DOT DOT DOT - or- I DON'T PRAY THE ROSARY

Sometimes when I talk to God, I go beyond a request for some person, family or event. I begin to think into the pain or grief, possibly the joy, maybe the road ahead for a newly married couple. That’s my dot dot dot times. This could go on for quite some time while I empathize with a family in turmoil, think of the joy my wife or children (whom I have just prayed for) have brought me, or dwell on the ways I can improve my service to God. What happens is… I forget where all this started and where it might have ended.

I don’t pray the rosary, so sometimes I don’t know where the prayer left off, and the musing began. This led me to wonder if my musings have become part of my prayer, or have violently interrupted it. Should I have said amen before my musings? Should I say amen after my musings? Once I have mused, should I find a place in my prayer to go back to and resume from that point to an amen? Do I gotta say amen at all?

This is really about “amen”. What is it? What does it mean? What is it used for? When should it be used? Is it a word that magically rockets our prayers to God?

I have long ago studied the word, its origin, and uses, but just recently I did again just because I was wonderin how I felt about it now. I could tell you what I think about amen, but that would take all the mystery out of it for you wouldn’t it.

Let all things be done to the Glory of God … AMEN.