On Tuesdays after the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Mary’s in Breckenridge, we are invited to stay for 30 minutes of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. These 30 minutes of silent prayer and meditation seem to be the perfect way to end the Mass and start the rest of our day.

Last Tuesday during adoration, I finished praying my rosary, sat back in my pew and contemplated the Blessed Sacrament as my fingers absentmindedly toyed with the wooden beads of my rosary.

I was, frankly, feeling a little out of sorts with prayers for my mother to regain her ability to walk after hip surgery and my own search for remote-based work. So I resorted to the remedy that always brings relief when I feel overwhelmed with worry: I count three things I am grateful for.

The main body of the rosary is made up of five decades of prayer beads: one large bead followed by 10 smaller wooden beads. The large bead represents the Our Father prayer, and the smaller beads represent the Hail Mary prayer. Altogether, this makes one decade, which is repeated five times.

As I began to count the things I was grateful for, I found myself keeping track by moving my fingers along each bead. I quickly completed the first decade of gratitude, but could I think of 50 things I was grateful for?