The Golden Rosary

Hello Sister Mary Martha, I love your blog! It's opened my eyes to a lot about the Catholic faith, especially how practical it really is, even wrapped in the richness of mysticism (a la Teresa of Avila, not a seance) and holy mysteries. I have a question about a practice I've heard about, but only in bits and pieces. It has to do with saying a rosary on the first Saturday of five consecutive months. Of course a daily rosary helps everyone, but from what I've heard this is something additional. Can you tell me more about what this practice is for, if there are special graces obtained, and what may be involved other than just saying the rosary on these five Saturdays? Thanks for your help! A faithful reader

Yes! How lovely! I don't think anyone has ever asked me about this, even in the non-cyber world. 

Here's the thinking behind this one. We like to honor Mary. So Saturday has traditionally been the day of choice because of Mary's vigil on Holy Saturday, while Jesus was in the tomb.

We really leave no stone unturned in the Catholic Church. What's the best day of the week to honor Mary?  Who would even think to ask that question?  Why not just honor Mary any day of the week? No, someone had to sit down and figure out which day would be best. Of course we did.

So that was already going on. But in 1925, the Virgin Mary appeared to Sister Lucia  at her convent in Portugal. You remember Sister Lucia! She was one of the three children of Fatima, who lived to a ripe old age as a Dorothean sister. Mary revealed a heart encircled in thorns, explaining the Jesus' heart is constantly pierced by "ungrateful men". (I'm sure she meant women, too, and children over the age of seven....)

Mary said there was no one to make reparation.

The Golden Prayer is a little more complicated than just saying a rosary on the first Saturday for five consequetive months.  First of all, you have to say a whole rosary. That means you go through your beads four times and all four sets of mysteries: Glorious, Joyful, Sorrowful, Luminous.

And that's not all! You have to go to Confession and Holy Communion and you have to keep company with Mary for fifteen minutes. Because this devotion is all about comforting Mary and defending her.

I'm not sure why Mary picked fifteen minutes. But Sister Lucia has confirmed that it does not count the time you've spent saying the full rosary (all four sets of mysteries). You pick one mystery and meditate on that for fifteen minutes. 

I don't know why she picked fifteen minutes. But I do now why there are five first Saturdays as opposed to nine (like a novena) or any other number.  Jesus appeared to Sister Lucia in 1930 and told her it was because there were five ways in which Mary was particularly offended: blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception, against her perpetual virginity, against the divine and spiritual maternity of Mary, blasphemies involving the rejection and dishonoring of her images, and the neglect of implanting in the hearts of children a knowledge and love of this Immaculate Mother.

Also keep in mind that no one has to pay any attention to anything that is a private revelation, which includes Fatima, anything Sister Lucia has to say or that Mary appeared to Sister Lucia and asked for this. Your feeling about private revelations are entirely up to you. The Church does give some of them Her blessing, and this is one of those.

It would be good to keep these things in mind during your time spent with Mary.
And here's a little Christmas bonus for you! Since I missed St. Nicholas day here on the blog, let's pretend there is a loud knock coming through your computer.  

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

CLICK THIS LINK!  (it's not a virus, I promise)
You're welcome.

Pray to the Baby Jesus

I have fallen behind in question answering. If I've missed your question please repost it in the comments section and I'll take another run at it.

Meanwhile someone at some point asked about how to say the "Infant of Prague Rosary".  There really isn't an Infant of Prague Rosary that of which I am aware. There is an Infant of Prague Chaplet.

The word chaplet means "a crown or a wreath". And that's why we call these circular sets of beads chaplets, because our prayers form our Heavenly crown and bring greater glory to the devotions (Sacred Heart, Immaculate Heart, for example) and saints for which they are said.

The rosary is a chaplet. But a chaplet is not a rosary. Once we get into chaplet territory all bets are off. Beads.  A set of beads, prayers said in a certain order, a certain number of them, a set of colors that symbolize something (purity, the Precious Blood, etc.).  There are as many chaplets as there are orders, needs for prayer and saints. The chaplet for St. Therese the Little Flower has 24 beads, the number of years she lived. The Blessed Sacrament chaplet has 33 beads, the number of years Jesus lived on earth.

The beads are there to keep count. The colors are there to focus your prayer. The rest is up to you.

There is an Infant of Prague chaplet. It has 15 beads and an Infant of Prague medallion at one end. You say three Our Fathers in honor of the Holy Family and 12 Hail Marys  in honor of the 12 years of Jesus' infancy and childhood. Starting on the medallion you say this prayer:

"Divine Infant Jesus,
I adore Thy Cross
and I accept all the cross
Thou wilt be pleased to send me.
Adorable Trinity,
I offer Thee
for the glory of Thy Holy Name of God,
all the adorations of the Sacred Heart
of the Holy Infant Jesus."

And then before each Our Father and each Hail Mary you say this prayer:

"And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us."

And then when you're done you say this:
"Holy Infant Jesus, help and protect us."

So, it's not rocket science.

A whole separate discussion could be had on devotion to the infant Jesus, which is also not rocket science. I think it's brilliant, whoever came up with the Infant of Prague chaplet, to have added before each prayer, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us."

That's the essence of devotion to the infant/child Jesus: that He was a human being who was born and played with blocks and ate His peas. There are whole orders who do nothing but meditate on points like this. So it certainly doesn't hurt the rest of us to contemplate what that really means to us, for us. If you really pay attention to the words of the prayers in this chaplet it's all there for you.