We all know the phrase "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am also" but what a tough job the gathering can be!

First, no one person can do this alone. You might as well find the nearest brick wall, stand there and bang your head against it. You'll get the same amount accomplished: a headache! This is well-known by experience!

So, what do you do and how do you do it? Good question. How I wish there was a good answer! Every rosary group is different because all groups are comprised of different types of people. The group I belong to will not resemble yours. Yet in some ways, it will be exactly like yours. And no group is the same from meeting to meeting because none of us are the same from day to day.

So that is where you begin: who make up the members of your rosary group? People. Plain, ordinary, everyday people. People who are busy, bored, energetic, tired, optimistic, pessimistic, laid-back, anxious, joyous, hurting, full of faith, dealing with doubt, loving, insensitive, privileged, resourceless, serene, angry, intelligent, foolish, gentle, hardhearted, cheerful, forlorn, happy, distressed, and on and on and on.

You will have some members who are very faithful about attending the meetings. Yet of these very consistent attendees, some will be devout about daily praying with their Protestant rosary, and others pray with their Protestant rosary only at meetings. That's okay. The Lord understands.

Those who come fairly frequently but not all the time are going to be divided into those with busy, busy lives and just can't make a particular meeting or meetings, and those who, if something better sounding comes along, will lay aside the rosary group meeting for the something better sounding. Of the two, you can probably figure out who is consistent with the use of their Protestant rosary.

Then there are those you will rarely see. Again, some have lives that just don't allow for the particular meeting time your group has chosen but are very consistent in their daily prayer offerings, and the others don't think about the Protestant rosary until you lasso them and tie them securely somewhere. You may begin to wonder 'why bother' with those who never show. Remember the parable of the one lost sheep when this crosses your mind.

It's also a good idea to try and meet together on the special Liturgical Days you find in the church's calendar year (see the Mystery Meditation Calendar): a Sunday afternoon during Advent for the Joyful Mystery; one of the 12 days of Christmas for the Joyful Mystery; try to meet on Epiphany (January 6th); Ash Wednesday for the Sorrowful Mystery; sometime during Holy Week where you will be saying only the Sorrowful Mystery all week of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy; try to meet on Ascension (the 40th day after Easter, a Thursday, when the Glorious Mystery is said); and then you are into the long season of Pentecost.

During the season of Pentecost (some churches refer to this as the Ordinary Season), you might pick a particular day and time and stick with it. My group has found it easiest for everyone to submit which evening or morning or afternoon they consistently have open, we compile this and there is our meeting. It's not going to fit everyone's schedule, but it will the majority.

Also, don't forget: you're not the only person in your group who is able to email or call someone who hasn't been coming. Share the burden. It will also help others within your group to gain insight into what is going on with some of the members of your group. Two heads are always better than one and three can be a blessing!

So, why are you banging your head against that wall? Nothing will change except for the way your head will feel. Take the people the Lord has brought together, whether it is 2 or 3 or 6 or 10! It's not the numbers. It's the prayers.

A rosary group is quiescently the "life is a box of chocolates" you heard about in the movie "Forrest Gump." You never know what you're going to get but as long as you make the most of what you have been given, all will be blessed.

The very things which make us different from each other, and the differences within our own selves day to day, is why it is important to take the time to catch up on what is going on in each other's lives prior to praying the Protestant rosary. This is more fully laid out for you in A Ladder from Earth to Heaven: The Rosary for All Christians.