Today we celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary. No other prayer is more associated with Catholics throughout the world. While praying of the rosary has fallen off in some places, something curious has happened. Several people who work in the education field have reported seeing non-catholic young people wearing the rosary like jewelry, with no idea what it means.
While our gut reaction may be to see this as a sign of disrespect, perhaps it is something else. Each of us is created with a soul and a conscience that knows God, even if we try to deny that truth. The "image and likeness of God" in us draws us toward not just some abstract notion of God, but toward a relationship with God and all that is part of the larger spiritual reality we call the kingdom of God.
When I see a kid wearing a rosary, oblivious to its meaning, at least on a conscious level, I recall the mustard seed.
On this feast of our lady may we Catholics rediscover the power of this devotion, and may every rosary carried or worn this day be an instrument of God's grace, causing the mustard seed no matter how small to grow into a true faith.
