The rosary is an aid to completing the prayer. I’ve used my fingers to keep count when I didn’t have a rosary available. The rosary beads take away the burden of remembering how many Hail Marys you’ve said, so that you can more easily meditate on the mystery of that particular decade.Also, I sometimes find myself in a situation where I forgot my rosary but really want to pray it. Does it not count as truly praying the rosary if I was to do it with memorization because I sincerely forgot my rosary?
Wow good point. Jesus never taught from a book. He taught orally and others passed this on and lived on his word trusting in him without books and documents etc. I guess this is the part that the Church teaches when it talks about Sacred Tradition?Just a thought…The normal mode of “reading” the bible for the first 1500 years or so – was listening to it. Before the invention of the Gutenberg printing press, it would have cost something like 3 years wages or more to buy a bible. It was impractical for the average person to own one. Most people were illiterate, so even if they went to a church or to a library where they could find a bible, they wouldn’t be able to read it anyway.
My point is that the authors of the various books would have assumed that you would be listening to someone read it. So much so, that John, in the book of Revelation 1:3 says, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophesy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it”
hmmm…Prayer is an opportunity to spend time with your Creator - a loving father who cares about you and wants the best for you. If someone is more interested in competing with others over style, form, volume or speed, then I would wonder about whether the focus of their prayer is God or themselves. In the end, who is being praised?The only reason I ask is because I get once got a lot of mix results when I asked this question among Catholics on CAF. Some people literally said it doesn’t count and there is no merit etc. It’s almost as if some people consider being a Catholic as some type of competition or something. Who prays more and acts more holier is better. Surely I know prayer is important daily but I don’t understand why Catholics look at this as some type of competition between other Catholics at times.
certainly, especially for someone who can’t read for some reason, but if it is an approved translation and I assume it is because of where it is marketed, yes. In fact at least during Mass it is preferable to hear the Word proclaimed than to read it yourself from a book. But whether or not it is meditating if you are multi-tasking is another question altogether. No if you are practicing lectio divina, or wish to not only hear but meditate on scripture and be open to contemplative prayer, no you have to set aside a quiet time and please to read or listen, and try to remove all other distractions.It’s the RSV-CE audio version word for word from the bible. If I was to listen to this on my ipod at night or driving in my car meditating on the Word of God, does this count towards spending time in (reading) scripture as reading the book? Is there any difference between reading the Word or Listening to the word?
why would you think it does not “count” if you don’t use beads?Also, I sometimes find myself in a situation where I forgot my rosary but really want to pray it. Does it not count as truly praying the rosary if I was to do it with memorization because I sincerely forgot my rosary?
I agree. It’s difficult in our world to block out all the “noise” and just pray.You pray as you can. But driving a car, doing housework, yardwork, or office work while listening to a spiritual tape or audio prayer is not necessarily praying. It is a worthwhile practice, but you still need some time in addition to that devoted entirely to prayer with your full attention.