By Karen Edmisten

     It was November, just before Thanksgiving and I was at the doctor’s office.  I was pregnant, and cautiously hoping I would carry this baby to term.  Though we had two beautiful children, after multiple miscarriages I took nothing for granted.  The image on the ultrasound screen was not what it should have been.      

     “I’m concerned it may be an ectopic pregnancy,” said my obstetrician, “but this early, an ultrasound can fool us.”  He told me to come back in five days: “A few days can make a huge difference in what we see.”  He did his best to assure me that all would be well.      

     I left the office feeling frightened and terribly sad.  I was seven weeks along; we should have seen a heartbeat.  The possibility that all was well seemed remote.  I prayed; I hoped; but I feared.

     Five days later, the picture did look different.  There was no sign of trouble in the fallopian tube, and the baby was indeed in the womb.  Still, we could not detect a heartbeat.  My doctor wanted to try one more ultrasound in a few more days — couldn’t we have miscalculated the date of conception, he wondered?  Not likely, I said, for a couple who knows the fine points of Natural Family Planning as well as we do. Given my history, I feared the worst.  I reported the news to my closest friends with great sadness.  “No heartbeat,” was all I could say.  My friends offered me prayers, comfort and shoulders to cry on. 

     But I had one friend who remained upbeat.  “Hang on until the next ultrasound,” she urged.  “We have no idea what God has in store for your little one.  Pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the protector of the unborn.”     

     Of course — Our Lady of Guadalupe! And so began the rosaries, asking for her intercession.  A few days later, I received a beautiful rosary in the mail — it was a gift from a pro-life organization to which we had donated, and it bore the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  My heart jumped, and I dared to hope this was a sign of an impending miracle.     

     The next day, on our way out of the house to go to the doctor’s office, my four year old begged to hold the pretty rosary.  I handed it to her as we drove to the home of a friend who would watch the kids during my appointment.  When we arrived at my friend’s, the rosary was in pieces.  “I’m sorry, Mama,” my little girl said.  “It broke.”  She clutched a few beads and links and looked at me sadly.      

     “It’s okay,” I told her.  “Things break.  You didn’t mean to.”

     But inside, I feared that my “sign” had broken too.  I had been hoping and trusting in my prayers to Our Lady of Guadalupe and now the rosary, that unexpected gift that prompted me to hope for a miracle, was in pieces.    

     Later, at the doctor’s office, the final news came.  No growth… no heartbeat… no sign of life.  Blood tests over the next week confirmed that the levels of pregnancy hormone had dropped; the baby had died.    

     In my grief, I forgot for a time about my broken rosary, but then a strange thing happened.  Though I mourned our lost child, circumstances surrounding the miscarriage led to some resolution regarding an old and very painful emotional wound.   In other words, had I not miscarried, I would not have been healed of this old wound.  What an amazing grace, I thought, and I thanked God for what He had done for me through the short life and the death of my child.      

     It was then that I remembered the rosary.  As I pieced it back together, I found that I had been able to save nearly all of it.  One decade was missing two beads, and my tinkering with the links left it looking a bit crooked, but it was repaired.     

     Gazing at it, I was struck by the incongruity.  This once-perfect thing was now bent, crooked and imperfect, yet still beautiful.  It was like us, like our lives.  Though we were made in the perfect image of God, we are bent and crooked with original sin; even after baptism we are still crippled by its after-effects.  We stumble through this life tarnishing the perfect image, while our Lord repeatedly tinkers with us, repairs us, and heals us.       

     I remembered my sinking feeling when I saw that the rosary had been broken, how I felt all my hopes instantly dashed.  I had imagined that the gift of the rosary meant that I would receive the gift of my baby.  What I received instead — the healing — was a great gift that I could not have predicted.  I couldn’t have known how beautifully the Lord would use my child to heal me; I couldn’t have known how this unexpected rosary would become the symbol of God’s work in a  broken part of my life. Now, when I pray with my broken rosary, I think of my baby and I know that my friend was right — we had no idea what God had in store for my little one.  He is always, ineffably, and so unexpectedly, making crooked ways straight.

Rosarium in Latin from fshcm.com

If you know of any others, then please leave a note in the comments and we will include it.

On the Sunday after Easter, the Catholic Church commemorates Divine Mercy.  In one sense, this is a recent devotion, having been established by Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000, the same day he canonized Sister Faustina Kowalska as the first saint of the Great Jubilee Year.  St. Faustina had visions of our Lord, who revealed to her His desire for people to turn to and trust in His Mercy.

