More Than The Rosary
A movement that is about more than the Rosary
This Movement is not about the Rosary. Don’t worry, I still firmly believe what Our Lady Said at San Nicolas Argentina on April 10, 1986 “The Holy Rosary is the weapon which the enemy fears. It is also the refuge of those who look for relief for their sufferings, and it is the door to enter into my heart.”
But The Movement is about more than the Rosary. It is about friendship with Jesus and Friendship with others. Often the Rosary is the best tool to help people encounter Jesus, but it is not the only nor usually the first. The first and most important way for people to meet Jesus is through you. Through your relationship with them. Through your interest, personal investment, love and care for them. The Movement is about helping others to a deeper friendship with God through your authentic friendship with them. Yes, this involves good conversation and we hope it will lead to the Rosary. But in most cases it won’t begin with the Rosary and it is not supposed to end with the Rosary.
It begins with relationships within your family and your current friend group and its aimed toward ending in transforming union with God here on earth and after earth in heaven. The Rosary may be involved at some point in the process, but there are many things that may come before you ever get them to the Rosary. And while the Rosary always remains because the meditations are a great way to learn your faith and learn to meditate, we are called to go beyond, far beyond - to the deepest stages of prayer, assimilation of the Eucharist and finally into Heaven.
Learn friendship through faith
St. Francis of Assisi once told a brother who was struggling with doubts: “Do not be troubled brother, but through friendship learn faith.” THROUGH FRIENDSHIP LEARN FAITH.
We falsely think we will only teach others faith through friendship. However, both friendship and faith are a two-way street. You will learn as much or more about your own faith by friendship as they will.
It all begins must a Genuine Fascination with others. We take the initiative to be interested and ask good questions to help them Reflect on things they never take time to reflect upon
The problem with most people is not that they are evil and have rejected God, the problem is that they get caught up in life and never reflect on the more important things.
The goal of your conversations is to help the other person reflect upon their life.
We do this by asking them questions
to understand the way they see and understand things,
so that you can understand them better,
and so they will come to understand themselves better
This may also cause them to uncover their hunger and thirst for God which is built into every person – even if they don’t recognize it yet.
The depth of friendship
Another key to friendship is depth. Friends can talk about what is going on in the world or their kids, but they can also go deeper, much deeper. They can talk about problems and failures, dreams and fears, mistakes and victories, darkness and plans, joy and pain. Most importantly, real friends can talk about their relationship with God. Friendship is about asking real questions and sharing real answers. “How are you doing?” “Fine.” “Hmmm, how are you really doing?” That’s what a friend does. Friends get to what’s real.
A time and place for friendship
A key to friendship is intentionality. You MUST establish a routine. You must have a TIME AND A PLACE FOR FRIENDSHIP every day, every week. You can’t leave friendship to chance, just like you can’t leave your kids education to chance so you send them to school, you can’t leave your finances to chance so you save and invest. When do you have time for friendship? For most people its evenings and weekends. What do you do most evenings or weekends? Are you pursuing entertainment and accomplishment or are you investing in friendship? Sometimes the only thing you need to change is inviting a friend along. Watch a movie or a game together, you know when Hockey comes back. Have a meal together. Pray together. Do it at your house. Do it at their house. And who cares if your house is clean? Keep it simple. Enjoy life together.
The Rosary is a weapon, not the victory
My point is this: The Rosary is a weapon; it is not the victory. The victory is union with God, yours and mine and theirs. If we don’t live the Movement as it was intended, to live friendship, personal investment, sharing life together, and good conversation, all which may lead to the Rosary, then we’re misunderstanding the place of the Rosary. It’s not the end goal, it is a means to the goal, which is friendship with God and others, union, and a movement that will help us towards our victory.