Comitting to the Rosary

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How has anybody here overcome difficulties in staying comitted to saying at least 5 Decades of the Rosary daily?
 
Sadly I do not yet pray the Rosary every day but I am trying to. I think it’s a really powerful prayer and has helped me many times. I have no doubt that it can help with anything.

You might be interested in the book, “Secret of the Rosary” by St Louis de Montfort 🙂
catholictradition.org/Classics/secret-rosary.htm

God bless
 
Yes I used to struggle with praying the Rosary on a consistent basis. So I just decided to ask Our Lord to allow me to glorify Him in a way He wanted me to. Then I started praying the Rosary again, and I’ve been praying it every day since (for quite a few months, maybe a year).

Granted there are certainly times where I don’t want to, and I’ll make little mental excuses. “I’m too tired.” “Missing just once won’t hurt.” “It would be better to spend my time doing this or that.” etc. etc. But I ask Our Lady to pray for me that I may persevere and glorify her Son, and then I find I have the strength to pray the Rosary. Usually.

Sometimes I don’t feel like I have the strength to do it and I’m overcome with horrid spiritual dryness and apathy, but I do it anyway because it’s good for me. Just like exercise, eating my veggies, and doing my homework.

However, I will say that maybe you are called to another form of prayer like the Divine Office, Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the chaplet to St. Michael, the chaplet of the Seven Sorrows/Joys of Our Lady, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Lectio Divina, contemplative prayer, etc. There’s a thousand ways to pray and not all of them are right for everyone, and you have to find a way that works for you so long as you are dedicated to praying often, I’d say everyday, and giving the praise and love that is due to Our Lord for all that He has given us.
 
i do it everyday but latly i am not doing it right at all. i am having trouble with the medittating part and i am always drifting away and end up thinking about other things. I need to find myself back into it. Finding a room or somewhere with peice and quite is hard as well. no matter where i go in the house i can here the television in every room.
 
Just set the alarm clock for fifteen minutes earlier, and if you get up before the rest of the household, voila! You have your peace and quiet! And a side benefit is you’ll probably get to work earlier, too!

Fifteen minutes is the equivalent of a coffee break, not too much time to ask to set aside to praise the Blessed Virgin and Her Son. And I find that since I’ve made a commitment to praying the Rosary when I first get up (for a few years now) it puts my thought life on a higher plane for the rest of the day.
 
I try to pray it at night before bed every night. Sometimes when I have trouble focusing on the mysteries, I focus on the emotions instead. And it works–last night I was sad and meditated on the Sorrowful Mysteries by focusing on the sorrow, and I wasn’t sad anymore when I finished…I know this isn’t the correct way to pray the Rosary persay, but I’m still practicing. 🙂 It’s certainly more than I did a week ago!
 
jesus4ever said:
i do it everyday but latly i am not doing it right at all. i am having trouble with the medittating part and i am always drifting away and end up thinking about other things. I need to find myself back into it. Finding a room or somewhere with peice and quite is hard as well. no matter where i go in the house i can here the television in every room.
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I had this same problem in finding a quiet spot, so I bought an MP3 player (even though I had no idea how to use one), and downloaded soft, instrumental music. They come with little earphones and it helps me to be “transported” away from what is going on in the house, and concentrate on the rosary.

My mind still wanders half the time. I think I will always be struggling with that. But the music cuts out all of the background noise that goes on in the house, and it’s beautiful. The player is tiny and I can take it outside or wherever I want to pray.
 
Jenna_Bailey said:
I had this same problem in finding a quiet spot, so I bought an MP3 player (even though I had no idea how to use one), and downloaded soft, instrumental music. They come with little earphones and it helps me to be “transported” away from what is going on in the house, and concentrate on the rosary.

My mind still wanders half the time. I think I will always be struggling with that. But the music cuts out all of the background noise that goes on in the house, and it’s beautiful. The player is tiny and I can take it outside or wherever I want to pray.
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I have the Everyday Rosary by Burnett and Pentek available as a download from Amazon.com. Scripture meditation precedes each mystery and soft instrumental music plays in the background. It’s on my own Zune MP3.
 
smad0142 said:
How has anybody here overcome difficulties in staying comitted to saying at least 5 Decades of the Rosary daily?
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My family started to say the Rosary 2 years ago. Please bear with me, I am afraid I will come off as bragging or boasting and I most certainly do not wish to do so in the least. For I am so afraid the graces that have flowed through my home since will cease.

We started to say it as a family for other family members, for particular intentions. We tended to keep at it as long as there was someone that “needed” assistance. My children were able to witness the graces that came from it. We just kept finding more and more that needed “prayers”. It did seem to be “laborious” at first, and we would struggle with interruptions and distractions. With all those warnings about prayer that is not “sincere” and done only out of obligation, etc., we plugged through.

