First Talk

J.M.J.

**If you are just beginning this program, please read the Introduction post first.  Thank you!**

SUPPLIES NEEDED for this talk: 
None

Pretend for a moment that you are far, far from home.  You are with a group of people.  Some very old, some babies, some are friends and people you love, and a few others are maybe not so nice.

Tired, cold, hungry – nobody is very comfortable and many people in your group just want to go home.  Home – where their muscles won’t ache from all the hard work they have to do every day on their journey.  Home – where they can soak up the warmth and bask in the cozy joyful glow that fills their home with warmth.  Home – where their hunger and thirst is always satisfied and they never again have to worry about where to find enough food to eat.

                The home they want to go to is beautiful.  Always.  There is never any dust on the shelves or dirty socks on the floor.  No cracks in the ceiling or sticky spills on the couch.

                Close your eyes and imagine the most beautiful home ever.  Guess what.  The home you and your group are trying to reach is even more beautiful than what you just imagined.

                Not only is this home beautiful, but it is filled to the top with something wonderful.  Something so joyful, so awesome, that when you first see it, your eyes will open wide to try to see it all.  You will take the deepest breaths to try to draw it into yourself.  And all you will be able to do is whisper the word, “Wow” and smile.  Let’s try that.  Pretend you just entered your beautiful home for the first time.  Open your eyes in amazement.  Take a deep, happy breath.  Now whisper, “Wow!” and smile.

                Do you know what your home is filled with that makes you feel so happy?

                Love!  So much love!

                In this home, no one ever fights.  No one ever falls and scrapes a knee.  And no one ever gets in trouble, just because everyone is so joyful all the time.

                Remember the other day when you were extra helpful?  Were you feeling happy that day?  And when you were being helpful, did it make your heart feel even happier?  I bet it did!

                Well, guess what.  In your home your heart will be so happy and so full of love that you can never be naughty.  You won’t even know how to be naughty!  And everyone else in your home also be so joyful and full of love that they will never be naughty either.  No one is mean.  No one takes your cookie.  There is only kindness and caring and love.

                Do you want to go to this home?  Me too!  Do you think this beautiful, loving home is a real place?  Or are we just making this up?

                Guess what: this place is for real!  And we get to actually live there, too!  Can you guess where this home is?  Heaven!

                God has prepared a most wonderful home for us – better than anything we could possibly imagine.  And God our Father is waiting for us to come to Him and be with Him in complete happiness.  Forever!

                Let’s close our eyes again and imagine our beautiful, joyful, loving home.  Take a deep breath.  Now whisper, “Wow!” with a big smile on your face.  This is what God wants to see you do and hear you say when you first come home.    He is so excited to show you all He has prepared for you!  And He will be so happy to see that you are so pleased!

                Let’s say a prayer to God right now while our hearts are still full of that happiness and hope.  Ready?

                Dear God, thank You for preparing such a beautiful and joyful home for me.  Please help me find my way home to You.  I want to be full of Your love forever.  Make me a good boy/girl.  Make me a happy boy/girl.  And please bless everybody that I love!  I pray this through Jesus’ name.  Amen.

****NOTE****

I realize it is far easier to have this in hardcopy form. If you want to help us move forward with the accompanying workbook/journal and templates for activities, please consider purchasing the Rosary Quilt digital files as a donation.  The Rosary Quilt activities will be used during the second half of the Secret of the Rosary program anyway, so you will be that much ahead!  Thank you!  And God bless! 

 

Introduction

J.M.J.

 

Greetings on this most blessed day (Our Lady of Victory) during the month of the Holy Rosary!

If anyone knows me at all, they know I am a bit of a rosary fan.  And who can blame me?  It was the rosary that ultimately led to my conversion.  More specifically, it was Saint Louis de Montfort's book The Secret of the Rosary that pushed me over the threshold and Home at last into the Catholic Church.

While my heart took almost immediately to the rosary, it was much more difficult to get my family as excited about it as I was.  With a house full of children at the time, I came up with the idea of The Rosary Quilt, which helped keep little ones' hands and hearts still and prepared their minds for meditative prayer on the Mysteries.  I also wanted to teach them the valuable virtues Our Lady teaches us within each Mystery.  At the request of friends, I put the program into printed format and offered it to anyone who wanted to raise their children under the protective mantle of Our Lady and teach them about the rosary.

The Rosary Quilt has been a blessing to many families and parishes.  But something was missing.  I wanted to bring the entire Secret of the Rosary to little ones!  Not just a small portion of it.  But how could it be done?  to simply read each meditation aloud to my children did NOT work.  Too many big words, and too many topics they did not understand.  And so I decided to present each reading to them as a mother speaks to her children.  And it worked!  My younger children love it!  (What can I say - my teenagers are a little beyond this type of format!)

My plans are still forming  I want to make available a workbook/journal but finances are not cooperating right now.  It is all in my head.  I just have to figure out how to get it all into print.  We just have to trust that if Our Lady wishes it to come to fruition, it shall be done.  Until then, I will mention some ideas on how a few of these lessons can be accented by activities, etc.  I will also list any supplies you may need along the sidebar for a general shopping list, and also list the specific items you may need for the particular lesson at the beginning of each lesson. The first few talks require nothing but the script.

For now, I will be posting each talk you can read to your child.  I recommend 2 or 3 talks per week as this seems to offer new information in just the right amount, with verbal reinforcements throughout the week as well.  The First Lessons are solely to prepare your child for what we are about to learn and are not directly associated with the book The Secret of the Rosary, but once we start with the actual 'roses', I will follow it exactly.  I will be adding St. Louis de Montfort's actual words at the beginning of each talk, once we get started on the actual book.  I will be using the version which is currently available via public domain.  This gives you a sense of what the Saint wanted us to learn, and will help you improvise wherever you see a need when reading my talks to your children.

As far as reading these to your children, read over the lessons out loud the night before to give you an idea of how the lesson could best be expressed.  Try to be as excited and animated as possible!  Don't be shy.  It adds to your child's excitement when they see Mommy or Daddy reading and talking about this with much enthusiasm. Also, there are portions where you will have to have a personal example readily available to insert into the talks, so be prepared for that beforehand as well.

While most of these talks are written in parent/child tones, sometimes I still use 'big people' phrases.  But my children are used to me speaking like this to them.  If some sentences feel completely foreign to you, or you know your child may understand something if it is explained in a different way, change it!  Relax and make it exciting for your child!  This is a guide - not a rule book.

I am working a few weeks ahead of you, and as I come across any fixes, I will go back to earlier posts and make any adjustments I feel need to be made.  And since this is everyone's first year, please feel free to leave comments and suggestions after the lessons if you see where an improvement might need to be made!

I am so excited to be able to share this with you all!  Please share my blog with your friends and family and help me get the word out.  Our Lady is anxiously awaiting ALL of us to gather under her mantle so that she can lead us confidently to her Son and Our Savior, Jesus Christ!

****NOTE****

I realize it is far easier to have this in hardcopy form. If you want to help us move forward with the accompanying workbook/journal and templates for activities, please consider purchasing the Rosary Quilt digital files as a donation.  The Rosary Quilt activities will be used during the second half of the Secret of the Rosary program anyway, so you will be that much ahead!  Thank you!  And God bless!