To you, the last day of October probably means Halloween. It might also remind you that it’s time for the infernal time change.  You might be planning your trick-or-treating antics (or dreading them), or maybe you’re done with that in your part of the world.

450px-Rosary_2006-01-23To me, the last day of October means the last day of the Month of the Rosary.

(That either makes me an endearing Mary geek or an insufferable Mary obsessor.)

Before you go writing the month off and moving along to trying something else, let me put a final plug in for the rosary.

I know it’s not easy. I know that, for some of you, I might be kicking a dead devotion, one which you think has no hope of life.

But sometimes, we measure success by the wrong standard.  I do this all the time.

Have I planned it and coordinated it and figured it all out?
Is it going the way I want it to go?
Am I the one in control?

I propose a different way to assess effectiveness with the rosary.

Have I tried it?
Have I asked for help…from a friend, from someone with a devotion to it, from Mary herself?
Have I actually sat down and spent time with Jesus’ life?

Maybe you struggle in different ways.  These questions reflect MY specific struggles with the rosary, and you can see that there’s a theme of pride and stubbornness.  You might have to discern the questions that help you reflect on a way to approach the rosary.  For me, it came down to making time and just doing it.

The rosary is a trip down Memory Lane.  Through the rosary, we keep ourselves busy and we enter into meditation on the most important parts of our Christian faith: Jesus’ life.

You might not feel anything.  This isn’t about feelings.  It isn’t about bolts of lightening or sudden insight.

It’s about making time, taking Mary’s hand, and venturing into the place of the rosary.

You can do it!  She will help.  (And I will pray for you.)