Messenger
BI-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF OUR LADY’S ROSARY MAKERS
A.M.D.G. For the Greater Glory of God “Say the Rosary every day… Pray, pray a lot and offer sacrifices for sinners… I’m Our Lady of the Rosary. Only I will be able to help you. …In the end My Immaculate Heart will triumph.” Our Lady at Fatima
FOUNDER Br. Sylvan Mattingly, C.F.X. Long haunted by the urgency of Mary’s words at Fatima, Brother had a burning desire to do something special for Mary, the Mother of God. He was a humble, holy man who shared his talent of rosary making with others.
January/February 2009
VOL. 10, NO. 1
Dear Rosary Makers,
Here we go with a few, perhaps or perhaps not, random thoughts that to me are tied together. I hope I have done an adequate job of tying them together for you. A few newsletters ago reference was made to Googling (using Google) on the Internet. Google is a fascinating Internet search mechanism. Curiosity took hold and had one wondering how the name Google came to be. The thought in my mind was that it had something to do with the word ‘ogle’. With a little Googling, one learned that the name derived from the word ‘googol’.
A googol is the large number 10100, that is, the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros (in decimal representation). This spawned thoughts about the power of 10. This spawned thoughts of decades of Hail Marys and the power of the Rosary and the prayers the Rosary incorporates. At any rate, large numbers directed my thoughts toward the economy, which once again took me back to Google. With thoughts of economy, economics, economic stimulus, etc. on my mind, the search began. Underlying these thoughts were previously conceived ideas such as: “is there a prayer economy?” and “if there is a prayer economy, wouldn’t the Rosary be a stimulus to this economy?” The ultimate Google in this process was the exact phrase, “economy of prayer”. The results lead to the website of Irish tenor Mark Forrest and a beautiful story of life. This happened because Mark in the close of the story (actually it was a testimony) explained the “Divine economy of prayer”. He said, “All of our prayers go into a big pool and God decides which prayers go where. But never is there a prayer in anyone’s heart that is not answered. Several times we prayed for our baby to be healed. And we felt the power of your prayers for his healing. All those prayers were answered in God’s way…” In the midst of all these thoughts I received phone calls from two Tom’s. Random? Perhaps or perhaps not. One Tom was offering improvement to the OLRM website. Our conversation became somewhat extended, sharing one thought or another about the power of the Rosary. He assured me by conversation’s end the call was not random. The other Tom representing the Springtime of Faith Foundation had randomly, perhaps or perhaps not, contacted me several days ago about OLRM attending their conference. He felt it would be an opportunity to promote the rosary and rosary making. After a short bout of phone tag, this other Tom and I spoke about finalizing my plans for attending the conference. In the course of this conversation, one comment led to another and it came to light that this Tom and Mark Forrest were very good friends. Talk about random. Perhaps or perhaps not. These thoughts may strike you as being something like a silver ball bouncing around in a pinball machine. However, from my perspective they are offered in the realm of Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” At this point, on course or off course, I will close this discourse. Let us consider in some respect the Rosary is Mary’s website. When in making and praying the Rosary, in a manner of speaking, we Google the life of Christ searching the power of 10, the power of the Rosary in faith, realizing the possibilities are GOOGOL.