The doctrine of Divine Mercy, however, is not new, but is rooted in Holy Scripture and the faith that we have received through the apostles and their successors.  The Old Testament contains numerous references to God’s mercy.  King David, in Psalm 50, begging forgiveness for his sins of adultery and murder, cries out to the Lord:

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy;

And according to thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity”

We read, in Psalm 24, that “All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth,” while Psalm 135 contains the frequent refrain, “His mercy endureth forever.”  When Moses went to Mount Sinai with two tablets on which the Lord inscribed the Ten Commandments, God proclaimed that He was “a merciful and gracious God.”  Even when God exercised Divine Justice in bringing on the flood as a punishment for man’s sins, He displayed Divine Mercy in telling Noah to build an ark so that Noah and his family might be saved, thus giving mankind a second chance.

The early church celebrated the Resurrection, the clearest manifestation of the Divinity of Jesus, with eight days of commemoration, which St. Augustine referred to as the “days of mercy and pardon.”  The octave began with Easter Sunday and concluded with Dominica in Albis, or Sunday in White, which Augustine referred to as “the compendium of the days of mercy.”

The revelations to St. Faustina, therefore, do not present new teachings, but rather provide a reminder of God’s love and compassion.  The messages were recorded in Sister Faustina’s Diary, a document she wrote at the behest of her spiritual director.  God’s desire for the world is made clear in His recorded words:

“I am Love and Mercy itself.  When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls”…”I do not wish to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My merciful Heart.  I use punishment when they themselves force Me to do so; My hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice.  Before the Day of Justice, I am sending the Day of Mercy.”  (Diary, 1074, 1588)

Divine Mercy is the result of God’s love for us extended in our time of anguish or adversity, whether caused by sin, suffering or the death of another.  Pope John Paul II, in his 1994 Regina Caeli Address, rhetorically asked:

“What is mercy if not the boundless love of God, who confronted with human sin, restrains the sentiment of severe justice and, allowing himself to be moved by the wretchedness of his creatures, spurs himself to the total gift of self, in the Son’s cross?”

As a visual reminder for us, our Lord asked St. Faustina to create an image of Himself, standing with mercy radiating from His heart as two large rays, one of red and the other pale, symbolizing the blood and water He shed for us.  The image is to bear the words, “Jesus, I trust in you.”  The image, the chaplet, which repetitively requests God’s mercy and is said on the beads of the Rosary, and the commemorative Sunday are means for us to personally recall and proclaim the love of God.

At the present time, we are confronted with movements throughout the world that defy the teachings of our Church.  Abortion, euthanasia, the redefinition of marriage, genetic manipulation and other abominations against human dignity are daring God to release His justice.  Pope John Paul II, in 2002, concerned about the future of mankind, consecrated the world to Divine Mercy.  Today, our request, both as individuals and as a community of believes, for God’s mercy and our declaration of trust in Jesus, who already paid the price for our salvation through the cross, are essential.  Our Lord told St Faustina, “mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy.” (Diary, 300)  The directive is clear; the response desired is prescribed

For those who live in or visit Maryland, there is a special opportunity to express your gratitude for our Lord’s Divine Mercy.  The final miracle that elevated Sister Faustina to sainthood involved Father Ronald Pytel, the now-deceased pastor of Holy Rosary Church in Baltimore,  Father had a very serious and worsening heart ailment that made it difficult for him even to mount the steps of the altar.  Through the intercession of Sister Faustina, he was miraculously cured, totally and rapidly, without medical intervention   Holy Rosary Church now contains a shrine to Divine Mercy that is well worth visiting at any time, but especially on Divine Mercy Sunday, when usually well over a thousand people participate in the church’s liturgical celebration.  This is a wonderful way for you and your family to express your gratitude for God’s love.

A slightly modified version of this article appeared in numerous publications of the Knights of Columbus in Maryland.  For further information, contact the author at

My Rosary is a special prayer

send to us from God above. 

It’s sent to us by his Mother,

to tell us of his love.

My Rosary is made of beads,

each bead we say a prayer. 

We speak about our loving Father

who listens to our cares. 

My Rosary tells of our belief

we say the Apostles Creed. 

It is the prayer of our church

and things we must agree.

The little beads in rows of ten

are our dear Mother’s prayer. 

They are the things we ask of her

for all our daily cares.

We speak of Jesus in these prayers

to whom we really pray. 

We ask his Mother to take them

to Jesus every day.

The Rosary isn’t just some beads

which really don’t mean much. 

They are some very special prayers

so with our Lord we keep in touch. 

Mary gave us the Rosary

to guide us on our way

and always have some time

with her to teach us how to pray.