At first I thought, “Well, we’ll see how long this lasts”. Two years later… we rarely miss a night, if I am distracted and forget my children remind me. There are evenings that my husband and I will be out and not return before the younger one’s bedtime, my children say it in our absence, willingly. I just kept asking for the grace to say 1 Rosary the way it should be. 2 years later…we are still trying. Though we have yet to say that “perfect” Rosary, Mary has showered perfect graces on us.

My devotion to the Blessed Mother has surprisingly grown. I can not seem to get enough of Her. I always respected Her, but put Her on the “back burner” for so long and this indifference has stirred into a roaring bonfire. So much so that there are tears streaming down my cheeks as I am typing this out of shear humiliation. The love that I feel is like my heart will burst out of my chest (I did not know I was capable of loving in such a way).

The only thing I can offer is, say it, especially when it hurts, it’s worth it.
 
Here is how I got into the habit of saying a daily rosary. In 2005 I had discovered the 54 day rosary novena and decided to give it a try. I got through it but it was very tough and I was so glad when it was over. When Lent was starting the next year I was thinking of something different to do than the usual giving up sweets or snacks between meals. One day when I was on the internet I clicked on the link to the Mary Foundation and they had a free rosary CD. After the experience of saying the rosary from the year before and knowing how hard it was I decided to get it so it would not feel like I was praying the rosary alone and started saying a daily rosary for Lent. When Lent was ending I just decided to keep saying it since I had gotten used to it. I bought a few other rosary CDs over the years but now I usually say it by myself.

As far as not feeling like doing it at times(sure I’ve had times like that) I just remember what Fr. John Corapi has said. Say it even if you don’t feel like it. My mind gets to wandering just about everytime I say a rosary but I just try to get back to meditating and offer up my wandering thoughts to God. What I like best about what has happened to me since I started saying a daily rosary was how my Catholic faith has gotten so much stronger. I used to think I was a very good Catholic but I realize now how lukewarm I was and how little I knew. I have developed such a hunger to learn all I can about my faith since I started saying the rosary five years ago that I am constantly buying books, subscribing to different Catholic websites, watching EWTN and coming to sites like this one to learn has much as I can.

I do not take any credit for being able to say a daily rosary for this long. I give God thanks for giving me the grace to say it, the Blessed Virgin Mary for her assistance and my Mom who died almost ten years ago who was very devoted to the rosary.
 
I just find little moments in the day that I can replace with the rosary. like I don’t listen to the radio while I’m driving, I put in my rosary CD. If I’m waiting somewhere, I’ll say a decade. I reccomend getting a wrist rosary (its not bad to wear a rosary that way if you are doing it for pious purposes). I’ll even say a decade in the shower (that is one of the least distracted places I am)…Ask Mary to help you find time to pray the rosary.

-Jeanne
 
smad0142 said:
How has anybody here overcome difficulties in staying comitted to saying at least 5 Decades of the Rosary daily?
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You have to make it part of your daily routine (i.e. say a Rosary while doing something you do every day). I say a Rosary every morning while I’m showering and drying my hair. Also, since I have been enrolled in the Brown Scapular, part of my duty in order to obtain Our Lady’s Sabatine promise, is to say a Rosary daily. If I fail to say my Rosary, I feel like I’ve broken my promise to my mother. That gives me more incentive.

If you are really have trouble, then start small. Start out with one decade a day, and ask the Blessed Mother to give you the desire and the opportunity to go further.

Also, if you join a Rosary group, that helps. There is a group in my parish that says a Rosary after Mass on Saturday mornings. I always stay and say the Rosary with them. Somehow, it makes it easier when you’re in a group.

Hope I was helpful!
 
I was praying the Rosary faithfully over the course of a few months. I stopped for a few days and committed a mortal sin against chastity. I had no trouble with chastity when I was praying the Rosary daily. Coincidence? I don’t know, but I am going back to the Rosary!
 
Try a Rosary of the Hours. 😃

Pray the opening prayers and the first decade on the way to work or school.
2nd decade - morning coffee break
3rd decade - during lunch hour, before or after eating
4th decade - afternoon break
5th decade and concluding prayers - on the way home from work or school
(or a different pattern, including evening or going to bed hours, whatever works)

I find lately that praying the whole 5 decades on my commute to work, with the St Michael prayer, memorare, morning offering/consecration renewal, and asking that Christ’s light shine through me today, so I can be the blessing someone else needs from God…it’s making me a better person, eager to serve others well–and it’s generating notice and praise–but that’s not why I’m doing it. I’m trying to preach the gospel without words. 👍 my morning prayers are my heart tenderizer. I’m even driving more like a Christian. 👍
 
I second the suggestion made by “odile53”; I think it is better to pray before the day starts than at its end. (However, I find that it takes me about half an hour to say a five-decade Rosary, so I suggest setting your alarm clock for 30 or 45 minutes earlier than you usually wake up in the morning.) My reason for saying this: my mind seems to be more focused first thing in the morning. When I pray later in the day, I find too many distractions entering my mind: work, the children, things on my to-do list, etc. And, having started my day in a positive way, I find that the rest of the day seems to go better–I am more in a “get things done” state of mind.
 
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