Block Rosary 2010

Last week, the Fatima statue was brought over to our house in the tradition of the Block Rosary. Brought together with the statue were 2 pairs of candle holders, a pair of vases with fresh flowers, a laminated photo of St. Peregrine, and a basket containing prayer sheets and rosaries.

It's been a long while since we had a Fatima statue brought to our home. I'll bet little Renz was too young to remember that. The last time was in March 2007 when we were still at the old house. Actually, I'm not sure if this is the same statue in 2007.


I also learned from Karen that there's another Fatima statue in her classmate's (Poline) house at around the same time. Apparently, there isn't just one block rosary occurring in the subdivision.

Here, DH and the kids are huddled on a plastic mat reading the prayers from the prayer guides that were brought. Each had a turn in reciting the five contemplations of the mystery.

Renz even had the privilege of leading a part of the litany. This was the night before the image was transferred to Delia's house.


Reciting the rosary brought me back memories when, growing up, we had the rosary EVERY DAY. It seemed like we prayed the rosary forever. When we, the kids, were old enough, we were even assigned by Dad to lead one of the 3 mysteries: Glorious, Sorrowful and Joyful.

That was then. Now there is also a Mystery of Light.

Praying the rosary then was a daily ritual that we were able to completely memorize all its parts. The only time I remembered when praying the rosary stopped was when the sibling went off to college.

It's funny now that with the block rosary, I remember my dad every night as we recite the rosary.

Singing the song "Our Lady of Fatima" is something that reminded me of my stay at my aunties' (Trining, Laling and Conching) house in Balintwak during my college years.

They too recited the rosary everyday and this was right before the Angelus at 6:00pm which preceded dinner time. We sang the Fatima song right after the rosary itself.

One funny episode happened when a niece of mine, a much younger Chalene, joined us in the prayers. There was a part where we sang "Ama Namin" (tagalog for "Our Father") and the child was singing with us, with much gusto.

Towards the end of the song, she was really into it and sang at the top of her lungs. Suddenly, her lyrics became English and blurted out "...you needed me..." (song by Anne Murray).

How did that happen? I guess she found a segment in the melody similar to "You Needed Me", and mixed it up resulting in a segue! Even while praying, I couldn't keep myself from laughing. Good thing I sat at the back.