Holy Thursday

March 20, 2008

Before I attended the Thursday Night Prayer Group at St. Joseph’s the thought of praying the rosary never even as much as crossed my mind. It was just something I never did. After attending the prayer group and apparitions in St. Joseph’s the desire to pray the rosary increased. It got to the point where the thought of not praying the rosary never crossed my mind.

It has now been almost 10 years since I first attended the Thursday Night Prayer Group and I do pray the rosary everyday, usually twice but at least once. For years now I have noticed that one of the days that I feel even more attracted to the rosary is Holy Thursday so I pray the entire rosary throughout the course of the day. I never plan or time when I will pray I just take the opportunity as it presents itself. This year was no exception.

Because of Holy Thursday there was no mass anywhere. I left to go to work and I stopped by St. Joseph’s along the way just to say a prayer to start the day. When I arrived at St. Joseph’s there was a car parked in front of the church and it had the license plate of 33. I said a few prayers and left.

I drove to Manassas and went straight to work. I was busy all morning and never gave any thought to the time whatsoever. Later in the day there was a bit of a slowdown so I took that opportunity to take my lunch break and go across the street to All Saints to pray the rosary. I arrived and the odometer was 3.3. I went in the chapel and prayed the Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries. I never looked at the time until I finished and the time was 1:33.

I went back to work and the rest of the afternoon was surprisingly slow. My co-worker Dan McL and I finished everything. Later Dan said “Let’s call it a day and go.” With that I glanced at my watch knowing I was now going back to Emmitsburg to attend the 7:30 Mass of the Last Supper at St. Joseph’s. I glanced at my watch and the time was 5:13:33.

I drove back to Emmitsburg and arrived at St. Joseph. I glanced at my watch as I walked in the door and the time was 7:13. I took this opportunity to pray another rosary before mass started. I prayed the Luminous mysteries and completed it just as mass was starting at 7:33.

Just after mass began an usher tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I would help take up the collection. I said yes and for some reason I glanced at my watch and it said XX:XX:13.

It was a very nice mass with Fr. Steve, Fr. Murphy and Fr. O’Malley. Mass ended and they had exposition of the Blessed Sacrament until 10 PM. This gave me the opportunity to complete the rosary by praying the Joyful mysteries. I glanced at my watch as I finished the entire rosary for the day and the time was 9:13:13.

R_____ C___

April 13, 2008

8:33:00 Pm