Having a personal relationship with Mary

[Reuben_J]

You manage to pray the rosary in 15 minutes?

Generally 15 minutes is acceptable for a recitation of one Rosary without putting any additional Biblical verses, petitions or hymn between the mysteries. The idea is while the reciting is going on, one meditates on the mystery and so on. It shouldn’t be a sterile repetitive verbal prayer since you are given the mystery which is from the account of the Bible to meditate on. I guess being an ex-Catholic I shouldn’t be telling you this but I think 15 minutes is quite reasonable. Having said that, it can always be prayed more slowly so that we really savor the time to meditate. It may take longer when the Rosary is prayed in a group. This is what they will tell you - do not rush it; which of course what it should be.

 

[catholic-rcia]

Sometimes the devil will have us questioning our worthiness, especially when we find our self in sin. Through our sin he is able to place distance between our pride and the love of Jesus for us sinners. One aspect of the most Holy Communion is making a good confession before receiving. Satan hates confession as well as forgiveness as we al know. Jesus through the great Sacrament of confession says “I know, its ok, let’s get through this together, I love you, never turn away from me in shame”

Approaching the table of our Lord with the weight of sin is approaching without the certainty of our salvation in Him, through Him.
He always says come to me no matter what.

Satan always says turn away from Him you are not good enough. When we go to Confession, when we receive Holy Communion we say to Satan yes I am not worthy to receive Him but because of Him I am worthy in Him. Confession and Eucharist are pillars of our faith. Those who do not yet understand this need to go deeper. It is a mystery we will never fully understand here, yet we receive a good sense of it, we understand enough to know how important it is in order to stay side by side with Jesus, or maybe behind Him, He protecting His Cross “Us”

 

[Janet1983]

Generally 15 minutes is acceptable for a recitation of one Rosary without putting any additional Biblical verses, petitions or hymn between the mysteries. The idea is while the reciting is going on, one meditates on the mystery and so on. It shouldn’t be a sterile repetitive verbal prayer since you are given the mystery which is from the account of the Bible to meditate on. I guess being an ex-Catholic I shouldn’t be telling you this but I think 15 minutes is quite reasonable. Having said that, it can always be prayed more slowly so that we really savor the time to meditate. It may take longer when the Rosary is prayed in a group. This is what they will tell you - do not rush it; which of course what it should be.

I guess I just wasn’t that fast back then… it usually took me between 25 and 30 minutes for one. I used the time on the bus to school and back from school (which was half an hour on the first bus plus half an hour on the second bus) for 2 every day… and one before I went to bed in the evenings, usually while sitting in a quiet corner of the garden.

 

[lil_flower_luv]

I guess I just wasn’t that fast back then… it usually took me between 25 and 30 minutes for one. I used the time on the bus to school and back from school (which was half an hour on the first bus plus half an hour on the second bus) for 2 every day… and one before I went to bed in the evenings, usually while sitting in a quiet corner of the garden.

Useful and beautiful times to pray the rosary . What caused you to stop?

We invite all people of faith to pray the rosary. There’s nothing extreme or “too Catholic” about it. In fact, you should pray the rosary just being a follower of Jesus!
God Bless.

 

[Holly3278]

Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit and the mother of the Son of God. She was picked by the Father to carry and watch over His Only Begotten Son. That is fact and no one can take that away from her. Jesus also gave her to be the mother of the apostle John which means she is our mother also. We also believe she was assumed body and soul into Heaven. The Blessed Virgin is the Queen of Heaven and earth.

We believe it is right to honor (not worship) the Blessed Virgin and to also develop a prayer life as she will always bring you closer to her son, Jesus. I doubt that the Blessed Trinity would ever refuse any request by by the Queen of Heaven. The Rosary is a devotion to her and we receive many graces by saying it regularly. It is right after the celebration of the Mass. There are promises associated with saying the Rosary:

