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by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
October 16, 2012
“Praying, praying ‘round the garden,
Hail Mary, full of grace, oh yeah!
Praying, praying ‘round the garden,
The Lord is with you. Oh, yeah!”
* * *
There are roughly 20 million Filipino children aged 5 to 14 years according to the 2010 census conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) of the Philippines. That’s a staggering number of young people who may hardly know how to say the rosary. But ask them if they know apl.de.ap, internationally-known rapper of the Black Eyed Peas, and you get a resounding, “Yo!”
(Don’t get me wrong. I admire and respect apl.de.ap for the positive message in his songs and for his education advocacy in the Philippines.)
I don’t have the hard data on the number of young people who do not know how to say the rosary. All I have are opinions and perceptions of oldies like me. Just recently, a neighbor, whom we invited to join us count beads, lamented that all of her nine grandchildren don’t say the rosary at all.
In my parish, there’s a regular 15-minute rosary recitation before the Sunday Mass. Out of about 500 parishioners, only a handful join the rosary recitation and they’re all grey-haired senior citizens.
We must do something to make the youth learn about the rosary and be enchanted in saying it. My family and I propose the rosary learning journey.
WHY SAY THE ROSARY?
First, saying the rosary on a fine day is meditating on the miracles of our faith and the life of Jesus Christ. It is being one with the Blessed Mother who, according to St. Dominic de Guzman, started the rosary herself.
Second, saying the rosary on a stormy day is like clinging to the Blessed Mother and being embraced by her in return as she intercedes for us with the Holy Trinity. Personally, my family and I always find comfort whenever we pray the rosary. The most amazing blessing we have received is my daughter-in-law’s cure from cancer.
Third, Pope John Paul II had witnessed to the power of praying the rosary for peace in families and for peace in the world.
WHAT’S THE ROSARY LEARNING JOURNEY? It will be a day-long family bonding time in which loving and caring adults role model the saying of the rosary. It will include interactive and child-centered activities aimed at educating both children and adults on the origin and development of the rosary.
Active learning strategies will be employed such as those inspired by Gardner’s (1983) multiple intelligences. The rosary prayers will be unpacked so that their meaning could be internalized by the children.
WHERE IS THE VENUE OF THE LEARNING JOURNEY? The Faithful Shepherd’s Garden where we have built a grotto of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal will be the venue. Cool and green, it is located in Panungyan I, Mendez, Cavite, Philippines. It’s right beside Tagaytay City.
Last Sunday, October 7, my friend Letty and her brood as well as mine spent time together saying the rosary at the Garden. We placed pictures of the five glorious mysteries around the Garden, then walked and prayed together from mystery to mystery.
My family and I have been agonizing over our inability to open the Garden and the Grotto to the public because we don’t have the amenities which we think our guest pilgrims might expect. We have forgotten that we already have some amenities, no matter how modest and humble. After all, it’s the warm company and the loving spirit which really mean a lot, not the physical structures.
WHEN WILL THE ROSARY LEARNING JOURNEY BEGIN? Give us about a month to get a bit more organized. That means we’re talking about a soft opening in mid-November 2012.
Thanks to the visit of my friend Letty, her children, and grandchildren, we have realized that we can actually open the Garden sooner than soon. Never mind if we have only one comfort room, a one-burner stove, a makeshift kitchen without plumbing, and so forth.
Last July, an 89-year old teacher of mine dragged her family all the way from Nueva Ecija to Cavite to visit the Grotto and the Garden. It was a 12-hour trip by car. They didn’t complain of the lack of amenities. Instead, they were very happy to say the rosary at the Grotto.
These two visits tell me and my family that we have been looking at the hole in the dough nut. It’s about time we gazed at the dough.