Am I Praying the Rosary Correctly?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Christbearer03
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Christbearer03

Guest
I understand that while praying the Rosary, you should be meditating on the life of Christ and the mysteries of the Rosary. So, before I pray the Our Father at the start of the decade, I spend a minute or so thinking about the mystery in my mind and sometimes I even talk to myself about it. Is that an acceptable way of meditating on the mysteries?

Also, I always pray the Rosary at once, but I understand that you could pray it throughout the day. I feel guilty about doing this. Does anyone have any good tips to try and defeat this guilt?

Also, I saw somewhere that praying short prayers more often is better than longer prayers less often. I saw a quote from Martin Luther about this and on some websites, but is this Catholic teaching?

Thank you so much, and have a blessed day! God bless you all and may our Blessed Mother protect and always be with you! 🙂
 
Hi friend!

The way that you are praying the Rosary is perfectly fine. Many people read a pre-written reflection on the Mystery before saying the Our Father, ten Hail Mary’s, and Glory Be. You just think about it on your own, and that is basically the same thing, so you are good there.

In regard to shorter prayer versus longer ones, I will point you first to this quote from Jesus: “And when you are praying, speak not much, as the heathens. For they think that in their much speaking they may be heard. Be not you therefore like to them, for your Father knoweth what is needful for you, before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8).

Now, does this mean that we cannot pray long prayers? No, of course not! However, it is true that God knows everything we need before we ask Him…He just wants us to be able to come to Him and have a good relationship with Him. In addition, the common phrase usually goes: “Quality, not quantity.” This idea also rings true in prayer: we should ensure that our prayer is good and devout, rather than unnecessarily long.

These two articles express this idea very well…one draws from Saint Thomas Aquinas, the other from Saint Augustine:

ourcatholicprayers.com/aquinas-on-the-lords-prayer.html
ourcatholicprayers.com/St-Augustine-on-prayer.html

May God bless you abundantly and forever, and grant you peace! 🙂
 
Your method is fine. In my “Blessed Be God” prayer book, your method is one method they illustrate for saying the Rosary.

I use two other methods. One is to meditate on the mystery while I say the prayers- at first it was a bit like patting my head and rubbing my tummy at the same time, but now it’s working for me. Basically I envision the scene that the mystery is about, like I’m seeing it in a movie. In fact, some of the scenes I envision come straight out of the Passion of the Christ or Mary of Nazareth.

Another method I’ll use is to meditate on the fruit of the mystery instead. So, for example, on the Anunciation where the fruit of the mystery is humility, I will focus on how I can be more humble.
 
Christbearer03 said:
I understand that while praying the Rosary
Click to expand...
There is NO right or wrong way to pray the Rosary. It is a personal devotion. You can do it in any manner you choose.
Christbearer03 said:
Does anyone have any good tips to try and defeat this guilt?
Click to expand...
Yes, seek spiritual guidance from your pastor or seek a referral to a spiritual director. Several of your posts together point towards spiritual anxiety. You need to get that under control.
Christbearer03 said:
Also, I saw somewhere that praying short prayers more often is better than longer prayers less often. I saw a quote from Martin Luther about this and on some websites, but is this Catholic teaching?
Click to expand...
There is no such teaching.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top