A question about praying the rosary

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Thursdayhat

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I am a protestant, but recently I decided to start praying the rosary. I have prayed it before bed for the past week or so, using a rosary gifted to me by the priest who presides over wednesday mass on campus (I don’t take communion at the mass 🙂 ).

Anyway, my question is, could someone give me a general idea of what meditating on the mysteries involves? Maybe this is too personal of a question- that would explain the conspicuous lack of guides concerning the meditative part of the rosary, despite the many guides on the physical aspect. Maybe it is something the individual has to decide.

My only experience with meditation is that of Buddhist meditation, which is to say, focusing attention on one’s breath and trying to clear one’s mind of thought. In order to carry over this very limited experience, I have been trying to focus on mental images of what is being described in the mystery. This works for a few of them; for instance, the sorrowful mysteries provide imagery to focus on. However, this works very poorly with certain other mysteries, for instance, the annunciation.

I will anticipate a possible response, which is, that I need to meditate on the virtue extolled by the mystery. But my question ultimately is, how do you meditate on that virtue? Do you think sentences in your mind about the virtue? Do you try to somehow feel that virtue? Or is there some form of consideration that that one needs to cultivate for this purpose?

I apologize for the length of the post.
 
For myself it tends to be a mixture of methods.

I also personally find visual imagery tends not to work so well for the Annunciation.Of course it’s easy enough to set the scene visually - to picture Mary sitting quietly somewhere and the angel suddenly appearing before her, for example. Beyond that, not so much.

When imagery fails I tend to rely on reflections on verses of the scripture recounting the story. This is quite a common method - you can actually find scriptural rosary pamphlets that will give you a verse for each ‘Hail Mary’ of each mystery. Or podcast rosaries that will have an individual verse of scripture read out before each Hail Mary is recited.

With the Annunciation, for example, I might spend a Hail Mary thinking about Gabriel’s greeting to Mary (easy enough, the prayer starts with his greeting, after all!) Then the next Hail Mary about the next part of his message - that she was to be the mother of Christ. Then I might think of her response of amazement and wonder - ‘how can this be?’. Then his reply - that God Himself would overshadow her, and make all things possible, even the Incarnation. And so on.

For each nugget of scripture I try to really reflect. For the annunciation things might go through my mind such as - How would I feel if I heard those words of the angel addressed to myself? What must have been in Mary’s heart and on her mind for her to reply as she did? What might the angel think and feel hearing her replies?

Meditating on the virtue or ‘fruit’ connected with each mystery can be beneficial too. Again one can use a mix of methods in one’s reflection. For example, the virtue associated with the Annunciation is humility. Firstly I would think of Mary’s humility - how in spite of the honour done to her, she persisted in thinking herself merely the handmaid of the Lord. How willingly she accepted God’s will for her even though she must have known it would entail difficulties (perhaps even danger, since she couldn’t guarantee Joseph would stick by her).

Then I might examine my own conscience. How well have I practiced the virtue of humility recently? What opportunities have I had to do so that I have neglected? What conscious steps can I take today to practice the virtue and deflate its opposing sin, pride? For example, I might resolve to humble myself by choosing not to boast to others about some achievement of mine.
 
Thursdayhat said:
I am a protestant, but recently I decided to start praying the rosary. I have prayed it before bed for the past week or so, using a rosary gifted to me by the priest who presides over wednesday mass on campus (I don’t take communion at the mass 🙂 ).

Anyway, my question is, could someone give me a general idea of what meditating on the mysteries involves? Maybe this is too personal of a question- that would explain the conspicuous lack of guides concerning the meditative part of the rosary, despite the many guides on the physical aspect. Maybe it is something the individual has to decide.

My only experience with meditation is that of Buddhist meditation, which is to say, focusing attention on one’s breath and trying to clear one’s mind of thought. In order to carry over this very limited experience, I have been trying to focus on mental images of what is being described in the mystery. This works for a few of them; for instance, the sorrowful mysteries provide imagery to focus on. However, this works very poorly with certain other mysteries, for instance, the annunciation.

I will anticipate a possible response, which is, that I need to meditate on the virtue extolled by the mystery. But my question ultimately is, how do you meditate on that virtue? Do you think sentences in your mind about the virtue? Do you try to somehow feel that virtue? Or is there some form of consideration that that one needs to cultivate for this purpose?

I apologize for the length of the post.
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I recommend a good book by Father Benedict Groeschel called The Rosary: Chain of Hope.
 
I was a Protestant too, and wanted to develop a more structured prayer life and to spend time meditating on the life of Christ. Much to my surprise, I discovered that praying the rosary helped me do just that. I used a book called Rosary of Praise by Larry London which has scriptural meditations for each bead. I hope you will be very blessed as you pray the rosary. I found it a wonderful tool in drawing me closer to Christ!

