Day 1

 Today is the first day of duplicating an experiment that I tried nearly 8 years ago. It has been my wish ever since that all would know the transformative power of praying the life of Jesus, praying the rosary.

The premise of the experiment: Pray the rosary with a sincere heart for 40 days.

The results: Miraculous.

Background: In recent days I have felt the desire intensify for all people to try the experiment. During prayer on 1/1/10 I became overwhelmed with the startling notion that the experiment was meant to be put into action right away and even more shocking,  it was meant to be started right here in my very home with my not so prayerful family.

Is it possible that my agnostic husband, myself and my three strong-willed children were meant to gather once a day  in 17 minutes intervals for forty days and pray the rosary together?

Three objections screeched through my mind, poised to pierce this spiritual bubble:

Objection 1:  How could a family that barely averages one meal a week together commit to such schedule?

Objection 2: In the past I have prayed the rosary with two of my three children and there were squabbles over who gets the snuggliest blankie, who leads the prayer and even kicking with a proclamation of “His feet are touching me!” How could we possibly transcend this circus for forty days ?

Objection 3: My husband is a dear man who has come a long way on his journey.  At this juncture he wouldn’t dream of discouraging a little one; he has discarded the disapproving eye rolls at the mealtime blessing  and even partakes in the bedtime tuck in prayer.Yet, asking for a commitment like this had me tremble at the potential scoffing.

As my dear therapist friend likes to say, “It all feels like too much.” So I, with all of my too muchness, approached my husband with my vision of the experiment, and then I let loose the zinger, “It is for our whole family to try.”  I don’t know if it was the pleading look in my eye or maybe a little sympathy (health challenges over the last few months have me a little on the gaunt side) he readily said the sweetest words I have ever heard, “I would do anything for you dear.”                   

Final Outcome: At dinner on 1/3/10 I presented the experiment to the family and with my husband’s support, the children agreed to participate.  As I was ready to plunge forward and begin Day 1, dad pronounced that we would begin in two days on Monday January 4, 2010. I was beginning to sense that I might have an official partner in this venture, but then I realized my husband was looking down, I -Phone in hand, apparently attending to work email.

I next explained to the children that I needed to establish a baseline, a sort of spiritual temperature taking before the experiment begins. The youngest, age 7 and most sincere in his prayers, says “I am medium”. My daughter, 10, true to her wit states “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” ( a recent kid flick) and the budding teenager, who had slipped away, aloof from the next room playing X-Box, mumbles “I’m a 3 out of 10.” My husband then chimes in with a familiar catchy beat, “They have an app for that!” and the Joyful Mystery of the rosary began to play on his cell phone. While he pleaded the 5th Amendment to the spiritual thermometer, his marks were outstanding in the partner department.

Day 1 Details:  On this last day of our winter vacation I woke up worried about all that lie ahead and our actual ability to stick with this commitment. Worry like this called for major action. When I start taking on a burden instead of allowing God to shine in and through the situation,  it is officially time for adjustment. Before anyone was up I called upon St. Michael for some serious courage and protection, and I attended daily mass in my favorite chapel. It was there that I sat afterwards in front of the Blessed Sacrament and wrote the background for the experiment. Fr. Ron just told us Pope John Paul II was always in the chapel. I knew it worked wonders for Rev Fulton Sheen. It had helped me countless times before, so I decided to stick with a sure bet.  And sure it was, like a pacifier to a newborn, I found my peace and moved on to my next adjustment, chiropractic that is. The post-Christmas plane ride and the upright seat position popped my neck again, so predictable.

At 7:10pm all 5 of us gathered on various family room pieces of furniture and listened as dad turned on his new I-phone app. We all prayed along with the regal  sounding man on the recording as we recollected the events of Jesus’s early life. Until that is, Dad got a work call on his cell phone. “Oops, I didn’t think of that.” Once we made it past that and one freakout – little fingers not being able to keep track of the beads, we officially made it, Day 1 accomplished!