Think Good Thoughts
This program stems from an old tradition that dates back to the early Christians. In the Old Testament when the extended family came together to pray, they would say the prayers that they had learned in the synagogue. These prayers were called the Psalms. There are 150 Psalms. Since most of the people at that time could not read, what they did was to collect 150 stones into a leather bag, one for each Psalm. When it came time to pray they would take out a stone and try to remember as much as the Psalm prayer as they could: “The Lord is my Shepherd. He leads me to green pastures…”
If they could not remember the words to the Psalm they would simply rub the stone and Think Good Thoughts. They would use the stone as something that would draw them into a spirit of prayer.
In the early centuries of monasticism, Christian Monks used the same method to keep track of their prayers. They, too, prayed the Psalms and used 150 stones or beads, which they treaded together. Some just tied knots in a rope that they wore around their waist.
At some point the monks decided that they wanted to pray together, so they
began saying common prayers on each bead. The “Our Father,” which they said
150 times, was probably the first such common prayer for the beads. But while
they were saying the prayers out loud, they were encouraged to think of
Over time, as devotion to the Blessed Mother increased, the Our Father that were said in common were replaced by a devotional, scripture-based prayer to the Blessed Virgin, ‘Hail Mary, full of grace…”
The Rosary as we know it today has evolved from an ancient tradition of prayer. We say five “decades” of beads (50) three times. Each decade is begun and ended with another bead that helps us “keep track” of where we are in the prayer. During the recitation of the words of each decade we are encouraged to meditate on the mysteries of the life of Jesus and relate these mysteries to our own life.
Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, the founder of Family Rosary, believed and taught that the Rosary was a prayer for every age. The attention of little children could be held for these few minutes of prayer simply by fingering the beads. Someone else might actually dwell intently on the words that were being said. Someone else might meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary as the mysteries of life. And still someone else might be completely lost in a spirit of contemplation. There are many creative ways to use this simple prayer as an individual or as a group looking to pray together.
The program begins with Stones. Have the group sit in a circle. Keeping in mind what they have just learned about the connection between stones and the psalms, prayer and good thoughts, gather a bunch of stones in a basket or leather bag. Distribute the stones. While they rub the stones, help everyone to realize that to Think Good Thoughts is to pray.
Relate the story of Jeremy’s Egg. The egg is a symbol of Resurrection, new life. There is an ancient Greek icon that shows a picture of Mary Magdalen standing in front of the empty tomb holding an egg. Distribute plastic eggs to the group.
Next skeins of yarn need to be rolled into a good-sized ball. Pass the ball, holding onto the end of the string. You can create a “Web” by passing it back and forth across the circle. Or you can simply pass it around the circle from one to another.
Explain to everyone that our hope here is to have an opportunity to share a good thought, a prayer, and to show how our prayers and our faith are what bind us together. As each person puts their stone, the “prayer” in the open plastic egg, they snap the egg closed over their piece of yarn. When the circle is completed what we have constructed is a Rosary, a symbol of our faith and our connectedness through prayer.
You may want to hang this in your classroom as a reminder of this prayer experience or you may want to cut the yarn so that each participant can take their egg home, explain it to family members and have it as a reminder of their unity with their group. You may also come up with other symbolic gestures that would be meaningful for your group.