Sorry for the radio silence the past two weeks. I was in the process of packing to move, and then moving/unpacking (which is still going on. The unpacking, that is), and between that and work, I was pretty full up. But I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, writing-wise.
So I've moved into this little house by myself, a cute little thing with two bedrooms and a bathroom straight out of the 60s, with mint-green tile accented with a black-tile border. Well, on the second night I was here, I was awakened by a crash. I sat bolt upright in bed, flipped on the light, checked the time (it was about 3:30 a.m.), and was out of my room and flipping on a hall light to see what was the matter...and to avoid tripping over boxes... in no time flat (probably the space of less than a minute).
Now, it's an older quiet neighborhood, but again, I'd only been in the house for two days, and I wasn't sure what was going on. But I wasn't thinking clearly enough to be cautious (it's like when you come home from a long day, or a trip, and it's dark and you flip on all the lights and then go around checking all the closets and under beds...or is that just me? And what on earth would I do if I found someone?) and if someone was trying to break in, I wanted to know.
So I get into my living/dining area and the problem is, fortunately nothing dangerous or dramatic, but only a curtain rod. See, there's a pair of French doors off the dining area into a screened
patio, and I've been having the hardest time with the tension rod (it's actually a shower-curtain rod, since I thought it would hold up better. Haha, hold up! See what I did there? Ok, nevermind...) I
bought to hang curtains to cover them. And let's just say it slips. A lot.
Tension-rod failure, a fair amount of the time. The rod had been pulled down by the (negligible, seriously, they're not heavy) weight of curtains and clattered loudly to the tile floor, thus waking me up.
So what's the point of this little domestic tale?
As I moved to put the rod and curtains back into place, I realized I had something in my hand. It wasn't my cell phone, and it wasn't something to defend myself with, at least not in the traditional sense.
It was my rosary.
I may have mentioned before that I often sleep with it...or at least fall asleep with it. Sometimes I'm not even saying it, it's just a comfort to hold, a security blanket of a kind when I'm worried, or in an unfamiliar situation (new house making strange noises, for example), or awakened in the middle of the night with that uncomfortable feeling that someone, somewhere, needs prayers. When it's not in my hand at night, it's hanging from one of my bed posts. And when I do start saying my rosary at bedtime, I usually wake up in the morning and I'm sleeping on top of it (wooden and on a knotted cord, it's not coming apart easily).
But that one little incident the other night triggered something in my mind, a quote by a saint (I couldn't quite remember who) who called the rosary a weapon.
The next morning (after going back to sleep) I Googled, and it turns out that there are a number of saints and blesseds who think of the rosary as one of the most powerful weapons we have:
“Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.” Pope Blessed Pius IX
“The Rosary is THE weapon for these times." Saint Padre Pio
"The holy Rosary is a powerful
weapon. Use it with confidence and you'll be amazed at the results."
St. Josemaria Escriva
In fact, among the 15 promises for praying the rosary Our Lady gave to St.
Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche (They're awesome, to say the least! You can read them all here), are protection and "a powerful armor" against that which will try and harm us.
It might have been silly to go rushing out into my living room without knowing what, if anything, was there, but clearly, the rosary is a weapon against sin, against evil, against temptation and, in my case,
apparently against things that go bump in the night, even if they're
just fallen curtain rods.
