A nationally recognized bowhunter, Leo Van Beck, grew up praying the rosary with his family and at school, but he had not witnessed the power of the rosary first hand until he decided to change his prayer intention.
“I would pray and say to God, ‘Send me a big buck right now and I’ll pray the rosary every day for the next two weeks,’” Van Beck said.
“At some point, I realized — who am I to barter with God or twist his arm into giving me what I want? Instead, I took a step of faith and prayed the rosary every day for two weeks just for God and not for myself,” he continued.
Van Beck does not believe in coincidences, so he knows there was divine interaction when the two weeks of daily rosaries turned into a hunting miracle — in two days, in two different states, he shot two big bucks in atypical ways.
What was once a challenge has now become a daily prayer practice that has lasted almost five years.
For Van Beck, who describes himself as someone who goes a million miles an hour, sitting still can be difficult. He uses those slowdown times to pray, whether it is on his drive to work, sitting in his deer stand or cultivating his latest hobby — searching for antler sheds that he turns into rosaries.
Inspired by his dad, who created an antler rosary for a church silent auction, Van Beck put his tools to work crafting his first rosary. He admits the initial attempt was crude but it inspired him to strive to make each rosary better than the last and different from any other rosary he has made.
Although he has fashioned at least 20 rosaries, he has kept none for himself. All have been given away, a process Van Beck sees as his own way to evangelize.
He appreciates the beauty and complexity of hunting and creating antler rosaries, but even more than both, he appreciates the beauty and complexity of his Catholic faith, which is what he and his wife Renee hope to pass onto their infant son, Vincent. The family attends St. Francis de Sales Parish in Belgrade, part of Parishes on the Prairie Area Catholic Community.
“Hunting has given me time to reflect and pray. The more time I spend in the world around me, the more connected I feel to God,” Van Beck said.
“It’s my goal to show this to our children and help them understand why the Church teaches what it teaches. I want them to know the faith they are part of,” he continued. “When you have a Catholic understanding of the world, everything makes sense.”