Everyday Rosary Newsletter, Volume 4 Issue #3 -- The Real Secret Behind A Healthy Interior Life - A Rule Of Life

Winter 2013

Lenten Greetings in Our Lady!

Let us pray and do penance for Pope Benedict XVI and the Cardinals of the Church as they prepare to elect a new Vicar of Christ.

The monthly Everyday Rosary Newsletter is brought to you from the How-to-pray-the-rosary-everyday.com website. In each issue you will find Rosary inspirations, new meditations, feature articles and ideas that support your prayer life, a calendar of upcoming Rosary Feast Days, and how to incorporate your faith in other holidays. Plus stories on how the Rosary has affected the lives of others and what people are doing to promote the Rosary. It will also keep you up-to-date on information added to the site. It is your monthly dose of Rosary inspiration!

Table of Contents

• A Note From The Editor
• Articles
• Top Picks
• How To Checklist
• Resources
• Testimonials
• What's New

A Note From The Editor:

For our long time readers, I would like to apologize for the length of time that has past since the last newsletter. Welcoming the birth of our seventh child has led me to neglect my duties on this site a bit. I am ready to begin quarterly newsletters and answer questions on a regular basis again. I appreciate your patience on this.

Our readers, the Rosary Community, are welcome to submit articles for consideration by using the contact us form and are encouraged to answer questions in the Rosary Questions section of the website.

As for me, finding time to write for this site takes devotion and dedication to a rule of life. A Catholic rule of life is essential to developing a life saturated in Catholic spirituality.

Kindly remember that this site is run by a volunteer staff and your donations as well as your patronizing our advertisers is much appreciated.

Which reminds me, I would like to put a little plug in for Mystic Monk Coffee. Their coffee is excellent, the best I’ve ever tasted. As an avid coffee drinker, I bought a subscription. I get the Hermit’s Blend every month. Please try their coffee or tea. You will not be disappointed.

By purchasing their coffee, you will be supporting both the Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, a monastic, cloistered Roman Catholic community founded in the Rocky Mountains of northwestern Wyoming, and How-to-pray-the-Rosary-everyday.com

Another way you can help us promote the Holy Rosary is by spreading the word about How-to-pray-the-Rosary-everyday.com through the use of social networking. Because of time constraints, we are unable to enter the realm of social networking media to promote this site, at least for the time being. But you can do this for us by "talking up" our site and providing links in places you frequent such as Facebook, Twitter or your favorite forums. Most important of all, keep the Rosary Team in your prayers.

May God bless you during this Lenten season and always!

Articles

Accomplish All You Intend With A Rule of Life

Accomplishing the goal of praying the Rosary everyday takes more than just the intent of doing so. That is the first step. Once you tell yourself, “I am going to pray the Rosary everyday,” you must set aside a specific block of time for the Rosary. In fact having a set time for all you do will help you attain inner peace and grow in holiness.

In Catholic talk having a set time for all you do is called a rule of life. Following your rule will take years to master but you should create your own unique rule as soon as possible. This will take some work and time, but if you want to grow in holiness, it is highly recommended and well worth the effort.

These words from Fr. Lasance’s My Prayer Book illustrate the good that will come from implementing a rule...

"Prescribe a certain order for your day. Begin and end the day with prayer. Regulate the time for your meals, for your work, and for your recreation.

"Order is the law of heaven; begin, therefore, here on earth a life which you will continue throughout eternity, a life which will be more pleasing to God, more agreeable and satisfactory to those about you, and more profitable for your salvation. There is much merit in the self-restraint and mortification resulting from a rule of life."

A successful interior life depends on following a rule of life. Some of the suggestions given in this article will not work for everyone as we all have different situations. Read the suggestions then decide what you want implement in your day.

The following seventeen steps are derived from the steps found in My Prayer Book.

1. Wake up at the same time each day. About 8 hours of sleep is enough for a healthy adult. Jump out of bed and begin your day with a prayer so that your first thoughts are aimed to God.
   
   Also resolve during this time to work on any specific fault you are trying to overcome.
   
