First Saturday Parish Rosary at St. Anthony's Church, 4/6/2013

 

  

My friend, Anna, posing with my Rosa Mystica pilgrim statue in the Day Chapel

of St. Anthony of Padua Church, Kailua

With the start of a new month so passes another First Saturday Rosary for Peace at my home parish.  Our focus this evening was praying for the sick, especially interceding for friends and loved ones afflicted with cancer and other serious illnesses.  Sadly, there are just too many people I know who are seriously sick and suffering.

 

Before we started to pray, we had the joy of welcoming a new participant to our prayer meeting - someone who holds particular meaning in my life... a former classmate/friend named, "Eva", who I hadn't seen in years.  Her presence in our Day Chapel caught me by surprise and she had come to pray for her mother who is currently fighting intestinal cancer.  A mutual friend had directed her to attend one of our prayer meetings in the hopes of strengthening her faith and helping her to find peace during this difficult time in her personal life.

 

Our Saint this month was St. Conrad of Parzham (d. 1894), a humble Capuchin who

was the caretaker of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Altotting in Germany

 

After the Rosary Prayer ended and most of our parishioners had left to attend the Mass, a friend and I prayed over Eva and interceded for her sick mother. I felt a heaviness lift from her shoulders during the prayer and she seemed much lighter in spirit as we both walked out of the Day Chapel. 

 

We afterwards caught up with each others' lives over a lite dinner and just reminisced over some great times we shared with other friends in high school. Being a strong Catholic, herself, we also faith-shared about the Lord during which my friend expressed her gladness over finally making it to our parish's prayer gathering.  We then joked about the expression of deep shock that must have flashed across my face when I spotted her in the pews. We had a good laugh over it before ending another great evening of prayer and Christian fellowship.