Even Primark seem to be selling their gear on mannequins wearing a Rosary in the shop window. Bizarre. I guess most Rosaries are made in China or India by little slave children nowadays as well.
Today, I went for a drink with a friend and managed to grab (metaphorically speaking) the worker at a pub with buddha statues all over the place.
I don't know whether he was barman, the owner, landlord or chef. He was rushing past me to get to where he needed to go. I quickly managed to ask him whether he "prayed those" beads hanging around his neck. He answered "no" and given that I had a Rosary leaflet in my bag, I quickly whipped one out and stuck it in his hand. He just said, "thanks" and went on with whatever he was doing. I've been wanting to do that for a long time.
If you're going to wear our Rosaries, pray to Our Blessed Lady! Yes, that includes you young Justin Bieber!
This is purely anecdotal, but I noticed this prctice becoming increasingly common about 15 years ago. It orginally seemed to be young men of Eastern European origins wearing them, who were presumably from a Catholic background. It later seemed to catch on as a fashion idea even among those who had no grounding in Catholic spirituality. The best we can hope for probably is that the wearers will one day look in the mirror and wonder what it is really for ... it is certainly something we can pray for.
ReplyDeleteWell done L!
ReplyDeleteJ
I don't know how true this is, but I have been told that rosary wearing is - among other things - a code among drug users and sellers: particular colours are used to communicate that the wearer is looking for drugs / has drugs for sale / etc.
ReplyDeleteAh, that would explain quite a lot!
ReplyDeleteCatholic iDare: grab the next Rosary you see being worn as jewellery and kiss the feet of Our Lord.
ReplyDeleteSt Louis de Montfort told a story about Alphonsus, King of Leon and Galicia, who wore a Rosary but never said it: http://yhoo.it/iP2Zoj
The real challenge is to let others wearing Rosaries inspire us to say us more regularly and devoutly. While I'm at it, this is a nice video to encouage that: http://bit.ly/kfQmuw