A beginner's question about praying the rosary

  • Thread starter Thread starter savedbygrace71
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

savedbygrace71

Guest
Hello everyone,

I am in the process of becoming Catholic. It makes me very happy to be able to say that 🙂 my RCIA class starts this week, and to mark the occasion with a gift, I got myself a lovely set of Rosary beads. I have the book Catholicism for Dummies which spelled out how to pray the rosary. I also have looked it up online and even have an app on my phone called Laudate which has that and many other prayers on it. I have read it through in the various books and online many times, but now that I have the actual beads, I felt I could sit and truly pray the Rosary the way I have been wanting to.

Yesterday I prayed the Rosary for the first time, and did feel comfortable and peaceful doing so. It was so much more rewarding to pray than my own meandering thoughts which end up trickling off to other things eventually. However, I found no way to meditate on the mysteries. In my book and the other directions I found, it seems as though I was supposed to meditate while I was saying the Hail Marys. Or, should I find a pausing point and mediate between the prayers somewhere?
I know I have only done it once 😛 so I know there is more to be learned! But does one eventually have the ability to pray the words of the prayer and think/meditate on the mysteries simultaneously? I know it’s a small detail 🙂 but I think I know of myself, I like to know how to do something properly so I can learn to do it right from the beginning. I hope that makes sense.

Thank you!
 
Welcome on board. 🙂

My advice to you is not to think about the words. If that idea bothers you, think of it as holding Mary’s hand while looking at Jesus.
 
here’s a couple old posts of mine about the rosary. I hope they help!

Id like to make one more point.

Mother, like any other mother…is VERY patient and really wants to teach and guide us into deeper relationship with God and a life of prayer.

I believe the rosary is set up specifically as it is for a reason! It’s outward appearance may seem very superficial, repetitious etc etc…but I think it is that way for a reason. The outside is “training wheels”. If you were to just say the prayers…THERE’S STILL MERIT. And some souls are only ready to go this far at first…AND that’s ok! There’s merit because the soul is taking the time to pray in their day, it can be boring so they may be making a sacrifice and dying to self, as they practice the rosary regularly…they begin to make prayer a regular part of the day. They then can begin going further…since they may not have the mind to meditate yet…they can at least say their hail marys while reading several biblical verses or looking at pictures of the mystery in the hopes of deepening their understanding of the mysteries so they will be able to meditate at some point…this continues until the soul “grows” and learns a contemplative spirit.

So , my point is… wherever you are … it’s very pleasing to god to see you working on this and I can promise you your Mother who loves you very much will help you grow and become more and more like her son!

Your spirit is teaching you how to pray…could there be a reason you’re not connecting with the hail mary prayer when saying the rosary ?

I believe so.

Mary NEVER wants to be in the way…she points you to her Son (just have faith that while you’re praying the hail mary…it’s a loving Mother that is working with you and holding your hand). She is so intimately connected to her Son ( a part of being a mother )…in her rosary… you are looking at Jesus from her eyes and her heart and meditating on His life, sacrifice and his connection to you and those you pray for.

I usually begin my rosary speaking to Mother for a few moments and asking her to open my mind and heart to see Jesus and the beautiful mysteries of His life (that she "ponderd in her heart) and ask her to pray for you the the holy spirit will come to you.

THe hail marys are “repetitious” in that they calm your breathing, clear your mind and help you to begin meditating on the GOOD STUFF…Jesus. The hail marys are simply aids and "I love you’s " that you repeat.

Use the hail marys to calm and center yourself and so you can look at the mysteries through Mary’s eyes. Place yourself in the mysteries from time to time and meet Jesus, you can even speak with Him there (remember that you’re dealing with an eternal God that sees past, present and future all at once…and so at each of these mysteries YOU WERE a part of them!..so by the same token, place yourself within them as you pray !)

THIS CAN BECOME VERY DEEP!
GOd bless
 
Once you’ve gotten the hang of it you’ll find it easier to meditate on the Mysteries while saying the Hail Mary’s, at least that’s how I do it.

There are some Rosary meditations written with a meditation or scripture verse for each Hail Mary - those are very nice. I have one in my Carmelite book of statutes and prayers and I also have one in a book called something like The Scriptural Rosary. You can probably find something similar online.

I’ve also seen Rosary guides which add words to the Hail Mary to reflect the mystery - those can help with meditation. I’m making this up off the top of my head but something like, for the Third Joyful Mystery, “Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are you among women and blest is the fruit of your womb, born in the stable at Bethlehem. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of death.”
 
Think of the prayer as a mantra - the more you say the rosary, the easier it will be.
What helps me is to visualize the Mystery for that decade. For example, The Nativity - I picture the crib, the stable, the animals, the shepherds, etc as I pray.

Or, I imagine I am talking with Mary as I recount the events of Her life with Jesus.

Btw, it all ‘counts.’ The closer you come to Him, the closer He draws to you.
 
