Christine of Laudem Gloriae links to a story about The Ranger Rosary.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Machine guns, killer knives, grenades and combat boots. These are the tools of modern combat warriors.
“And rosary beads,” says Sgt. 1st Class Frank Ristaino, a former Marine and a recruiter for the Maryland National Guard.
“Rosaries are readily available to any soldier in the military,” Ristaino said. “Just about any military chaplain hands them out.”
Unfortunately, many of the standard rosaries distributed by chaplains don’t hold up so well in combat situations, because of weak strings or chains. They come in pastel pinks and blues, which clash against the tough exteriors of Navy SEALS, Army Rangers and trench-hardened Marines.
So Ristaino invented what a growing number of soldiers consider the mother of all rosaries—the Ranger Rosary, an ultra-tough model that comes in a variety of military colors. The beads are strung on what the military classifies as 550 cord: a tough, lightweight rope that connects soldiers to their parachutes.
Well the Rosary is used in sp ritual warfare so this makes sense. Actually I need a super strong Rosary. Nothing is more embarrassing then praying the Rosary after Mass and for it to come apart and start spilling beads which roll everywhere. I know this since it happened to me. I have had a couple of Rosaries fall apart on me and you start to wonder if it is a sign. Hopefully it is just the sign of a worn out Rosary.
Well actually this wasn’t the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me at Church. Once before Mass I was praying at an altar rail before the Blessed Sacrament. Some time had passed and my legs fell asleep. When I got up I started to fall and grabbed the top of the altar rail to stabilize myself. The rail was covered in marble and where I grabbed wasn’t very secure since about a three foot section of marble came off and I fell backwards and had that section of altar rail laying on top of me. People made sure I was alright and pulled that section off of me. God has a great sense of humor and knows just when to develop humility.
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This reminds me of a dream I had a few nights ago, in which I was praying the rosary and a link broke and it started to come apart.
It also reminds me of last week when I entered the church for the Saturday vigil Mass. As I was walking in, I dipped my fingers into the holy water, and a weird thing happened that caused lots of water to follow my fingers up (maybe a vacuum effect??) and it made this horrid “SPLACK!” sound on the brick floor below. It sounded like a LOT of water.
Yes, the Lord teaches us humility alright.
You might also want to get a rosary from RosaryArmy.com. It’s an apostolate that gives out free rosaries–which are all knotted, so there are no beads to fall on the ground.
The first rosary I ever touched was missing one bead in the third decade. My mother told me that it had belonged to her grandmother, who was not Catholic (nor were we). I never knew the story behind it. But it fascinated me that something physical other than a prayer book could be used for prayer, and eventually I read my way into the church.
I second the suggestion of the knotted rosary. Karen Marie Knapp (http://kmknapp.blogspot.com/)would be delighted to send you one if you ask. She knots them all the time while waiting at various places, and she gave me a beautiful blue one that my husband is now carrying.
Rosary Army is what started me praying the rosary before I ever considered being Catholic. I love knot-tying, and producing something people might find useful was appealing. So I started making rosaries hand-over-fist.
After a few days I decided it wouldn’t hurt to try praying it myself, with the request that if Mary were real, she might ask her Son to restore my faith in Him. Four days and twenty mysteries later, I was harrassing a local preist for catechesis. That was just last September. I was confirmed on July 10th of this year.
The most embarrasing moment in church for me was when my beagle Pudgy followed me to Mass one Sunday in my adolescence…… She refused to wait outside…then wondered in and sought me out up and down the aisles…..later on I realized this was the hound of heaven….pursuing me even way back then….
K of C rosaries are fairly sturdy. They use double links at all points.
Pudgy!!! I have two beagles for whom that name would be most fitting, but they already have names, Mister Biscuit and Millie Mulieriboo. I have a beagle-basenji mix, Dinah (named for James Herriot’s beagle) who does not have the weight problem at all. I do not know if that is the basenji in her, or just because she is so fractious, having been feral before we rescued her.
And then there is the anti-social black lab-boxer mix, Ms. Honey B. Sweetyface.
I really, really enjoy Herriot’s stories. I like to read them when I’m feeling tense and upset. He has a gentle, self-deprecating humor that always relaxes me. I adore the stories featuring Mrs. Pumphrey, the hospitable and kindly widow of a wealthy brewer, and her Peke Tricki Woo. She’s such a sweet, dotty old lady, and Tricki Woo’s engaging disposition isn’t a bit spoiled by the pampering he gets. There are any number of excellent stories, too many to name here, but the part where James judges the Family Pets section of the livestock show always makes me laugh.
As someone who has a bad tendency to unconsciously pull rosaries apart, (even the KofC ones – but I more often gave them away) I do appreciate the blue cord one that Alicia brought back from Karen Marie. It is wonderful.
legs falling asleep? Falling asleep in Holy Hour, in a tiny gothic chapel with a big echo, and snoring . . . “You sounded so sweet, we didn’t want to wake you up . . .” says your supposed friend.
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