I prayed the rosary every day for a year, then started reading more Catholic literature, began attending Mass every day. I found the liturgical life of the Church so conducive to a strong spiritual life that I began studying the teachings of the Church more closely and discovered I had been extremely misinformed for years about the actual beliefs of the Catholic Church. I joined the Church and can truly say it was the very best decision I have ever made in my life!
 
God Bless you, I don’t know of anything that will change your life like the Rosary will, Give it a chance and dedicate yourself to it and know it will change your life. Here’s a GREAT web sight which also has an overview of the Mysterie’s. Very Powerfull set of prayers

theholyrosary.org/

Again a “FANTASTIC” step you have taken. Its ceratinly is a example of the quickening of the Holy Spirit.

God Bless You:thumbsup: Gary

I reflect on the Mysteries while I pray the Rosary. 5-decade, and one per decade. But I also take 15minutes of my time when I can after praying the Rosary to meditate on them. I pray the Rosary daily many days often more than once. I can’t tell you enough about what a wise choice you have made.
 
This is a good site also and each mystery has ten lines to meditate on…one for each rosary you recite 🙂 (And the virtue of each decade is at the bottom).

rosary-center.org/howto.htm

The rosary for me is Our Lady taking me by the hand and leading me to her Son.

Welcome to the forum! :hug1:
 
I had that problem when I first started praying the rosary. I found a tiny little book called, “Let’s Pray, Not Just Say, the Rosary.” It goes through each of the mysteries and gives you a thought for each of the Hail Marys. I’m including a link where you can purchase it along with a copy in rich text format on the internet. I found that after awhile, I was able to envision each part of each mystery which helped me meditate while praying the rosary.

liguori.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=10905
kylekc.com/Rosary/LetsPray-NotJustSay-TheRosary.rtf

Now when I say the rosary, I meditate on each mystery and I usually add a prayer for each decade and focus on that person or situation that I am praying for.

Hope this helps.
 
Hi Thursday,

Meditation in this sense doesn’t mean the eastern type of meditation where you empty your mind. It means to think about the mystery. For example, the third Joyful mystery, think about Jesus being born. Imagine being there, be thankful to God for it, think about its significance for us. etc. If you find there isn’t enough to think about, then a book about the significance of each mytery will give you food for thought/meditation.

Happy praying! 🙂

Neil
 
CatholicFireman said:
This is a good site also and each mystery has ten lines to meditate on…one for each rosary you recite 🙂 (And the virtue of each decade is at the bottom).

rosary-center.org/howto.htm

The rosary for me is Our Lady taking me by the hand and leading me to her Son.

Welcome to the forum! :hug1:
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Hey, that’s a neat site. 👍 I also used a ten line approach to meditating from a little booklet called “Let’s Pray (not just say) the Rosary”. It really helped me to focus better if I had something to think about during every Hail Mary instead of a general mystery description.

I hope you enjoy this devotion! I’m partial to it because before I really decided to become Catholic I bought a rosary, just for fun. But then while trying to learn how to use it in prayer I started getting sucked into the rest of the Catholic faith. And now a year later, I still find new meaning for my life, and new things to ponder as I meditate on the mysteries. 😉
 
St. Louis de Montfort wrote extensively on our Blessed Mother and on the Rosary. There arte a few writings of his (entire books) free online here :

montfort.org.uk/Writings/MontWork.html

One of his books – The Admirable Secret of the Rosary (3rd on the linked list) gives these little injections of stories concerning the Rosary and the mystical throughout.

Another work of St. Louis’ was the **Methods For Saying Rosary **(4th on the linked list) – also available at the same site. Basically he describes three different possible methods for praying the Rosary. We need to bear in mind that he lived in the early pre-Luminous Mysteries era.

As long as we are praying the Rosary in private, I found his **Second Shorter Method **to be quite effective in minimizing distractions – that is , simply adding a word or two after we say the name of Jesus in each Hail Mary to remind us of the mystery we are praying ; for example , if we were praying the decade of the Annunciation he says we might say “…and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus becoming man. Holy Mary, Mother of God pray for us sinners…”

I don’t know that the words which St. Louis recommends here are meant to be rigid. There may be a word or two which would be more effective to help you personally meditate on a particular mystery.

In an old copy of **The Admirable Secret of the Rosary **which I have here, they included St. Louis’ Methods For Saying The Rosary. The words in this old version don’t precisely match the ones given at the site. For myself personally , the most significant change was the words recommended when praying the decade of the Ascension.

The linked site recommends we say “ …and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus ascending to Heaven. Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners…” ;

While the earlier text in the book recommended “ …and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus ascending to the Father’s bosom. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners…”

I really find the earlier text more fruitful for meditation.
 
