NOVENA, FIRST DAY, THE HOLY ROSARY

Hello.  Blessings to you all.  Believe it or not what you are seeing here is the Holy Rosary.  It is a photo album outline of the life of Our Lord and Savior Jesus-Christ.
It is a Graphic resume of the gospels.  It puts life, death and resurrection before our very eyes.  It is the reminder of the 150 Psalms that form the core of the official daily prayer of the Church.  The Rosary is the spiritual spine of the Church.  The Rosary is the poor person's Bible.  The Rosary is also the refuge of the sinner.  The Rosary is perhaps the only truly universal prayer that links Catholics to Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the Church.  The Rosary is Prayer, Bible and Catechism.

The Rosary is not a mantra.  You all know that Jesus forbade us to pray like the pagans, multiplying words because the multiplication of the words would have an effect on the divinity. (Mt. 6; 7 - 8) The Rosary is a meditation on the life of Christ as following His miraculous conception and birth through Mary.  The Rosary is an experience in the respect of life.  It is also a reminder that we are going to need divine help to be born well, to live well and to die well.  
There used to be a wide spread devotion to the "Good Death."  It came from the last petition in the Hail Mary," ...pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death."  This devotion has fallen into desuetude over time, but every time we pray the Rosary at a wake, we pray for ourselves as much as we pray for the soul of the deceased.

When we pray the Rosary, we are following the directions of Jesus: "Do this is memory of me."  Whenever we do something in memory of anybody, the action brings that person into our presence.  In the case of the Rosary, the person brought into our presence is Jesus Himself.  How could it be otherwise as we are reflecting on the mysteries of His life to begin with.  Over and above that, what are we to do about the faith that we put into His saying that, "where two or more of you will be gathered in my name, I will be there among you.   (Mt. 18; 20)  In the case if the Rosary, it is Mary who is presenting Him to us.  She does this well.  Just ask the host from the wedding at Cana.  It is therefore comforting to know that Jesus, Mary and Joseph are dynamically present during the praying of the Rosary at a Catholic wake.
That's why I want a wake.  No one will cry at my wake.  If they don't cry at the wake they won't have any reason to cry at my funeral.