{"id":5472,"date":"2020-10-14T10:10:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T15:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/?p=5472"},"modified":"2020-10-14T10:10:25","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T15:10:25","slug":"my-rosary-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/","title":{"rendered":"My Rosary Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On a Saturday afternoon in June, I found myself outside, walking the peaceful grounds of a retreat center in rural South Dakota. It was the third day of my annual four-day, silent retreat.<\/p>\n<p>On this delightful summer day, the sun was shining, and the breeze was gentle. I reached the gazebo in front of the beautiful Mary statue and noticed that the swing inside the covered refuge was empty. And it beckoned me to take a seat.<\/p>\n<p>As I sat down, I greeted Our Lady; it was the Feast of her Immaculate Heart. And within seconds, I had an overwhelming desire to pray the Rosary. I am certain this was simply a response to Mary\u2019s quiet invitation.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Praying the Rosary with Scripture<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Since it was a Saturday, I settled into praying the Joyful Mysteries. But before I got too far into the calming rhythm of prayer, I was compelled to open my Bible and pray along with the Scriptures that accompany each mystery.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Joyful Mysteries<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Annunciation: Luke 1:26-38<\/li>\n<li>Visitation: Luke 1:39-56<\/li>\n<li>Nativity: Luke 2:1-20<\/li>\n<li>Presentation: Luke 2:22-38<\/li>\n<li>Finding Jesus in the Temple: Luke 2: 41-52<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As I read each Scripture passage and prayed the corresponding Rosary decade, I prayed for each of my family members. And I could not believe how perfectly the passages and mysteries fit with my personal prayers for my husband and children. I cannot share each intention here, for the sake of my family\u2019s privacy, but one I can share relates to the Visitation.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>A Personal Visitation<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>After reading the Gospel account, I immediately started to cry. This Gospel reminds me of the daughter I lost to miscarriage in 2019. We named her Eva Elizabeth \u2014 after Mary (the new Eve) and St. Elizabeth. In verse 56, \u201cMary remained with [Elizabeth] about three months and then returned to her home.\u201d My Eva remained with me for about three months, too, before returning to her true home in Heaven.<\/p>\n<p>I was startled to have such a strong response. After all, it had been a year. But my intention was real and raw. I prayed that the empty hole Eva left in our family would be filled with the hope we have in Heaven. I especially prayed for my children who continue to feel Eva\u2019s absence and talk about how much they miss the sister they never met.<\/p>\n<p>And then I asked Mama Mary if Eva could pray this mystery with us. I knew that Mary had granted my request, when a rush of consolation and peace came upon me. I even envisioned Eva sitting on Mary\u2019s lap, as the three of us prayed together.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cMy soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.&#8221; (Luke 1:46-55)\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><strong>Prayer: Heaven on Earth<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>After I finished my Rosary, I marveled at the beauty of my prayer time. While my spirit rested in God\u2019s presence, I listened to the birds praise God with their singing. I saw the creek moving along happily. The wind blew against the grassy patch to my left, but it was quieter in front of me, and I sensed the Holy Spirit knew full well that He was welcome in this place.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cThe wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.&#8221; (John 3:8)\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In this prayerful moment, it was as if the veil between Heaven and Earth was lifted just a little. I knew without a doubt that I was exactly where I was meant to be, doing exactly what I was meant to do in that exact moment. I don\u2019t know if I have ever felt so in tune, so in touch with God\u2019s will or His presence.<\/p>\n<p>This was probably one of the most profound prayer experiences of my life. And it all stemmed from Mary\u2019s simple invitation to sit before her statue and pray the Rosary. What amazing things can happen when we give our fiat, when we answer yes.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cThe Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.\u201d (Luke 1:49)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>This was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicmom.com\/articles\/my-rosary-story-a-quiet-invitation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CatholicMom.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sarah Damm shares a personal story of comfort and consolation received while praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[59],"tags":[3,8,27,69,7],"class_list":["post-5472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","tag-faith","tag-mary","tag-prayer","tag-scripture","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>My Rosary Story - Sarah Damm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sarah Damm shares a personal story of comfort and consolation received while praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Rosary Story - Sarah Damm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sarah Damm shares a personal story of comfort and consolation received while praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sarah Damm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-14T15:10:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Rosary-Story.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sarahcdamm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sarahcdamm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\"},\"headline\":\"My Rosary Story\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-14T15:10:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-14T15:10:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/\"},\"wordCount\":694,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Rosary-Story.png\",\"keywords\":[\"faith\",\"Mary\",\"prayer\",\"scripture\",\"writing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"faith\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/\",\"name\":\"My Rosary Story - Sarah Damm\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Rosary-Story.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-14T15:10:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-14T15:10:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"Sarah Damm shares a personal story of comfort and consolation received while praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Rosary-Story.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Rosary-Story.png\",\"width\":720,\"height\":340,\"caption\":\"My Rosary Story | sarahdamm.com\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"My Rosary Story\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sarah Damm\",\"description\":\"Catholic. Wife. Mother. Writer.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\",\"name\":\"Sarah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg\",\"width\":1152,\"height\":1152,\"caption\":\"Sarah\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My Rosary Story - Sarah Damm","description":"Sarah Damm shares a personal story of comfort and consolation received while praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"My Rosary Story - Sarah Damm","og_description":"Sarah Damm shares a personal story of comfort and consolation received while praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.","og_url":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/","og_site_name":"Sarah Damm","article_published_time":"2020-10-14T15:10:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":340,"url":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Rosary-Story.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sarah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sarahcdamm","twitter_site":"@sarahcdamm","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sarah","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/"},"author":{"name":"Sarah","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a"},"headline":"My Rosary Story","datePublished":"2020-10-14T15:10:25+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-14T15:10:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/"},"wordCount":694,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Rosary-Story.png","keywords":["faith","Mary","prayer","scripture","writing"],"articleSection":["faith"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/","url":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/","name":"My Rosary Story - Sarah Damm","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Rosary-Story.png","datePublished":"2020-10-14T15:10:25+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-14T15:10:25+00:00","description":"Sarah Damm shares a personal story of comfort and consolation received while praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Rosary-Story.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Rosary-Story.png","width":720,"height":340,"caption":"My Rosary Story | sarahdamm.com"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/14\/my-rosary-story\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"My Rosary Story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/","name":"Sarah Damm","description":"Catholic. Wife. Mother. Writer.","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a","name":"Sarah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg","width":1152,"height":1152,"caption":"Sarah"},"logo":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/sarahdamm.com"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Rosary-Story.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p86xr0-1qg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5472"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5479,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5472\/revisions\/5479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}