FIFTEEN PROMISES OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
TO CHRISTIANS WHO FAITHFULLY PRAY THE ROSARY

1. To all those who shall pray my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and great graces.
2. Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary will receive some special grace.
3. The Rosary will be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin and dispel heresy.
4. The rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies. It will draw the hearts 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.
5. Those who trust themselves to me through the Rosary will not perish.
6. Whoever recites my Rosary devoutly reflecting on the mysteries, shall never be overwhelmed by misfortune. He will not experience the anger of God nor will he perish by an unprovided death. The sinner will be converted; the just will persevere in grace and merit eternal life.
7. Those truly devoted to my Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite my Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces and will share in the merits of the blessed.
9. I will deliver promptly from purgatory souls devoted to my Rosary.
10. True children of my Rosary will enjoy great glory in heaven.
11. What you shall ask through my Rosary you shall obtain.
12. To those who propagate my Rosary I promise aid in all their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Son that all the members of the Rosary Confraternity shall have as their intercessors, in life and in death, the entire celestial court.
14. Those who recite my Rosary faithfully are my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.

Our Mother Mary will always bring us closer to Jesus.

Take care and God Bless.

I totally agree! Praying the Rosary is definitely a great devotion! I try to pray the Rosary 2-3 times a week but I wish I would pray it more often. I guess I just sometimes don’t want to.

If you look around the board you’ll find a big old debate about the promises. if I recall correctly it’s basically from private revelations. No need to believe in the promises and quite frankly I don’t.

Pray the rosary because you wish to be closer to God and because you wish Mary’s help in this.

As to the OP, I’m not sure how we can have a personal relationship with Mary in all honesty. I don’t really understand personal relationship with Christ even. How can we have a ‘personal’ relationship with someone who is not on this world?

Now, I’ve had some pretty amazing prayer experiences. I asked Saint Ambrose to help me once (just asked him to pray for me) and very soon after I found a prayer that he had written that I desperately needed. I’ve been praying earnestly for a friend (to God) and the other day the friend quoted my prayer WORD FOR WORD (I had not told him I was praying so it was a bizarre thing). And I see these answers to prayer as proof that I’m being heard. You could argue answered prayers are like a conversation. I ask, I receive an answer… however, how does this become a ‘personal relationship’?

Perhaps I’m getting stuck on the word ‘personal’. Someone care to explain how this is supposed to work?

Personally, I do believe in the 15 promises of Mary to those who pray the Rosary. I could not find an official endorsement of these 15 promises anywhere but I did find this encyclical on the Rosary by Pope John Paul II.

ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE

 

[rev_kevin]

Its been said here in the CAF by many Catholics on other threads that you cannot have a personal relationship with Jesus.

If you cannot have a personal relationship with Jesus then how can you have one with Mary?

 

[Janet1983]

Useful and beautiful times to pray the rosary . What caused you to stop?

We invite all people of faith to pray the rosary. There’s nothing extreme or “too Catholic” about it. In fact, you should pray the rosary just being a follower of Jesus!
God Bless.

That was when I was a very practicing Catholic. Things have changed since then.
Back then I also took the time to live at a nunnery (even though I still went to school from there every morning and no, I was not a nun) and participated in the liturgy of the hours. During the school days I had to leave after lauds, but during vacation time and on days where I didn’t have to be at school so early I would stay for mass.
The daytime hours were put into one in the breviary I was using and as I usually didn’t make it back in time for that I prayed that one waiting for the bus.
The nighttime prayer was private, but I usually wasn’t alone in the chapel when I went to my seat.

 

[lil_flower_luv]

Its been said here in the CAF by many Catholics on other threads that you cannot have a personal relationship with Jesus.

If you cannot have a personal relationship with Jesus then how can you have one with Mary?

***Uh oh, who’s saying that, rev?

Perhaps those Catholics you mentioned have forgotten the definition of “personal.” ***

That was when I was a very practicing Catholic. Things have changed since then.
Back then I also took the time to live at a nunnery (even though I still went to school from there every morning and no, I was not a nun) and participated in the liturgy of the hours. During the school days I had to leave after lauds, but during vacation time and on days where I didn’t have to be at school so early I would stay for mass.
The daytime hours were put into one in the breviary I was using and as I usually didn’t make it back in time for that I prayed that one waiting for the bus.
The nighttime prayer was private, but I usually wasn’t alone in the chapel when I went to my seat.

Hi Janet, when you say school, are we talking high school or college, or even younger?
God Bless.

