50,000 FILL THE ROSARY BOWL - The View from the Bleachers

"God's Holy People" fill the Bowl with "Rose"aries on the night when Catholics walk the Red Carpet
By Paul Dion, STL and Wally Arida


PASADENA, CA, May 19, 2007 (http://www.aprishworld.net/) - ParishWorld.net, a sponsor of the Rosary Bowl, brought its rosary beads along to join the fifty thousand plus Children of the Virgin Mary in rendering homage to the Empress of the Americas.

There we were, Grand parents, parents, children and infants, singles and couples, priest, nuns, bishops, movie moguls, television moguls, publishers, printers, Internet bloggers, singers, poets, carpenters, bakers, buthchers and candlestick makers, rosary in hand and hearts lifted up to God and to His Mother.

St. Peter and the Apostles who had to face the Medes, the Cretes, the Parthinians, Cappadocians, Asians and Egyptians, Libyans and Romans didn't have to addrress the Mongols, the Croats, the Slovaks, the Polish, the Danes, the Congolese, the Indonesians, the Chinese, the Polynesians, the Micronesians, the Guamanis and the Filipinos.

They didn't have to satisfy the Somalians, Ethipians, Sumatrans, Fijians, Finns, Koreans, Aleuts, Mayans, Incas, Belizians and Creoles. Oh, I forgot the French, the Germans, the Russians, the Italians, the Spanish and the Portuguese to say nothing of the other thirty mother tongues represented at the recitation of the roasry in Pasadena, California on the unforgettable night.

God even provided a wonderfully bright Islamic crescent moon for us all to admire in our lovng Christian hearts. It's amazing how many languages people carry with them in the land of the free and the home of the brave. It's amazing how many languages Mary has had to learn to make all her children happy. What a Mom!

The run-up to the rosary was a tad long, but everyone was there for the rosary, so we stayed. The weather got a little bit cool, but Mary was not going to be denied this night. The cool ocean breeze backed off and the air settle in at about the mid 60's. We pulled on our long sleeves and our shawls and basked in the warm glow of Mary's love.

A strong minority even stayed on their feet during the entire 90 minutes of prayer. Despite the overly long testimonies between decades, everyone in the stadium was quiet and reverent before the presence of the Eucharistic Lord facing us all.

Everyone was praying. Everyone was in the presence of God.

On this night, Catholics came out of their shell. On this night Catholics showed that they are coming out into the open, are becoming more mainstream and can almost fill a stadium - to pray the rosary. That the organizers did.

Until last night, this was a big question mark for the last 40 years. The last one was Dodger Stadium in the 1960s. When they planned this, they really thought they would have a problem getting several thousand people out, like they did 40 plus years ago.

Last night Catholics came out. Over fifty thousand of them. The holiest of God's holy people were out last night. There were many Hispanics. As the Supreme Knight of the Knights ofColumbus speaker said, "They are are not a hindrance to our prayer but are brothers in faith."

I realized that last night. I learned to admire them last night, seeing them with their children en masse and seeing in person their genuine devotion to our Lady.

The Blessed Mother was smiling last night for sure. Next time the organizers can do even better. People I ran across were already looking forward to next year.

Spiritually, I had my moments during the night. The adoration got to me. I've never tried it with 50,000 other people in the same place. Quite frankly, it's the first time since Grade School that I had a true appreciation for the Eucharistic adoration. I found myself in tears at times during the adoration experience. First time it happened to me.

Here's the quote of the night that got to me: "Catholicism is about attraction, it's not about promotion."

That message felt like God reminding me in blaring lights not to let the corporate side get in the way of the evangelization mission. Yes we should be technical because it's part of our job description here at P[arishWorld.net. But we should always remain faith-filled. And with that, He will take care of everything.

God blessed everyone at the Rose Bowl last night. You and me included.

Amen. Amen. Amen.