Category - Faith

I remember this day seven years ago.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.  The sun was shining, there was a slight breeze and the temperature was mild.

My husband called to tell me that he was ok.  “Of course you are,” I said.  “Everything’s going on in New York.”

Then he informed me that one of his co-workers had seen a plane hit the Pentagon.  Not a minute later, the newscast  I was watching starting showing the evacuation of the White House, a black plume of smoke visible in the background.  It took several more minutes of speculation before they were confirming what Philip had told me.

This part of the story is unremarkable. The part that really gives you cause to stop and contemplate the hand of God is that Philip was supposed to be at the Pentagon that day.

When he started his job in July 2001, his office was located in an office building in Crystal City, not far from the physical structure of the Pentagon.  He was assigned to one of the many departments temporarily displaced by the renovation of the Pentagon, but they were planning on moving in to their new office space in August.  His first week at the new job he told me he wouldn’t bother bringing in his box of office decorations because they’d be moving in a month.

Well, government contractors aren’t known for their ability finish a job on time and to standard, so it was no surprise when the August move-in date was pushed back until October 2001.  Perhaps you remember that one reason that the Pentagon didn’t suffer more casualties was because the plane hit the empty offices that were awaiting renovation.

Later Philip brought home a map showing the parts of the building hit by the plane and destroyed by fire.  Those that his department would have been sitting in were destroyed.

The hand of God, right there.  It was not yet Philip’s time to go.

So yes, I remember this day seven years ago.  But harder still, I remember this day four years ago.  It was the beginning of the end.  Every year I think I’ll be ok and make it through without crying.

Maybe next year.

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Our family enjoys praying the Rosary, especially during hard times. During Philip’s recent trip the Afghanistan, at the request of the children, we prayed the Rosary frequently. It’s comforting to take the time at the end of a busy day and pray and think about the lives of Mary and Jesus.

Praying the rosary requires the children to be quiet and still for at least 20 minutes. We’re lucky because our children do enjoy the rosary, but I think that comes in part from including them with their own special rosaries and having them actively participate. We try to make it a special time to be looked forward to, not something done out of obligation.

We know the basics of praying the rosary, but we don’t alway remember all the Mysteries, and we frequently confuse the Apostle’s Creed with the Nicene Creed. Nobody but me knows the Hail Holy Queen. To help us, we use the book “The Holy Rosary.” It’s written for children, so it’s very easy to understand. Each mystery has a brief (one paragraph) reading to help us to follow the example of Mary in relationship with her life with Jesus. Boo likes to announce each mystery and Pumpkin Girl likes to do the reading aloud.

We have quite the family collection of Rosaries. This one is mine, it was a gift from Philip and it has its own box. Both my Rosary and its box are from the Vatican Library Collection.

Philip’s rosary was a gift from me and I made it! He also has a Ranger Rosary, which like Michelle’s husband, he often keeps in the pocket of his ACU’s. He tells me that he always has one in his bag, too. I made his Ranger Rosary, too.

Boo’s Rosary was a First Communion present and…you’ve guessed it, was made by me! It has his initials and the date of his First Communion engraved on the crucifix.

Pumpkin’s Rosary was a gift from my parents and they bought it at the Vatican. Our family has a special connection to rainbows and when my parents found this rosary with beads in the colors of the rainbow, they knew that it should go to Pumpkin.

Even Bip has his own rosary. Yep, I made this one, too. Wooden beads strung on the same parachute chord that the Ranger Rosary is made from make this one practically indestructible. Bip likes to have his own rosary while we pray. It helps him feel like part of the team, as Philip would say. To help keep him busy and relatively quiet, he also has a small collection of laminated holy cards. He likes to look through them and sort them.

The meditative prayer that is the rosary is restorative and calming. However, I’ll be honest-it’s easy, at least for me, to let my mind wander. To help me focus when I’m praying the rosary alone, I like to listen to Praying the Rosary with St. Therese de Lisieux.

We’ve all heard the expression “The family that prays together stays together.” I’ve also heard of several families that say that their days go better when they are praying the rosary regularly. No doubt about it, there is nothing more lovely than the rosary.

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