Confession/mortal sin/scrupulosity

[DebChris]

I think the reason it takes my so long to pray is my scrupulousity.
Whenever I lose focus when praying or miscount, I always go back one and re-do it for safety.
I pray the Normal rosary 1 Mystery per day. Some Mysteries like the joyful are hard to meditate on for every 10 beads, sometimes I re-invision the same event (if I can’t find anythign else of the mystery to focus on like during the Nativity for ex. I just try to envision Baby Jesus in a cradle for a good portion of it. I always thought every bead had to be a different aspect of the mystery.

It does make it sound like you are making it harder than it is. Relax. God is not an accountant. There are 10 beads per decade. Have you noticed that sometimes when praying in a group, you end earlier or later than the group? There may be one bead left or you are a bead (prayer) ahead. This is not unusual. I add a word/phrase after Jesus in the Hail Mary to help me focus on the mystery I am praying.
I do not think praying mentally will shorten the time since that is the same as praying verbally, just silently. Try just reciting the prayers and allowing the meditations to take care of themselves. Do you have a book or flier with scriptural passages to read at the beginning of each decade?
I am trying to think of an everyday activity to use as an analogy to help. Do you ever work with the radio or music playing in the background? Do you sing to music as you wash dishes or fold clothes? The meditations are the songs you sing and the Hail Marys are the dishes you are wiping or the clothes you are folding.

 

[Angel7]

It does make it sound like you are making it harder than it is. Relax. God is not an accountant. There are 10 beads per decade. Have you noticed that sometimes when praying in a group, you end earlier or later than the group? There may be one bead left or you are a bead (prayer) ahead. This is not unusual. I add a word/phrase after Jesus in the Hail Mary to help me focus on the mystery I am praying.
I do not think praying mentally will shorten the time since that is the same as praying verbally, just silently. Try just reciting the prayers and allowing the meditations to take care of themselves. Do you have a book or flier with scriptural passages to read at the beginning of each decade?
I am trying to think of an everyday activity to use as an analogy to help. Do you ever work with the radio or music playing in the background? Do you sing to music as you wash dishes? The meditations are the songs you sing and the Hail Marys are the dishes you are wiping.

I guess that makes sense, although I always doubt if I did or did not pray a certain bead. Cuz usually when I just pray the Hail mary And focus on the mystery, I go lose focus a little, and I mess up when praying the Hail mary.

 

[Josh_Elzner]

I guess that makes sense, although I always doubt if I did or did not pray a certain bead. Cuz usually when I just pray the Hail mary And focus on the mystery, I go lose focus a little, and I mess up when praying the Hail mary.

It really doesn’t matter at all whether you skip a bead or not. God doesn’t care whether you say all ten or accidentally miss some. It’s good to lose your focus on which bead you are on because you are caught up in the mystery. That’s the point of the rosary, to lead you into meditation, not just saying exactly fifty-three Hail Mary’s.

Also, you asked if you had to pray the rosary every day. No. Technically you don’t have to say it at all, but what person who really loves our Lord and Lady would not desire to say it? If you get busy and don’t have time to say it–that really doesn’t matter. You are doing it as an act of love, not as a duty (hopefully). I try to make a holy hour with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament every day, but there are days I miss for various reasons (such as traveling). This does not mean I do not love our Lord and offend Him in any way. I don’t, I just look forward to the next time I can be with Him.

Also, this is the last thing–You mentioned saying the rosary as being a sign of being in the state of grace. The quote you are thinking of is from St. Louis de Monfort’s Secret of the Rosary and he says that having a great devotion to the rosary and praying it is a sign of predestination. This does not mean everyone who doesn’t say the rosary is going to hell or that everyone who does is going to heaven, but it can be a sign that we are on the right track, because loving Mary is a sign that we also love her Son. Don’t take this predestination sign thing to seriously. It is a good bit of advice, but remember that every single person is predestined for heaven by God’s love. They just have the ability to reject His grace.

 

[steve975]

Here’s my routine for praying the Rosary to help with my scrupulosity and trouble focusing. These are the links I use. It’s best if you can say the Rosary while at a computer or if you print these out.

The first link has the basic overview of the entire Rosary. The second link I use for the actual Mysteries. You can get to each of the Mysteries by clicking on the links at the very top of the page. The third link is a Novena prayer I usually say with the Rosary.

What I like about this is that with the way the Mysteries are laid out in the second link, each Mystery has exactly 10 statements about the Mystery. So I read the first statement, then say a Hail Mary; the second statement, then another Hail Mary; and so on for a total of 10 Hail Mary’s for each Mystery. This helps me stay focused on one simple statement at a time for each Hail Mary, rather than focusing on the entire Mystery for 10 Hail Mary’s in a row. Then I read the Spiritual Fruit at the end of each set of Mysteries before saying the Glory Be.

Give it a try and see what you think.

ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/rosary/how_to.htm

rosary-center.org/howto.htm

ewtn.com/Devotionals/novena/ol_rosary.htm

 

[Angel7]

1. last questions ( i know this is gettin annoying) but, could you pray the rosary while say Jogging?

 

[DebChris]

1. last questions ( i know this is gettin annoying) but, could you pray the rosary while say Jogging?

Why not? I know somebody who does this. Of course, you may need to count on your fingers instead of using a physical rosary.
I have never prayed the rosary while jogging. Jim Hendrix who wrote Run, Jog, Race described running as moving meditation. It has been a long time since I have actually been running, but I found it a time to “let the garbage flow” through my mind in order to get rid of it.
When I swim, there are no thoughts as I am thinking about my breathing.
Diana Nyad described exercising as “exorcising the demons from your life.”
Back to the question. I am more likely to say the rosary while walking. I have even been stopped while doing this by somebody who wanted directions and was able to return without missing a beat.