Honoring the Virgin On the Eve of Her Feast-THe Patristic Rosary

As I try to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary the next couple days I wanted to point out a great resource as to her devotion . This involves the most Holy Rosary.

When I converted to Catholicism I still had bad habits I had to overcome. Some converts have less hangups than others. Coming from a Southern Baptist background , dealing with and embracing the facts that the bread and wine I see is really Jesus, the fact that once saved always saved is incorrect, Saints, sacraments, an ordained priesthood, Holy Tradition, rejecting Sola Scriptoria, Popes, and various other Church teachings is a lot to deal with in a year. That is why I really encourage Catholics strong in their faith to check in on converts and cradle Catholics that discovered the faith again. The journey for converts is not ending on Holy Saturday night it is just starting

The rosary was tough for me. In the end I think my hang up had little to do with past religious bias but the fact that I was forced to spend 15 minutes in forced concentrated prayer. My mind wanders a lot and it was tough. Also as I stated before until recently it took a while for me to fully embrace Mary as my mother on more than just an intellectual level.

Now I love the Churuch Fathers and patristics. In fact that early Christian witness along with God's grace is what brought me into the Church. Therefore I want to introduce to resource that combines the two and makes the devotion to the Rosary more helpful. That is Father's Z's Patristic Rosary project. To say the least this is great mediatation material. It is not something to read and do in the car as you go to work. But it is a good resource for those that want to spend a little bit more time on the rosary. What Father Z is doing is seeking out what the Early Church Fathers had to say as to the various mysteries we meditate on . Father Z deals with each mystery by referencing patristic thoughts in the subject . He also gives his excellent includes his own commentary. It is both Patristic and Scripture based.

I find this really excellent in many ways.

By the way a convert that is blogging did a excellent series of post on subjects relating to Mary and the Rosary. I shall be picking out bloogers that have really helped me get to know my Mother better. Here are her posts:

Here are those.
Why So Many Hail Mary's?
What's That Again? (Repetitive Prayer)
Why Does the Rosary Have More Hail Mary's Than Our Father's?
Thoughts about the Hail Mary
Immaculate Conception and Assumption in Brief
Honoring Mary
Immaculate Conception: "All" Have Sinned
Who Is Mary? Or How The Old Testament Instructs Catholics About Mary.
Zechariah and Mary