Rosary Miracle

Mother's Day weekend my daughter, Beezy, and I attended a mother-daughter banquet at church. Among the gifts for the little girls was a pink rosary with plastic beads held together by string, and a felt pouch in which to keep it. Beezy also already had a chain rosary with red beads, and she kept both in the pouch under her pillow at night. After a bout with the stomach flu last week involving numerous puking episodes, her dad put the bedding in the wash on hot. He did not realize until after drying it that he had inadvertently washed the rosaries.

The chain had come apart on the red rosary, but it was going to be fixable. This was a relief, because it was a vintage rosary given to her by our priest to replace her very first rosary, which had been purchased at the church book sale and blessed by him, but then had broken shortly after. The pink rosary was another story. The two were tangled together, and the strings of the pink one had become seriously frayed and undone. It looked like a mess and was obviously ruined. I was sad, since we had so much enjoyed the mother-daughter banquet, and this was a special memento of the day. I lovingly cut the strings to extricate the chain rosary, and set about repairing it with pliers and my fingernails.

Once finished with the red rosary, I picked up the pink one, thinking I would just have to throw it away. But for some reason I decided to untangle it first. As I went along, a strange feeling overcame me, and at last I realized that the rosary was completely intact. It was as if I had never cut it, as if it had never gone through the washing machine at all! I was holding the cut threads in my hand, yet there was nothing missing from the rosary, no place that was frayed or unraveled. It was perfect. The handmade, felt pouch had also come through without any sign of damage.

What does this mean? It means whatever it means to you. For me, the message is that what has been severed will be restored. What has been broken will be made whole, even if I have cut it apart with my own hands. My prayers will be answered. The circle of roses is forever unbroken. For with God nothing is impossible.