First Saturday Parish Rosary at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 3/1/2014

   

A couple of participants greeting each

other after the prayer, while others honor

Our Lady's statue and the relic of St. John

of God (right) on the display altar.

Despite the heavy rains earlier in the day, which was the forecast for the entire weekend, the weather surprisingly cleared to a beautiful sunny afternoon... and our First Saturday Rosary ended up being well-attended by our "regulars".

St. John of God

This month, the Saint I chose to speak about before the Rosary Prayer was St. John of God - an ex-soldier/penitent who founded hospitals - who also happens to be this blog's featured Saint of the Month.  In narrating his life, I emphasized to the group gathered the immense power of God's Love and Mercy to transform people into new creations, and encouraged them to carry the thought forward as a reflection for this upcoming Lenten Season.  The audience seemed to enjoy the story of St. John and were amused by the little anecdotes I shared about him.

We then prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary for World Peace and to get into Lent-mode, before heading over to the main church for the Saturday evening Vigil Mass.

My parish's next First Saturday Rosary will be prayed on Saturday, April 5th.  In celebration of the Lenten Season, my ministry's True Cross Relic will be displayed in the Day Chapel during the prayer.  All are welcomed to participate.

"If we look forward to receiving God's mercy,

we can never fail to do good so long as we have

the strength.  For if we share with the poor

out of love for God, whatever he has given to

us, we shall receive according to his promise

a hundredfold in eternal happiness."

~ St. John of God (d. 1550)