   
2. Spend as much time as feasible in prayer each day. Especially make time for your daily Rosary.
   
   
3. Go to daily Mass. If you can’t, make a spiritual Communion such as this one composed by St. Alphonsus Ligouri...

   "My Jesus, I believe that Thou art present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love Thee above all things and I desire Thee in my soul. Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As though thou wert already there, I embrace Thee and unite myself wholly to Thee; permit not that I should ever be separated from Thee. Amen."

   Also, pray a morning offering, such as this morning offering of the "Apostleship of Prayer"

   "O my God I offer Thee my prayers, works, and sufferings this day in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for the intentions for which He pleads and offers Himself in Holy Mass, in thanksgiving for Thy favors, in reparation for our offenses and for the petitions of all our Associates; especially this month for the recommended by His Holiness, the Pope. Amen."

4. Read from a spiritual book everyday. We have suggested several in other editions of the Everyday Rosary Newsletter. An excellent book to start with is The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis.
   
   
5. Pray the Rosary every day making sure to meditate deeply upon the mysteries.
   
   
6. Visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament daily if possible by simply stopping in your local parish where Jesus is waiting for you hidden in the tabernacle. While you are visiting Him, remember this acronym: ALTAR. It will help you pray. A - adore, L - love, T - thank, A - ask, R - repair This should get you started.
   
   
7. Keep a spirit of penance throughout the day by avoiding useless activities (surfing the internet???). Keep your eyes guarded and do not view anything that will offend God. Keep your tongue guarded by avoiding teasing, making fun of others, or speaking negatively about your neighbors in any way.
   
   Consider what you are going to say and what your motives are. Be courteous and kind. Bear sufferings patiently and in silence as much as you are able.
   
   
8. Do all your work enthusiastically keeping in mind that you do all for the greater glory of God. Help those who are put in your path. Pray while you work by offering all you do to God. Think St. Therese and her little way...
   
   
9. During meals, do not give way to gluttony. Eat slowly and stop eating as soon as you are satisfied. Offer this up as a sacrifice. Not only will this help you copy St. Therese in her little way, but it will help you curve all temptations of sensuality. This self control is especially helpful for young men.
   
   
10. Try to go to bed at the same time each night. Do an examination of conscience before falling asleep. Concentrate on a specific fault you would like to overcome and your progress in that area. Then move on to a general examination of conscience on your behavior during the day.
    
    Before bed, unite as a family for some kind of formal prayer. Perhaps the family Rosary or in the least pray three Hail Marys.
    
    
11. Go to confession once a month at least. Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother have come and asked for this practice many times. Our Lord asked this of St. Margaret Mary when He asked her to spread devotion to His Sacred Heart. Our Lady asked this of Sr. Lucy at Fatima when she requested that she spread devotion to Her Immaculate Heart.
    
    
12. Receive Holy Communion often, even daily if possible. Ask Jesus to teach you to love Him more. Ask Him to make you good and holy like He is good and holy. Ask Him to cause you to be ruled and guided by His spirit.
    
    
13. Be kind and considerate to everyone you come in contact with but especially with your own family. Don’t be petty, jealous or critical of others.
    
    
14. Be courteous, considerate, simple and modest. Revive some of the so-called old fashion courtesies by addressing your elders and superiors by their formal names (ex. Mr. and Mrs. Smith) and address priests by their last names (ex. Fr. O’malley). These virtues are the natural result of Christian charity and humility.
    
    
15. Guard yourself against the modern media. Refuse to watch impure movies, TV shows, listen to impure music or read impure books, magazines or visit impure websites. Be vigilant and unbending on this one.
    
    
16. Do charitable works and volunteer your time if you are able. Areas where you can donate your time include pro-life work, visiting the sick, and teaching children the faith.
    
    When considering your budget and the amount of money you need for your own expenses, remember that Jesus became man and endured poverty, humility and suffering for love of you. Give generously to trusted charities.
    
    If you are ill or suffering in a particular way, unite all your sufferings to those of Our Dear Lord. In many ways suffering or victim souls are doing more good work for the Church than other elements who are "in the front lines."
    
