My wandering mind and short attention span really takes a toll on my prayer life, especially when I pray the Rosary. I can never stay focused on the mysteries, and I often lose track of which bead I’ve been fingering. I often get to the end of a decade and realize I’ve hardly even thought about the mental picture of the mystery at all. Even staring at a picture of a mystery doesn’t help.
On weekdays, I often pray the Rosary several times each day. Driving on the way to work and on the way home. In distracting situations it is quite possible to be distracted. For almost two months now, I pray one Rosary in a very non-distractive situation (for me that is in the bathtub). The relaxed pace of naturally taking my time makes it such a better experience. The one bathtub Rosary may frequently be better than the two to four other Rosaries (an above average traffic jam can make opportunity for two Rosaries instead of one each way to work).
Saying the Rosary in the bathtub frequently results in this for me – that one particular decade will be good and the other four decades will be fairly normal.
For me in that one special decade, I find it helpful in meditation to pause and put my imagination to work for a few minutes before starting to pray.
For example, one night the special decade might be the Glorious Assumption. I’ll imagine that it was such a glorious assumption that there was the grandest parade of all time (on Mary’s trip to heaven). That it was one of the most significant grand and glorious events in all of human history. And that there are magnificent parade floats, each much better than the best float ever seen in any Rose Bowl parade. And that I need to help put some Roses in a particular float – and it is all for Mary and to make Jesus happy. And that is where I start praying – a white rose someplace (the Our Father) and ten red roses (the Hail Marys). The float I’m working on (with others I’m sure) is big enough that this can frequently be my bathroom meditation on the Assumption for the rest of my life.
Keep in mind that I only have one special decade like this on any day. And sometimes I have only a fairly normal bathtub rosary (but at least I wasn’t distracted as much as otherwise).
Another example, I love the “Presentation of the Lord in the Temple”. And if I might be in a state of grace, I imagine myself there. And wait for Mary to finish talking with all the others. Then I ask her if I can hold the baby Jesus in my arms. She usually agrees and I love to spend time imagining that I am holding the infant baby. That his fingers are so small and perhaps he grabs my little finger if I put it near his small hand. Then I start the prayers, still holding the baby Jesus in my arms. And when the decade’s prayers are done, it is time to give Jesus back to His mother.
I’ve been meaning to ask somebody if this is normal or OK to imaging talking to the people in the decade.
Sometimes in the “Visitation of Mary” I walk along with Mary who is on the way to Elizabeth and Zechariah’s. I tell Mary it may be safer if I walked along with her and if she would mind. Then I start the prayers for the decade while walking with Mary on the way to Elizabeth’s house.
And once, I was still with Mary at her home helping her to plan what she should take on the trip. I thought that was actually a very good meditation. And the next day, Mary interrupted the first decade to inaudibly tell me that little John the Baptist really liked one of the things I asked Mary to ask Joseph to make for him.
Try for one Rosary each day in a non-distracting setting. And in that Rosary, if you can get one good decade (with a meaningful meditation) that this is a very good thing. At least that is what I can do.
Before I was able to pray the Rosary, I frequently only prayed a decade of Hail Marys between a pair of Our Fathers – without even knowing what all the Rosary Mysteries were. Realize that we are each growing and may be at different levels of capability. For quite awhile, I only prayed one simple decade each day – and probably sometimes went a day or two without praying a decade. That was OK for me then.
Each of us is different. We sould be happy with what we can do and not be hard on ourselves when we fall short of what others may be capable of (if we know that there are medical reasons behind our mental difficulties).
jmm08
