Stations of the Cross Chaplet

In honor of Lent I am offering another Stations of the Cross chaplet.   It is very much like the chaplet I posted earlier in the week except that the beads are 5mm by 6mm Hematite.   Hematite is also known as The Bloodstone, Hema being derived from the Greek word for blood.   It seems strange that a stone, a mineral actually, that is a shiny, silvery gray color should be known as the Bloodstone.  However, if you break a piece of Hematite open, the center of it is red.   What stone can be more appropriate to use to meditate on the Via Crucis where Christ shed his scared blood for us.   Please click here to learn more about this chaplet and please visit my shop HolyNameRosaries.com to see more of my unbreakable rosaries and chaplets. 

I'm Not Coming Back!

                                 I’m going to follow God,

                                 I’m not coming back

                                                                Navajo Saying

How many times have we ever gone someplace and realized that we would never be coming back?  I know I haven’t.   Most people, when they plan a trip, almost always plan a return trip.   The return may not be immediate.   In fact, it may be many years down the road.   However, we almost always plan to come back home.   

I read this powerful little quote in a newsletter named “Raven’s Bread”.   It is a Navajo poem and was sent in by a woman who was sharing her thoughts on it.   I will be forever in this woman’s debt.

This little quote has had a huge impact on me.  The first line is something I’ve heard countless times in my Christian journey, said by myself and many other people who love the Lord and want to follow Him.   However, the second line of this little poem really struck me.  I never realized that when you follow the Lord, there is no return trip, there is no coming back, there is no going home.  

How I managed to miss that one is beyond me…it is all over the gospels.   Jesus said it most blatantly when He told Peter to let the dead bury the dead.  Nevertheless, miss it I did.  It made me realize that in my journey with the Lord I had been holding onto things…things in my past…things I thought I needed…things that made me feel safe.  It was like I was hedging my bets without realizing it.

As I thought about all this, I just decided to let it all go…throw it all to the wind and follow the Lord without reservation, without holding on, without “things”.  It gave me the first taste of freedom that I had in a long time.  How good it feels to say “I’m not coming back!”

I would love to know what your thoughts are on this little poem.   Please write a comment and let me know if it has any impact on you and please share what that impact may be.

Stations of the Cross Chaplet

Also known as the Via Dolorosa or Via Crucis, the Stations of the Cross is one of the most meaningful ways to meditate on the Passion of Our Lord.

While most chaplets honoring the Way of the Cross which have medals, this chaplet has finely detailed sculptural images depicting the individual stations. They are comprised of silver colored metal. The beads are black onyx which are in keeping with the solemn nature of the Stations. The black beads represent our sinful nature and our penance. The red beads on the connectors represent the Blood of Christ which was shed for us. Appropriately, at the center of it all is the Sacred Heart of Jesus because it is His heart and His love for us which led Him to sacrifice Himself for us. The crucifix shows Mary the Mother of Jesus and John the Apostle at the foot of the cross. Please note the third and fourth pictures depict 12 of the 14 Stations. This will give you an idea of what they look like.  Please click here to learn more about this chaplet and please visit LaudeArtsandGifts.com to view more of my unbreakable rosaries and chaplets.

St Kateri Tekakwitha Rosary

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American to be beatified. She was born in 1656. As young girl, she contracted small pox and her face was terribly disfigured by the disease. She converted to Catholicism as a young woman and because of this she was shunned by her tribe. She suffered greatly because of her faith. She was devoted to the Eucharist and cared for the sick and elderly. Like St. Therese, she died at the tender age of 24. After she died, the terrible scars from the small pox disappeared leaving her skin smooth and unmarred. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and she will be canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct 21, 2012. She is the patron of the environment and ecology.

I love the Aves in this rosary. They are 8mm reconstituted howlite and are predominately blue with small patches of tan and black veins. The remind me of little stained glass windows or even mosaics. The Pater beads accent the Aves very nicely. They are comprised of 8mm black onyx beads flanked by 6mm onyx beads accented with a swirl of silver plated wire. The center and the crucifix are silver colored metal and the wire is silver plated copper.  Please click here to learn more about this rosary and please visit LaudeArtsandGifts.com to see more of my unbreakable rosaries and chaplets.

Thought for the Day

Disciple:  Master, what do I need to do to become enlightened?

Master:  As little as you can do to make the sun rise in the morning.

