First Rosary prayer

[marcaevans]

I am presently a prospective Catholic, its still very early days I have been to two Masses one in English and another in Latin. I attended the latin mass tonight just to experience it, once it was over a Nun connected to the Church gave me my first Rosary beads and the Priest has said he will give me a set of Rosary beads blessed by Pope Benedict a few weeks ago next time I attend.

I have previously been using an interactive Rosary to practice the prayers through application suggestions kindly given by other members of these forums. I must admit I kept getting lost and was confused when it came to intentions and mysteries. The Nun also gave me a booklet which is amazing and has guided me through step by step.

So I have spent the last twenty minutes praying with the Rosary beads in full, my first official time doing so. I used TextEdit on my computer to display the prayers until I learn them off by heart including the mysteries although I think I have got the Hail Mary covered!

It is amazing how much it makes you feel at peace once you have finished praying, I feel consolidated in my faith! Prior to making serious considerations about joining the Catholic Church I always believed that praying the Rosary would be a chore, as I have family friends who are Catholic. In taking the time and effort in showing Christ my love I can see how rewarding it can be. I actually really enjoyed just sitting down and praying! It felt like relaxation to me!

 

[MJCamp]

Yes. I feel the same way. It is amazing

 

[R_C]

Wonderful!

I can say that it was prayer of the Rosary that lead me to the Church. My dad gave me one once, and I had no idea how to pray it. As I kept going, I found myself engulfed in the motherly love of Our Lady and in a short time I felt like I was falling in love with this Beloved Savior whose life I had somehow always known, and yet never truly meditated on. Eventually meditation on the joyful and glorious mysteries became a moment of true joy, while that of the sorrowful mysteries of profound sorrow - this only for a time, but it sufficed to fix my heart on Christ in a way that did not allow any turning back. One day I simply found myself walking into a Parrish of this Catholic Church that I was not very familiar with and that I didn’t like very much, and that day my life changed - not in a figure of speech, but to the degree that in my great unworthiness and sinfulness I am however an entirely different person than I was before.

I advice the book The Secret of the Rosary. I know it sounds like some modern novel, but in fact it was written in 1716 by s. Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort, probably the greatest studious of the theology of Our Lady and a candidate for the title of Doctor of the Church.

The book revolves around the views of the Rosary and the power of the Rosary and consists of a number of short sections called Roses each being about one or two pages long. Each Rose discusses a separate viewpoint about the Rosary and may be addressed to a different cross section of the audience, e.g. priests versus lay people.

Other books by this author such as “Treatise on True Devotion” and “God Alone” have had a major impact on Catholic theology and have been greatly praised by not just specialists, but directly by the Popes. Although s. Louis is best known for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, his spirituality is founded upon the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ, and his Christian faith is centered on Christ as the focus of his religious devotion, while the Virgin Mary remains is a key element in his spirituality. Montfortian spirituality can be summarized in the formula “To God Alone, by Christ’s Wisdom, in the Spirit, in communion with Mary, for the reign of God.”

To read these works is to become knowledgeable about the profound mystery of that sacramental known as the Most Holy Rosary, a devotion that is 8 centuries old, and perhaps the only private devotion that has been elevated to the praise of the universal Church by having its own feast, the Feast of the Holy Rosary on October 7. A devotion that does not just kindle our faith, but that - as it did to me and to many - it literally saves lives.

 

[Glacies]

Deo gratias for your positive experience with the Holy Rosary! One may seek additional motivation for using this sacramental from the Fifteen Rosary Promises which Our Lady attributedly revealed to St. Dominic and Bl. Alan de la Roche. The Promises include graces, protection and glory while they read as follows:

1. 
   *]Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the rosary, shall receive signal graces.
   *] I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the rosary.
   *] The rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
   *] It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the heart of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
   *] The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the rosary shall not perish.
   *] Whoever shall recite the rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.
   *] Whoever shall have a true devotion for the rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
   *] Those who are faithful to recite the rosary shall have, during their life and at their death, the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
   *] I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the rosary.
   *] The faithful children of the rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.
   *] You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the rosary.
   *] All those who propagate the holy rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
   *] I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
   *] All who recite the rosary are my sons, and brothers of my only son Jesus Christ.
   *] Devotion of my rosary is a great sign of predestination.

 

[thomasf]

rosary-center.org/howto.htm

That website has helped me greatly with praying the Rosary. I highly recommend it.