to board our next flight, which was an El Al flight instead of British Airways. We liked the BA flight more- more movies to choose from, more room in the seats, and the food was much better, but I was glad for the flight and the food, and the movies did not much matter as I fell asleep before take off, (I was only dimly aware of take off). (I think I have this whole "flight thing" pretty much down pat lol. I still pray a WHOLE LOT before the flight, but I am not as afraid. The amount of times I picture midair collisions and the like has lessened a lot. Thank you Our Lady Of Loreto and St. Joseph of Cupertino for your assistance getting us all safely here!

When we got to the hotel, the owner (or manager- not sure which she was) greeted us all personally with glasses of orange juice and a cold plate of food that they prepared just for us. She was very nice and the food was so much appreciated. While we ate, she described the hotel and the food, etc.

Going to the Holy Land...

Just thought I would post that Joel and I are going to the Holy Land on Wednesday. I will post daily what we have seen and done so friends and family can see what we've experienced. I am excited but nervous too as I am not a happy camper when flying. I figure I will just have to get over that- if it's my day to go, it's my day to go lol. I plan on leaving a letter to each of my kids though just in case. :-).

Some of the places we will be visiting are: Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem, The Dead Sea, Capernaum, Jericho, Cana (where we will renew our wedding vows.) This trip is through our church, and our Pastor is going along.

A post from sunny California

Realized I never posted this- wrote it back in 2010. I like what I wrote so I thought I'd post it now anyway.

Yesterday, Joel and I attended Mass at St. Lawrence The Martyr Parish near our son's home. The priest who said Mass spoke about the reading for the Gospel which told the familiar story of Mary and Martha. Mary listens to Jesus speak as Martha bustles about preparing a meal. She asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her. Jesus replies that Martha is concerned with many things, and yet has not chosen to do the most important thing- listening to Him. He tells her that Mary has chosen the better part, "and it will not be taken from her."

Oftentimes when our children were growing up and I heard this story, I would think: I think this passage of scripture means I should spend less time worrying about whether the beds are made, or even the brownies baked. Instead, I should think that the time I spent doing whatever it was that was needed that day to ensure my children were happy and well grounded in their faith, was the best possible use of my time. (Not to say that I should forget about the mundane tasks as those are an important part of providing an orderly existence for children too.) Our lives often seemed centered around the mess that five boys create, and how to get it back to "normal". I think I should have listened more to my own sense of what was really needed and less to my concern about what the neighbors would think if they saw my wreck of a house!

Those days are over, unfortunately. But I am still here. So now, my question has to turn to "how can I best serve God with the remainder of my days here on earth?"

I think the answer is the same, in a sense, without small children in the picture. I have to live my life in a way that will provide a home for my husband that is peaceful and full of the joy of being married to him. In addition, I need to listen to God for the lessons he is offering to my life. I find that in some ways, I have been trying to do just exactly that, by being a member of the Legion of Mary and performing my service hours, by writing this blog, by trying to treat every person I meet as I would treat Christ himself, and in a small way, by my art. It is comforting to realize this, but I know that I cannot be too complacent. I know I can do more to serve God. The question only remains-- what more can I do? I think I need to be open to what God will ask of me, and willing to say "yes!".