An Anglican rosary is a loop of thirty-three beads, one for each of Christ's years of life. The four larger beads are called cruciform beads — they mark the compass points of the circle. Between each pair sits a "week" of seven smaller beads. One more large bead, the invitatory, leads back out to the attached cross. This type of rosary was developed in the 1980s by an Episcopal priest — newer than you'd expect, but the counting makes ancient sense. You can make one from cord and cheap beads, or just knots. The point is not beauty or perfection, but touch. The beads steady the hands while the heart learns to return to God.

I’ve started making rosaries from rose petals, cooking and pressing, and rolling saved flowers into beads. The work is slow. Some crack, others hold—I’m learning as I go. Making a tool for prayer from something that was alive and then saved feels so right. I find such peace having a physical way to tie my words and prayers to the world around me.

In Mark 8, people demand a sign, and Jesus refuses. The disciples panic over the lack of bread, forgetting the abundance they have already witnessed. Then a blind man is healed in stages: first blurry, then clear.

This is Lent: releasing control, remembering what we keep forgetting, and asking for sight that comes slowly.

The blind man doesn’t see clearly the first time. He needs Jesus to touch him again. I keep thinking about that: prayer, too, can be in stages—not instant, not clean. Just ask, return, ask again.

In that spirit, this is how I am using Mark 8:11–26 to pray the rosary:

The Cross

Jesus Christ, deliver me from the hunger to be convinced. Teach me to trust.

The Invitatory Bead

Lord Jesus, touch my eyes again.

The Circle

(Repeat this cycle three times)

The Cruciform Beads

(Pray one line for each of the four large beads)

* Free me from demanding signs; make me faithful.

* Save me from the yeast of pride and power; make me humble.

* Quiet my fear of scarcity; teach me to remember.

* Soften what is hardened in me; open what is closed.

The Weeks

(Pray one line for each of the seven small beads between the Cruciform beads)

* Lord Jesus, touch my eyes again.

* Touch my fear.

* Touch my hurry.

* Touch my cynicism.

* Touch my hunger to be right.

* Touch my forgetfulness.

* Touch my heart.

Closing

(After the third time around, exit the circle)

The Invitatory Bead: Lord Jesus, touch my eyes again.

The Cross:Christ, let me return to You, blinking in the light.

Amen.

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