The month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and in particular May 11 is a day to honor Our Lady of the Seas. With this in mind, Lebanese swimming instructor Joe Abdel Sater came up with the perfect way to celebrate the occasion during his daily contemplation of the sea, as reported by Catholic News Agency.
The resident of the small seaside town of Bouar contacted his parish priest, Fr. Ferez Tawk, and local major to ask permission to go ahead with his tricky plan to create a huge floating rosary.
On receiving the green light, the devout Catholic enlisted family and friends to help him. It was no easy feat:
For a month, I puzzled over what materials to use — wood or foam? How could I secure the rosary’s shape against the shifting currents?”
Thankfully “divine providence facilitated things,” he pointed out.
The rosary is an impressive 100 meters (approximately 330 feet) long and uses white plastic gallon jugs for the Hail Marys, and blue ones for the Our Fathers. It is completed with a large wooden cross.
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Abdel Sater then used his swimming skills to anchor the rosary into position. He dove down and used rope to tie the beads to rocks in the sea to keep them in place. Thanks to his skills the rosary stayed in place despite changing tides.
However, Abdel Sater went a stage further. He made sure the rosary could be seen at night and installed lighting fixtures in the new religious feature.
Unfortunately, due to rough waters the rosary had to come back to shore for a while, but hopefully it can return to sea in the near future.
The strong community symbolism
Meanwhile Fr. Tawk shared how the rosary proved a uniting force in the community:
We gathered parishioners to offer a Mass giving thanks to Our Blessed Mother. This endeavor symbolizes our Eastern Catholic devotion to Mary.
He went on to explain the meaningful symbolic nature of this new maritime feature, stating: "alone, rosary beads lose their meaning. As Catholic faithful, we’re those beads and our community binds us together through life’s crashing waves.”
The priest added:
Without that communion, even the strongest believer can be swept away. But by walking together with Jesus as our anchor, we can withstand any storm and find redemption. Thus, we become like Mary, who stood firm in her faith under the cross, understanding that Jesus’ sacrifice is the beginning of salvation.”
