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Faithful pray the Rosary during the annual Rosary Novena, which was held for the first time this year at the Oblates Chapel in Laflin. (Photos\/Dan Piazza)<\/p>\nFaithful pray the Rosary during the annual Rosary Novena, which was held for the first time this year at the Oblates Chapel in Laflin. (Photos\/Dan Piazza)<\/p>\n
LAFLIN \u2013 A beloved annual tradition of prayer continued this year in a new location as faithful from across the Diocese of Scranton gathered for the annual Rosary Novena at the Oblates of Saint Joseph Chapel.<\/p>\n
Held Oct. 3-11, the nine-day Novena brought the faithful together each evening for the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament and a spiritual reflection from a priest or deacon.<\/p>\n
The theme of this year\u2019s Rosary Novena was \u201cTo Jesus through Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many years, the annual Novena was held at Saint Lucy Parish in Scranton before moving to Divine Mercy Parish in Scranton recently. This year marked the first time the Novena has been held at the Oblates of Saint Joseph Chapel along Route 315 in Laflin.<\/p>\n
For those who have made the Rosary a regular part of their lives, gathering with others to pray each October has become special.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to know that I\u2019m not alone and that there are people doing the same thing and praying along with me,\u201d Frank Barbrie of Communion of Saints Parish in Pittston said. \u201cIt\u2019s special. You get a good feel of the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephen Englot of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Swoyersville said he and his family have prayed the Rosary at home for many years, but there is something different about joining others in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes when you say prayers at home you wonder, are we the last ones doing this?\u201d he said. \u201cYou look around here and see the intense concentration and piety and it just restores our faith that God is working through the intercession of the Blessed Mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joan Marzen of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Dupont was particularly encouraged to see many young people participating this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was absolutely beautiful and inspiring. We need all the prayer that we can in this world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For Marzen, the Rosary is a reminder that hope remains even amid a troubled world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows that there is hope,\u201d she added. \u201cThere is hope for us in this world. Never give up.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Englot, the experience of praying together offered a glimpse of something even greater.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe feeling is almost supernatural,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re just in union with the Spirit. Peace and community. It\u2019s almost like a taste of what heaven will be like when we\u2019re praying face to face with our Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Faithful pray the Rosary during the annual Rosary Novena, which was held for the first time this year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-307642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}