The Rosary in the weight room.

I have a friend who also attends my little cathedral. She just joined one of these outfits that offers a half hour program of weights and cardio exercises. The one she attends is called Curves for Women. You do 30 seconds at each station, whether it is weights or a cardio exercise, then move onto the next.

The other day, my friend described her time at Curves as a Rosary. She fills the time at each station with an "Our Father", which she finds fills up the 30 seconds. She might do another prayer, maybe a "Hail Mary", at another, while concentrating on one of the mysteries.

I know a lot of Protestants are cringing at this idea. The Rosary. Yikes. I used to feel the same way, until I attended an Advent Quiet Day where we were taught on the origin of the Rosary. All it is, is a way to count prayers, and the Desert Fathers used to count them by moving a pebble from a little pile to another. One doesn't have to do a Marian Rosary. One can pray any prayers one wants. The Orthodox pay the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me, a sinner.

Don't worry about vain repetition. As I quote my beloved bishop in an earlier post, the vain is in the attempt to twist God's will to ours, not in our using repetition to raise our will to His. He has also written about how the Rosary is designed to help us bring body, soul, and mind into alignment. The Marian Rosary helps us do this because we touch the beads, giving our bodies something to do and focus on, our imaginations are employed in contemplating a mystery, such as the Annunciation, or the Crucifixion, while our minds are employed reciting the prayers. It's a good way to stave off unwanted thoughts, to bring the mind into subjection of Christ.

So, back to my friend and her external Rosary in the weight room. Maybe some people think the idea is blasphemous. But here are these stations, in a circle. What else does one do with one's mind while exercising and doing weights? Why not pray?

I tried it yesterday at my club. I'm trying to get back into doing some weights, even though I don't enjoy doing them. I don't like the discomfort like I'm feeling this morning. One of the reasons why I don't like them is counting the repetitions. At least on the Eliptical Trainer I can read a book while I work out. So, I tried praying the Our Father while I pumped iron. It's a strange way of multitasking, but hey, I'm keeping my body occupied, and my mind and it's a lot less frivolous than counting. I might try it again.