Sarah25 said:
Hey, that’s a neat site. 👍 I also used a ten line approach to meditating from a little booklet called “Let’s Pray (not just say) the Rosary”. It really helped me to focus better if I had something to think about during every Hail Mary instead of a general mystery description.

I hope you enjoy this devotion! I’m partial to it because before I really decided to become Catholic I bought a rosary, just for fun. But then while trying to learn how to use it in prayer I started getting sucked into the rest of the Catholic faith. And now a year later, I still find new meaning for my life, and new things to ponder as I meditate on the mysteries. 😉
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I’m glad you like it. 🙂 They also sell it in booklet form.
 
As time progresses, mysteries like the Annunciation will be a breeze as contemplating it fully can be quite lengthy as it unfolds before you. The Annunciation is powerful. I would suggest some reading from Catholic sources about mysteries that seem dry to you. All of heaven and earth paused as they waited to hear the response from the humble, obedient 15 yr old. It was at that very moment of her yes, that God became man. Wow, the incarnation! The angels must have busted out the greatest symphony of praises to our Lord at this miraculous event.

As far as virtues go, make each mystery your own…look for the virtue in the mystery. At the Annunciation for instance, you might want to pray for the humility and obedience that, Mary, our role model had. She was full of grace and without sin. Put yourself in Mary’s place and ask yourself what your response would be to the angel if this happened to you in that Place, at that Time? Hindsight is 20/20. Would you say, “Let it be done to me, according to thy word?” Or would you ask Gabriel questions and have doubt? I’d flunk every mystery big time! Allow Mary to take you on the journey and climb the ladder to Christian perfection to her Son. How blessed we to call her Mother!

I’m glad you found an interest in this wonderful gift of the Rosary and I hope the graces you receive from it will be ever so bountiful.
 
CatholicFireman said:
This is a good site also and each mystery has ten lines to meditate on…one for each rosary you recite 🙂 (And the virtue of each decade is at the bottom).

rosary-center.org/howto.htm

The rosary for me is Our Lady taking me by the hand and leading me to her Son.

Welcome to the forum! :hug1:
Click to expand...
I love this site! This is what I use to help pray the Rosary as well. I printed out each mystery, (about three pages each) and stapled them together. It is a perfect aid to meditate on each mystery. Highly recommended!
 
CATHOLIC_BIKER said:
I love this site! This is what I use to help pray the Rosary as well. I printed out each mystery, (about three pages each) and stapled them together. It is a perfect aid to meditate on each mystery. Highly recommended!
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That’s great! Just FYI, the website also sells a little booklet with the same pictures/lines so you can take it anywhere. If anyone visits the site maybe you can join (for free) the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. St. Louis De Montfort recommend we do that.

Pax†
 
I don’t know where I found it but when I started learning about the rosary, I read online about the various spiritual fruits of each mystery. I try to incorporate that into my thoughts while I say the prayers but sometimes I just can’t remember what was on the site so I just try to remember the scripture that the mystery is from.

When I do the joyful mysteries, I think about obedience during the first mystery. I think about how Mary submitted herself to God’s will and accepted Jesus as her son. I think of the angel’s conversation with Mary and try to imagine the great burden and joy that was simultaneously placed upon her. , On the second mystery I imagine the compassion Mary exhibited by visiting Elizabeth during her pregnancy. On the third mystery I think of the nativity I think of how poor and lowly it would be to give birth in a stable and this was such a humble beginning for the king of kings. This helps me to try and strive or humility in my own life. For the presentation in the temple I remember how lawful Mary and Joseph were and how I need to try and be more respectful of man’s law. On the fifth mystery I am reminded of Jesus being found in the temple and how I need to be more pious.

Obedience, Compassion, Humility, Lawfulness, and Piety

Those are the spiritual fruits I try and remember during my joyful mysteries. Sometimes I can’t remember the spiritual fruits I read about so I just try to take into context the scripture the mystery references and draw my lesson from it. It was hard when I first started to pray the rosary to remember the mysteries so I made a cheat sheet I could keep in the same pouch as my rosary. It made things a lot easier!

You said a hard one to visualize is the annunciation. During that one, I try to think of the way Jesus traveled around teaching. Maybe a parable he told or a miracle he preformed. That one is the most open ended one to me and I like that because it lets me meditate more on my current situation.

If you like praying the rosary, I think you would also like praying the chaplet of Divine Mercy. Its a devotion prayed on rosary beads and it is prayed at 3:00. I really enjoy it!

Also, I like this site comepraytherosary.org/

Its a good way to do a rosary online and a few people I’ve met on here get online and do a rosary together every once and a while. If you would like, message me and I’ll send you the link for that.
 
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