A piece of sunshine

200 beads of gratitude

Prayer beads like the rosary ("rosarium" in Latin means "rose garden" or "bouquet of roses") are used not only by Catholics but also Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims to mark the repetitions of prayer or mantra. The earliest prayer beads are said to originate from Hindu prayers around 500 B.C. in India. The English word "bead" derives from "gebed" in Old English and "bede" in Dutch, which means a prayer.

 

In the early church, pagans wore a garland decorated with roses on their heads to dedicate themselves to a deity, and Christians offered a bunch of roses for prayer. When Christians were persecuted in an amphitheater, they went inside with a rose wreath on their heads. After martyrdom, people outside took care of their corpses while praying for each petal of the rose.

 

St. Dominic (1170-1221) in the 13th century asked people to say "Hail Mary" 150 times to overcome heretics. The present form of the rosary prayer was settled when Dominican Br. Alan de la Roche in 1464 suggested three Mysteries (Joy, Sorrow, Glory) to meditate on the life and ministry of Jesus.

 

In 1509, Pope Pio V proclaimed the rosary with 15 decades. The fourth Mystery of the light was added by St. John Paul II in 2002.

 

The rosary prayer has constantly been practiced since Mary the Virgin "appeared" in 1830 in Paris. Mary earnestly asked people to keep praying the rosary when she appeared in Lourdes in 1858 and in Fatima in 1917.

 

The total number of beads differs among different religions. Islam has 99 or 33 beads; Hindus and Buddhists have 108 or 27 beads. The Eastern Orthodox Christians have a knotted prayer rope with 100 knots. The Anglican rosary has 33 beads.

 

A Catholic rosary usually has 59 beads. Each Mystery has 5 decades. We pray the Lord's prayer, recite the Hail Mary 10 times, and a Glory to God for each decade.

 

Praying the rosary has become a stable and habitual devotion to Mary. My mother was fond of praying the rosary with various kinds of rosary.

 

Among the rosaries she had, there was a special form with 200 pearl-like beads. It was called the Rosary of Gratitude, which I bought when I took a pilgrim to a martyrdom shrine. It was meant to repeat two simple prayers only: "God, thank you" 100 times and "Jesus, thank you" 100 times.

 

After the funeral of my mother, I asked a favor of a sister to make three rosaries from 200 beads in memory of my mom's faithful prayer.

 

Out of 200 beads, I had three rosaries made and shared them with my elder sister and a nephew who is a Religious Brother of the Society of St. Paul.

 

After receiving that special rosary, my elder sister who expected to see mom at least once in her dreams shared one with me; our mother appeared to her in the image of holding a flower wreath decorated with lots of pretty fruit in her hand. Our mother was sharing the fruit with others. What a beautiful dream it was!

 

"On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure... The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces… Let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!"(Is 25:6-9)

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