I have done the meditations between and during, depending, either way or both.

If I do the meditations during the Hail Marys, it would look like this.

The First Sorrowful Mystery…I think of Jesus while in the Garden of Gethsemane while saying…“Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus” (think of him, again, in the Agony in the Garden).

The same thing with the Second Sorrowful mystery…“Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus”…(I think of Jesus being scourged).

I think either way would be fine.
 
Just give yourself more time with saying it. I started with the rosary ~1.5 months ago and the words have nearly become almost akin to breathing, except for the longer prayers at the beginning and end. You don’t think about it. Your mouth speaks while your mind & heart sink into meditation. Well, it will eventually. My mind still hasn’t been fully lasso’d. I knew ahead of time that would require time and effort. I suspect that the rosary is most fitting precisely for people like me.

Praying to Mary & the Saints is not an intellectual task. It is one of fellowship, much like acquiring a friend. Praying for their intercession probably feels awkward and possibly uneasy for almost all converts from a protestant background, myself included. This is not something I believe you should find disturbing or alarming. Can you truly say that you ever became best friends with somebody after a day? Did you come to love your parents the day after you were born? Did the apostles become fully devoted followers the day after Jesus called them? No. Fellowship grows like a plant. It is nurtured, and it blossoms day by day. It requires care & tending. As it is with God, so it is with our queen, our brothers, and our sisters.

The very first time I said the Hail Holy Queen prayer at the end of the rosary, I practically forced myself through it, because in my mind I was thinking to myself, 'WOW. This prayer is so incredibly awkward." Just continue to pray and mediate. Adoration and deeper devotion will grow in time. In fact I specifically prayed to Mary that I could stop feeling so awkward about praying to her.
 
When you start out, it’s going to feel like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy.

It’s a difficult sort of mental gymnastics to try and say a prayer while meditating on the mysteries. This, like most things, can be achieved with diligent practice.

Sometimes, it helps to look over the mysteries before you pray the rosary. Pick out some scripture passages for each of the 5 mysteries you are praying that day and read them a couple times. Then, put your bible down and do your best to repeat the gist of those scripture passages back to yourself in a way that makes since to yourself.

Once you have internalized the mystery by understanding the scripture, begin to pray your rosary. For the first few times, pause at each mystery and meditate on it before you begin your decade of Hail Marys. This way, even if you get wrapped up in the prayers, you will have still spent some time on them.

Remember, learning the prayers takes time. Eventually, these prayers will become like your heartbeat. You will know them “by heart” and that internal rhythm will be within you throughout your day without your effort. Until then, practice makes perfect.
 
Thank you all, your responses make sense and have been so helpful!
 
It’s a good practice to say Hail Mary’s throughout the day.

Eventually, the Hail Mary will be done unconsciously, like when you get into a car and shift into drive, without noticing it, while being focused on the road instead.

So it will become while praying the Rosary. The Hail Mary’s will be said unconsciously as you meditate on the mysteries.

As some one said, they mentally visualize each mystery, but in time even this will cease to take place as you move into contemplation and the deeper meanings of the mystery and how God wants to feed you through them will come.

As in all prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.

Jim
 
Today was a bit smoother. I was able to visualize the sorrowful mysteries as pictures, sort of by picturing still scenes rather than whole passages of scripture. I found a new app that will read it all out loud to me and I had that playing this afternoon while I did some other work. That was very soothing and meditative to hear the voices saying the prayers, too. The Hail Marys are coming smoother already.
 
Welcome! 🙂

Since you have the Laudate app, here’s a thought. If you look under Rosary/Mysteries and Podcasts, you’ll find Melissa’s scriptural Rosary, which offers an audio version of the Rosary to pray along with, and she reads a scripture before every Hail Mary. There are other versions there as well.

Check out the Divine Mercy audio podcast, too. 🙂
 
savedbygrace71 said:
Today was a bit smoother. I was able to visualize the sorrowful mysteries as pictures, sort of by picturing still scenes rather than whole passages of scripture. I found a new app that will read it all out loud to me and I had that playing this afternoon while I did some other work. That was very soothing and meditative to hear the voices saying the prayers, too. The Hail Marys are coming smoother already.
Click to expand...
That’s great! I was going to suggest using a picture in your mind for each mystery. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mary is helping you through this herself. 🙂 God bless.
 
Another helpful method, if you are a very visual person, is to get a DVD of the Rosary. I have one from EWTN called “The Holy Rosary” that shows you stained glass windows and other art portraying the particular Mystery you’re reciting.

I find this one much easier to follow and pray with than some of EWTN’s televised Rosaries – in both the “International” and “Holy Land” the folks reciting the prayers seem to be racing to get to the end of them, which is NOT helpful if you’re trying to learn.

I got the DVD to help my Mom, because she was having difficulty with visualizing the Mysteries (both of us are beginners too).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top