It happens when I’m praying in the mornings.
Sometimes, depending on how much sleep I’ve gotten the night before, I get distracted while praying the Rosary, and forget which Hail Mary I’m on. I noticed that every so often the man reading the Rosary, Jonathan Roumie, actually, (who plays Jesus in the amazing tv show The Chosen), adds a bit of emphasis at the beginning of the 5th prayer, as if he’s just come back from somewhere, and is newly energized. If I’m paying any kind of attention, I can get back in sync with the prayers.
For those who don’t pray the Rosary, or know much about it, it contains 5 decades, which contain 10 Hail Mary’s, hence the term decade. Before each decade is a mystery, of which there are 4 specific mysteries: Glorious, Joyous, Luminous, and Sorrowful. So, a different mystery is prayed each day, but within the mystery category, there are 5 specific readings given. Very quickly, let me explain a bit more.
For example, 0n Tuesdays, and Fridays we pray the Sorrowful mysteries which are 1) The Agony in the Garden, 2) The Scourging at the Pillar, 3) The Crowning with Thorns, 4) The Carrying of the Cross, and 5) The Crucifixion. So each mystery has a short reading, and what “the fruit of this mystery” entails, then on to the Hail Mary’s.
Before each decade we pray the Our Father, and afterwards, the Glory Be, the Fatima Prayer, (given to three children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917 by the Holy Mother herself), then the next mystery, and then the 10 Hail Mary’s. It takes about 30 minutes, provided the internet is cooperating, plus I listen to Jonathan at 1.5x the normal speed. The “normal” speed is absolutely intolerable to me. However, I look forward to the 5th Hail Mary of many of the decades I pray. It’s just enough of a jolt that it wakes me up. Every time it happens to me it makes me chuckle, as if God is telling me to pay more attention to my prayers.
So I do. Who am I to argue with God?!
Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.