    
17. Prepare yourself for death one day each month. Perform each of your duties as if it were the last day of your life. Go to confession and receive Holy Communion. Consider how your particular judgement would go if this were your last day.
    
    Make an act of resignation to death, an act of accepting the time of death, the place, manner. Make an act of thanksgiving. Devoutly pray the Acts of Faith, Hope and Love.
    
    Pray to Jesus crucified. Pray for the Blessed Virgin Mary’s intercession as well as that of St. Joseph, your guardian angel and your patron saint that you may live a holy life and die a happy death. Also pray for the dying and for the poor souls in purgatory.

Try to incorporate all these spiritual strategies into your day to day living. Don’t do them all at once. Take baby steps. In this way you will reach more of your spiritual as well as temporal goals. Work on incorporating one thing at a time, and you will develop a solid interior life and be well on your way to spiritual perfection.

New Meditation on the Third Sorrowful Mystery - The Crowning With Thorns

Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life -1 Timothy 6:12

Moral courage - fortitude is the fruit of the crowning with thorns. Fortitude is a must when following a rule of life. You need the courage and strength only grace can give to carry on day after day doing what your rule dictates. Following a rule will take discipline but it will help you do all for the greater glory of God. It will draw you closer to Him. It will keep you away from sin and help you attain heaven. Stick with it. Fight the good fight.

Top

Top Picks

Where There Is No Rule There Is No Order

Living a life of heroic virtue seems unattainable to the average person. And yet, committing yourself to your own unique rule can make spiritual perfection possible. Plus, those who live by a rule, are more at peace with themselves and those around them. Consider this...

"Where there is no rule there is no order. We live by caprice and fancies. With a rule of life, on the contrary, all is done in an orderly manner; each duty has its proper time set apart for it; nothing is forgotten; nothing is done in haste or in a careless manner.

Thanks to a rule of life, all is done well; and that which is true in regard to order is equally so in regard to practices of piety. With a rule of life they are done with exactitude; without a rule they have no fixed hour; we defer them, when we again defer them, and we finish by omitting them entirely." -Fr. Hamon as quoted in My Prayer Book

How true! I am sure we have all experienced the unrest that comes from deferring our duties and all the blaming and confusion that results. Begin by writing your own rule. Then commit to following it, come what may.

How To Checklist

How To Create Your Own Unique Rule

The most important step to following a rule is creating one. Start by grabbing a pencil and paper. Then let’s dive in...

Make a sketch of your day. Write down your usual waking time as well as your bedtime. Remember number one above, wake at the same time each day, as well as number ten, try to go to bed at the same time each night.

From there, pencil in your working hours or other daily obligations, bearing in mind number eight: do all your work enthusiastically keeping in mind you do all for the greater glory of God.

From there, I suggest moving on to meal times. Block out the times you will be eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. Remember the opportunity you have during these times to practice self denial and offer up little sacrifices to Our Lord by way of eating slowly and by never giving way to gluttony.

Don’t forget to add before and after each meal, “blessing before/after meals”. Pencil in snacks if you eat them or coffee breaks or whatever it may be.

At this point you have a skeleton outline of your day. Now for the fun...

...Bearing in mind number two, spend as much time as feasible in prayer each day, write in “morning offering” and “focus on particular fault” under the time you wake. You will come back to add more prayer time later.

If daily Mass is feasible, write it in. Adjust your meals accordingly. If daily Mass is not a possibility for you, sometime in the morning, maybe just before breakfast after the “blessing before meals” write: pray a “spiritual communion”.

Find time to pray the Rosary everyday, then write it on your rule. My family prays the Rosary when our dinner dishes are done at about 7 o’clock every night. Nobody starts anything after they are done helping in the kitchen and dining room until after the Rosary. We sit near our family altar and visit until the final member is finished with their after dinner task. Then we pray the Rosary together as a family.

Perhaps you like to pray the Rosary online or during your commute. It doesn’t matter when or where you pray it, but what does seem to matter is setting a time and sticking to it. Decide on the time that is best for you and pencil it in.

