CUSANs book

A CUSAN’s book:

A companion to the Rosary

by Deacon Charles Paolino

“More people should be praying the Rosary if we are to have peace on earth.”

That conviction inspired CUSAN Lorraine Fleury to write Rosary Mystery Meditations: A Day-to-Day Prayer Companion.

“If we are to retain Christian values in the world,” Lorraine said, “the Rosary is a key.”

A California resident, Lorraine said that for most of her life she was a member of a New Age church where she was initiated into getting ever Lorraine Fleury deeper into meditation that turned harmful.

“I developed a spiritual sickness called depersonalization,” she said. “I felt like I had lost my soul. It was the most gruesome thing I’ve ever gone through, and I wasn’t healing from it very well.”

Lorraine said she knew she couldn’t continue New Age meditation, so, after doing some research, she began praying the Rosary.

“From the beginning,” she said, “I started feeling better, more connected to my soul again. After two or three years, I was healed, and I attribute that to the Rosary. I really think

the Rosary is a very powerful force for good in the world and for each of us, because it connects us to Jesus. I feel that Jesus through the Rosary, reached down and yanked me from the hole I was in.”

Lorraine noted that Jesus, in the parable of the widow who wore down a dishonest judge with her constant pleas, was making a point about persistence in prayer. The repetition of the prayers of the Rosary is one response to that lesson, she said:

“By repeating the Hail Marys we are continually asking Mary for her intercession.”

But a problem with the repetition, she added, is the human tendency to “zone out,” get distracted and think about things other than the meaning of the prayers.

“That’s why I needed a resource like the book, to stay focused on the meditation while I was repeating the prayer.”

That book is Rosary Mystery Meditations, designed as a companion for praying the Rosary every day for three months. The book includes scripture passages, brief meditations that are easy to absorb while praying the Rosary, and prayers for each day of the week. Ideally, one has Rosary beads in one hand and the book in the other, reading along while reciting the prayers.

Lorraine noted that in the apparitions at Fatima in 1917 the Blessed Mother urged people to pray the Rosary.

“Mary was very concerned about the direction of civilization,” Lorraine said. “The medicine that she prescribed was the Rosary. If people want to add positive spiritual energy into civilization, into society, as they should be,

I think they should be praying the Rosary. Besides the benefit to society, you never know how it will benefit you— everybody in their own particular way.

“At Fatima and in other apparitions, Mary said, ‘Pray the Rosary,’ so I believe her.”

Lorraine notes in her book that Sister Maria Lúcia dos Santos, who was one of the children who witnessed the Fatima apparitions, said that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by the Rosary.

“I take that to mean that, by praying the Rosary, whatever our problems are, we send prayers to God, and he’s going to transform either ourselves or the problem,” Lorraine said. “It’s going to resolve itself somehow, and we can trust that. Lucia knew the Blessed Virgin Mary very well, so I believe her too.”

Rosary Mystery Meditations is available from the publisher, West Bow Publications, and from vendors including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.