 

[rev_kevin]

***Uh oh, who’s saying that, rev?

Perhaps those Catholics you mentioned have forgotten the definition of “personal.” ***

Can’t remember the names its been several months ago.
Hi Janet, when you say school, are we talking high school or college, or even younger?
God Bless.

 

[Janet1983]

Hi Janet, when you say school, are we talking high school or college, or even younger?
God Bless.

High School… Germany’s High School ends at grade 13 (though they are in the process of changing that) and I was there during grade 12.

 

[lil_flower_luv]

Can’t remember the names its been several months ago.

**It’s all a misunderstanding because I can tell you right now, we do strive to have a personal relationship with Christ. We receive Him at the Holy Mass. We spend time with Him in His Real Presence. You can’t get much more personal than that!

I think the only reason some fellow Catholics would say we don’t have so much a “personal” relationship with Him is because they try to dwell on our relationship with Christ as more communal; as the whole body of the Church. Ya know what I mean?**

High School… Germany’s High School ends at grade 13 (though they are in the process of changing that) and I was there during grade 12.

So my friend, I guess my next question would be: why don’t you have a personal relationship with Mary (given all your formative years in the Church)?

 

[Stylteralmaldo]

Its been said here in the CAF by many Catholics on other threads that you cannot have a personal relationship with Jesus…

I think many may be an exaggeration. There may be some who say this, but many? I think that’s a stretch. All Christians are called to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

 

[Reuben_J]

I think many may be an exaggeration. There may be some who say this, but many? I think that’s a stretch. All Christians are called to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Maybe Kevin should look that up. It must be said in a context of something.

Generally Traditional Catholics would not take kindly into words commonly used by Protestants because of what they imply and entail.

If we know what a ‘personal relationship with Jesus’ means that does not involve in a exclusion of some important Catholic belief, then by all means, use them. Personally I have no problem in using such term.

Saying we have a ‘personal relationship with Mary’ is not that common, I should say. So the title of this thread is quite unconventional. I can only assume that the OP wanted to include Protestants in the discussion and so using term that they understand.

I don’t know, but perhaps the OP, in order to be ‘politically correct’, should use the word ‘devotion’. That should be closer. But on the other hand, it could create more prpoblem with Protestants.

 

[Janet1983]

So my friend, I guess my next question would be: why don’t you have a personal relationship with Mary (given all your formative years in the Church)?

You may call it apostasy if you wish. After all these years of study and research I found out that I could not follow the beliefs of my childhood any longer. There was no such thing as an innocent faith for me from the beginning, as my home was culturally Catholic.
I have always been inquisitive and at some point (2007) I took the Catholic glasses off and found myself in a completely different world. Without seeing everything everything in Scripture through the teachings of the Church and Tradition I felt helpless for all but a little while.
That is when I studied anew. I guess it was also all brand new for me because that was when I started reading the Bible in English for the first time.
I discovered things that I hadn’t seen before that and I grew into a new familiarity with Scripture. I also realized that the things that I just accepted as fact were not that obvious.
My doubts led me to a more inquisitive study and I found that I personally could not stay within the Catholic Church. I do not believe that I can have or need to have a personal relationship with Mary. I do believe however that I can have and need to have a loving and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Something that just came to my mind: When I started dating my husband I was still practicing and I even brought him along to mass. When I started looking at things through his perspective in an order to explain the Catholic faith to him, my doubts manifested… Another new realization… Thanks for asking.

I believe that I do not need to have a personal relationship with Mary. All I wish to do is serve my Lord in every capacity He wants me to. I wish to breathe every single breath in His honor, because He is my life. My craziest prayer and the one closest to my heart may be this one:
“Lord, make me like Your Son.”
I know what it means and how far reaching it is. If I could truly go and sin no more. If I could devote every thought at any time of the day just to Him. If I could see where He wants me to be. If I only had His love for humanity, His eyes for the suffering. If I only could suffer the pain, the fear, the anguish, the trials and the tribulations, that come with this request, for His name’s sake and never give up on Him.
If my life were only for His glory and His glory alone, then this prayer would be fulfilled.
Then I would live the life I want to live. Yes.
I would rather live one day for Him, than a thousand years without Him.