We say the “our Father”

to show our love for Him. 

Isn’t this a special way

to ask forgiveness for all our sins?

We praise the Holy Trinity

with the Glory Be.

Then we know the three in one

will be with us for all eternity.

So when you say the Rosary

just remember this and say: 

“It isn’t just a lot of words,

we talk to God and pray” 

Amen

• Scriptural Rosary at Franciscan University of Steubenville
• RosaryCast by Rosary Army
• The Rosary in the in the Holy Land with Fr. Mitch Pacwa
• EWTN’s International Rosary
• The Holy Rosary with Mother Angelica and the Nuns of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery

I will be the first to tell you that everyone needs time for silent prayer during the day.  I will also be the first to admit that this is oh! so hard for me to accomplish!  Therefore, I am a huge advocate of what my friend calls “moving prayer”.  For mommies and other people on the move, it is essential to remain connected to God throughout the day, even as you engage in other tasks.

I am especially aware of the available mental energy for “moving prayer” as I work in the kitchen.  The multitude of mundane tasks that I work my way through while making a meal include:  chopping vegetables, setting the table, gathering ingredients, storing leftovers, washing dishes…and the list could go on.  I make it a point to harness some of my surplus intellectual space during these times, and I pray.

How often do you find that you have something repetitive “in your head”?  If you’re a parent, it’s likely to be the ABCs or “Elmo’s World” theme song, and if you’re a normal person, perhaps the song you last heard in your car is stuck in there.  Your head, I mean, not the car.

When I find my mind doing something repetitive, that’s my cue to switch over to the prayer station:  I convince my mind to pray a repetitive prayer instead.  We Catholics have lots of them.  Honestly, the Hail Mary is a bit long for me while I’m working. I get distracted!  My favorite is, “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world.”  It’s from the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and it has just the right rhythm to chop food by.  I don’t count ten of them, I just go until I have to focus my brain on dinner again.

If you’re not Catholic and not comfortable with these prayers, I would encourage you to try something like this:

A favorite praise song

“Lord, have mercy”

“Christ, have mercy”

“Jesus, remember me”

repeat the Name of Jesus

“Bless my family, Lord”

or any phrase that you feel is worthwhile to tell the Lord rather than your ABCs!

Especially as we work our way through Lent this year, I want to challenge you to be prayerful in the kitchen. If you can harness your repetitive mind and turn it towards God with this method, please try it!  The world needs our prayers. 

I will be the first to tell you that everyone needs time for silent prayer during the day.  I will also be the first to admit that this is oh! so hard for me to accomplish!  Therefore, I am a huge advocate of what my friend calls “moving prayer”.  For mommies and other people on the move, it is essential to remain connected to God throughout the day, even as you engage in other tasks.

I am especially aware of the available mental energy for “moving prayer” as I work in the kitchen.  The multitude of mundane tasks that I work my way through while making a meal include:  chopping vegetables, setting the table, gathering ingredients, storing leftovers, washing dishes…and the list could go on.  I make it a point to harness some of my surplus intellectual space during these times, and I pray.

How often do you find that you have something repetitive “in your head”?  If you’re a parent, it’s likely to be the ABCs or “Elmo’s World” theme song, and if you’re a normal person, perhaps the song you last heard in your car is stuck in there.  Your head, I mean, not the car.

When I find my mind doing something repetitive, that’s my cue to switch over to the prayer station:  I convince my mind to pray a repetitive prayer instead.  We Catholics have lots of them.  Honestly, the Hail Mary is a bit long for me while I’m working. I get distracted!  My favorite is, “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world.”  It’s from the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and it has just the right rhythm to chop food by.  I don’t count ten of them, I just go until I have to focus my brain on dinner again.

If you’re not Catholic and not comfortable with these prayers, I would encourage you to try something like this:

A favorite praise song

“Lord, have mercy”

“Christ, have mercy”

“Jesus, remember me”

repeat the Name of Jesus

“Bless my family, Lord”

or any phrase that you feel is worthwhile to tell the Lord rather than your ABCs!

Especially as we work our way through Lent this year, I want to challenge you to be prayerful in the kitchen. If you can harness your repetitive mind and turn it towards God with this method, please try it!  The world needs our prayers.

Katie Kimball is an at-home mom of two little ones from Southwest Michigan.  She blogs at Kitchen Stewardship: www.kitchenstewardship.com, where you can receive weekly challenges to help you attain better stewardship of God’s gifts of our health, earth, time and money.  This article is a reprint of a “Mary and Martha Moment”, occasional encouragement to prayer and faithfulness while you work in the kitchen.