Disciple: Then what is the benefit of all the spiritual exercises that you give me to do?

Master:  So you will be awake when the sun begins to rise. 

                                 Anonymous saying from the Desert Fathers

Lazo Wedding Rosary

Lazo Wedding Rosary at LaudeArtsandGifts.com

The Lazo or Lasso Rosary has Mexican origins. Basically, a Lazo rosary is two full rosaries joined together by one crucifix. It symbolizes the union of the bride and groom in marriage. Traditionally, the godparents or sponsors of the couple getting married place the rosary around the bride's neck and around the groom's neck during the wedding ceremony. Special prayers are then said to join them in Holy Matrimony. After the wedding, one of two things can be done. Some couples keep the rosary so that they can use it to pray together and then later pass it along to their children when they get married. Other couples break the rosary down into two separate rosaries. Then they give one rosary to the bride's mother and the other to the groom's mother as keepsakes of the wedding.

The Pater beads in this rosary are comprised of handmade wedding cake beads, the Aves are white Czech glass beads.   The crucifix and the three centers are lead free pewter.   Please click here to learn more about this stunning rosary.   Also, please visit my shop at LaudeArtsandGifts.com to view more of my rosaries and chaplets. 

The Last Gift

Recently, a very dear friend of mine died.   We were best friends from the minute we met and for 16 years, our friendship grew and became a sheltering tree that nourished us and helped us both to grow as human beings.   In the past few years, she was very sick and while her death was not unexpected, it still caught me by surprise.  I wonder if it is ever possible to be prepared for the death of a loved one?   There will be a hole in my heart and in my life without her.

One of the problems we always seemed to muddle through together was a paucity of funds.  She was always worried about how she was going to support her children, and keep a roof over their heads.  While I live alone, I had the same struggles of trying to keep my head above water financially.   It was almost like we took turns worrying about how to pay the rent or how to keep the electric from being shut off or, at times, even how to pay to put gas in the car.  Somehow, it always helped to have someone to share the struggle and somehow we always made it through.

When I heard of her death, the first thought that went thru my mind was: “Well…now Jeanie doesn’t have to worry about the price of gas”.   I can say honestly, that is not the first thought I expected to have.  Nevertheless, that is that thought that went thru my mind.  I then found myself wondering what it is like to be in a place where you don’t have to worry about the price or gas…or the price of anything else for that matter.

Then, in the face of eternity, I realized how senseless and meaningless our pursuit of money really is.   That does not mean that it isn’t a necessary pursuit.  After all, everyone needs to eat and provide shelter for themselves.   It’s just that it is a pursuit that has no meaning when measured against eternity.

Then I wondered…”what does have meaning in the face of eternity?”   Again, the answer was unexpected.   I expected to think that helping other people, serving God, giving to charity and many other things would have meaning.  I am not saying they don’t have meaning, I’m just saying those thoughts did not go thru my mind.  The thought that did go thru my mind was: “The rosary has meaning in the face of eternity”.   I was surprised.  

I make and sell rosaries.   I pray the rosary often and it has always been meaningful to me.  So, of course, I wasn’t surprised to see that the rosary has meaning in the face of eternity.   It was the profound depth of meaning and the tangibility it gives our relationship with the Lord that caught me unaware.  In my mind, I saw the beads of the rosary stretched out like stepping stones across the sky with one end on earth and the other in heaven.   I saw that the rosary is, in a very real way, a tether that binds heaven to earth and the prayers we pray on each bead can, like stones in a stream, bear us into the Lord’s presence.

In this manner, it truly is a sacramental.   The rosary is a very real, tangible, almost lowly material object made of beads and bits of wire.   However, when prayed with an open heart, these beads transcend themselves and enable our prayers to become open doors that we as mere mortals can walk up to and meet Jesus who steps thru to be with us.   Furthermore, this collection of beads and wire gives us something that we can literally hold onto as it helps to move us deeper into our relationship with the Lord and with His Mother.

My friend Jeanie was a “dyed in the wool” Baptist who never prayed the rosary a day in her life.   Still, as I contemplate the deeper meaning of the rosary that opened up to me soon after she died, I can’t help but think that this was her last parting gift to me.   Jeanie gave me many gifts, all of which I will cherish, but her last gift to me was, far and away, the best gift.  Thank you my dear friend.