 

[lil_flower_luv]

You may call it apostasy if you wish. After all these years of study and research I found out that I could not follow the beliefs of my childhood any longer.

Okay, right there. So you say study and research has led you to abandoning the Catholic Faith. Most people would say research and study led them to the Catholic Faith. Can you be a bit more specific?

There was no such thing as an innocent faith for me from the beginning, as my home was culturally Catholic.
I have always been inquisitive and at some point (2007) I took the Catholic glasses off and found myself in a completely different world. Without seeing everything everything in Scripture through the teachings of the Church and Tradition I felt helpless for all but a little while.

Was it the discipline of the Church that bothered you? Did you feel you needed some wiggle room?

I also realized that the things that I just accepted as fact were not that obvious.

Okay, I can understand you there. Most of us just want things to be simple. Comprehensible. Bada-bing bada-boom.

But even outside of the Church you can see faith in Jesus Christ will never be that way, correct?

Something that just came to my mind: When I started dating my husband I was still practicing and I even brought him along to mass. When I started looking at things through his perspective in an order to explain the Catholic faith to him, my doubts manifested… Another new realization… Thanks for asking.

Did your husband have a big influence on this new perspective? Does he still?

All I wish to do is serve my Lord in every capacity He wants me to. I wish to breathe every single breath in His honor, because He is my life. My craziest prayer and the one closest to my heart may be this one:
“Lord, make me like Your Son.”
I know what it means and how far reaching it is. If I could truly go and sin no more. If I could devote every thought at any time of the day just to Him. If I could see where He wants me to be. If I only had His love for humanity, His eyes for the suffering. If I only could suffer the pain, the fear, the anguish, the trials and the tribulations, that come with this request, for His name’s sake and never give up on Him.
If my life were only for His glory and His glory alone, then this prayer would be fulfilled.
Then I would live the life I want to live. Yes.
I would rather live one day for Him, than a thousand years without Him.

Very beautiful. This is the kind of faith I pray for everyday. God Bless you!
Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my questions. I hope this isn’t too off topic.

You desire a relationship with Christ, like the rest of us. And you feel like it is just taking time away from building that relationship by beginning one with His Mother. I would just say that the two coincide! Belonging to Mary does not mean you are far from Christ, but rather, you belong to Christ all the more. And vice-versa. Nobody loves His Mother more than He does, so it is never too much to belong to Mary; to speak to her; to love her. You might just think it pointless to even consider this, but remember the role of Mary. If anyone can teach us to be more like Christ, it’s her! Peace to you, Janet!

 

[rev_kevin]

Maybe Kevin should look that up. It must be said in a context of something.

Generally Traditional Catholics would not take kindly into words commonly used by Protestants because of what they imply and entail.

If we know what a ‘personal relationship with Jesus’ means that does not involve in a exclusion of some important Catholic belief, then by all means, use them. Personally I have no problem in using such term.

Saying we have a ‘personal relationship with Mary’ is not that common, I should say. So the title of this thread is quite unconventional. I can only assume that the OP wanted to include Protestants in the discussion and so using term that they understand.

I don’t know, but perhaps the OP, in order to be ‘politically correct’, should use the word ‘devotion’. That should be closer. But on the other hand, it could create more prpoblem with Protestants.

It was used in the context of personal Savior. Inorder for Jesus to be my personal Savior I must have a personal relationship with him.

 

[Reuben_J]

It was used in the context of personal Savior. Inorder for Jesus to be my personal Savior I must have a personal relationship with him.

Now I can see the problem. That in itself is OK but the saving of Jesus Christ encompasses more than just being personal. It is the whole world. We cannot separete the two.

BTW I thought that is expressed in my signature - taken from one of the memorial acclamations in the Holy Eucharist.

 

[Janet1983]

It was used in the context of personal Savior. Inorder for Jesus to be my personal Savior I must have a personal relationship with him.

I get what you are saying and in that I completely agree…
When I see this kind of wording though it sometimes makes me wonder a little bit. Every living being has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Satan has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and it’s not a very good one.
We need to have a loving personal relationship with Jesus Christ.