Now, notice I am using the phrase pencil it in a lot, because you may need to adjust your rule a little bit before you get a good fit. Try it for about two weeks before you adjust it however, because it takes about two weeks to develop a habit or change a behavior.

Before moving on to spiritual reading, consider other common prayers and see if they fit into your rule. I would suggest the Angelus at 6am, noon, and 6pm and the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

Then choose a time for your spiritual reading.

If you are out of the house every day, try to plan a time to visit Jesus at your local parish. Parishes in my area are unlocked during the day. If yours is locked, sit in the parking lot facing the tabernacle and make your visit. If possible write down what time of day you can do this.

I only go out about twice or three times a week. If you have a similar situation, you will learn to run errands during your “free time”. Set aside a few extra minutes during your errands to make a visit.

If you have a carload full of children sometimes the best you can do is pray one Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for the Holy Father’s intentions aloud then have a few moments of silent prayer to Our Lord hidden in the tabernacle. This is enough. He waits in there because He loves you. Go say hi to Him.

If you are able to perform good works, pencil in the time you can dedicate to that next. If you are a busy mom homeschooling or with a house full of small children, remember charity starts at home and you are probably not called to be out evangelizing. Don’t feel bad about this. Time will come for this later.

Lastly, write before bedtime, “examination of conscience”. This would be a good time to pray three Hail Marys for purity and to keep you free from moral sin. Go ahead and pencil that in as well.

The basic outline of your day is now jotted down with plenty of spirituality built in. Look at all your free time! You may want to block those areas out and think about what chores and activities you will do during these times. Perhaps you can add prayers and devotions here and there. Maybe you have more time for good works than you realized. Or perhaps your day is plum full and you only have time for a few phone calls in the afternoon.

It doesn’t matter, what matters is assigning a time for each activity and carrying it through with the intention doing all for the greater glory of God. This is a sure path to holiness.

You are well on your way to developing a more meaningful and God-focused interior life. Congratulations! Keep at it. It is hard work but the benefits are great!

Resources

• Saint Therese the Little Flower Daily Journal

• St Benedict Cord / Black Wood Oval Beads Rosary with Big Crucifix

Books And Spiritual Reading

• Fr. Lasance’s My Prayer Book

• The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux

• Thoughts of St. Therese by St. Therese of Lisieux

• Imitation of Christ

• St. Teresa of Avila The Interior Castle

• St. Teresa of Avila Autobiography

• St. John of the Cross Dark Night of the Soul

• A Mother's Rule of Life

• Douay Rheims Bible

CD's

• St. Benedict's Monastery of St. Joseph MN Chants & Motets CD Monastic Schola

• Theatre Of Voices & Paul Hillier - Monastic Chant-12th & 13th C. Europe

• Gregorian Melodies: Popular Chants Vol. 1 [Audio CD] Monastic Choir of St Pierre

• Gregorian Chant Monastic Choir of St Pierre

DVD's

• Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life (Fr. Robert Spitzer) - DVD

Important Links

• http://www.carmelitemonks.org
• http://www.mysticmonkcoffee.com

Top

Testimonials

"Firstly, thank you for this site and all the wonderful guides. I have recently been wanting to pray the Rosary again after over two decades of being spiritually away. The guides are indispensable! So thank you with much appreciation."

-Maria

What's New

Coming Soon

New Look - We are working on refining the look of our Rosary website. It will also be mobile friendly so you can enjoy your rosary meditations, videos and audio on the go with your phone, ipad, etc. Your suggestions are welcome, please go here to submit them. In the drop down menu choose "site suggestions" then enter your suggestions.

Coming soon to How-to-pray-the-rosary-everyday.com - Page on the serious dangers of the occult and false religion.

Thank You!

Thank you for reading! Keep visiting www.how-to-pray-the-rosary-everyday.com and remember we love hearing from you. Please use the "contact us" page to leave any and all suggestions or comments.

I hope your Lenten sacrifices and prayers draw you closer to God. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death!

To Jesus through Mary,

Kathleen Bowen and The Rosary Team

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