Having trouble with the Rosary

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I’m a new Catholic (previously Baptist), and am confused about HOW to pray the Rosary.

I guess I’m having trouble doing two things at once. I am finding that when I’m saying (and counting) the “Hail Marys” that I am not able to concentrate on Mystery very well at all. When I chew gum, it’s even worse. (joke…) 😉

From what I gather, the “Hail Marys” are supposed to be like “background music” while I’m meditating on the Mysteries, right?
 
Hi.
I’m a convert too and have always struggled with the problems you are having but just never had the courage to ask. Please someone out there help.
Johannah
 
The easiest thing to deal with is the counting issue. If you hold a rosary, finger rosary or rosary ring, the counting is taken care of. In addition, if the rosary has been blessed, you join your prayers to those of the whole church instead of praying alone.

You are right that the Hail Marys are the background music for the meditation, but that can take a little time to get used to. Here’s a thought - if you had to say ten Hail Marys in a row, you might get distracted while doing it - your mind might wander off to something about work, or what to have for dinner, etc. When you say the rosary, your mind wanders away from the Hail Marys to the mysteries, instead of the dinner menu. You can encourage this to happen by taking a moment before each decade to ponder the mystery and form a mental picture. If you end up paying attention to all the HMs, you have still contemplated the mystery. It’s OK.

Betsy
 
I agree with Betsy’s post.

What helps me when saying the rosary is to read the scripture pertaining to the mystery and forming an image in my mind of the mystery before I start the Hail Mary’s.
 
You can get leaflets about the rosary telling you how to say it. On these leaflets there are pictures of what each decade is about. That will help you to keep a mental picture of the mystery. I’m sure your Priest would be able to get one for you or at least let you know where you could get one. They may even have some in your Church already. 🙂
 
Do not be concerned, the devotion is awesome even when we do not have our minds fully in gear. Many people say rosaries in the car and it is difficult to concentrate on the mysteries when we drive, yet the devotion is still valid and the prayers are still heard. It simply takes time and I do not know of anyone who has complete focus throughout the saying of a rosary.
 
rosary101.com/ Check out this link for help. My son gave me a wonderful book by a Sister Procter called 101 inspirational stories of the Rosary. Oh my goodness, you cannot believe the testimonies of these stories in it.

This is a valuable resource also to help you understand the value of saying the rosary. Check it out.

By the way…Welcome home to the Catholic church!
 
I’m a 58 year old cradle Catholic and I still have trouble concentrating when I pray the Rosary. However, I found a DVD in the EWTN website Religious Catalog. It’s called THE ROSARY IN STAINED GLASS.

Each Mystery is represented in a variety of stained glass windows from Churches throughout the country. I find that these images help me to concentrate. I might focus on a particular figure and start thinking about how this Mystery affected that person. It really helps.

I’ve had this CD for probably a month now and I find that my love for the Rosary is growing and meditation on the Mysteries is becoming easier.

God bless. ginny
 
tomch said:
I’m a new Catholic (previously Baptist), and am confused about HOW to pray the Rosary.

I guess I’m having trouble doing two things at once. I am finding that when I’m saying (and counting) the “Hail Marys” that I am not able to concentrate on Mystery very well at all. When I chew gum, it’s even worse. (joke…) 😉

From what I gather, the “Hail Marys” are supposed to be like “background music” while I’m meditating on the Mysteries, right?
Click to expand...
Good morning! Welcome to the faith!

Here is something that has helped me…I stop after each mystery…concetrate on the ‘scene’ of it…placing myself or my family in the position of the mystery…then I offer up a particular prayer based on that mystery that might reflect something going on in my family…or out in the world. (For example, in the Sorrowful Mysteries, I will ask God to rescue those who are abused from their plight, etc…) Then I pray that decade, and do the same after the next mystery.

I also play meditative, solemn music (just music, no words) to accompany my Rosary. This has helped immensely!!! I can really concentrate, when the atmosphere in the room is more solemn and serene…instead of hearing the outside noises of what’s going on in the rest of the house, for example.

Hope this helps…I’d try it…the Rosary will be a bit longer…but it’s very fulfilling. I also light a Rosary candle.

PS: I also highly encourage if you haven’t done so already, to get a Rosary booklet, that offers an interpretation by the author after each mystery…at first, you can meditate on that message, and then you can start adding your own prayer intentions.
 
johannahw said:
Hi.
I’m a convert too and have always struggled with the problems you are having but just never had the courage to ask. Please someone out there help.
Johannah
Click to expand...
Aren’t sites like this amazing?

I’m a cradle Catholic, and had the same questions myself for years.

What got me over the hump was getting a CD player in my truck - ok, it could have been a tape player, but in this instance, it was a CD player.

I purchased a CD of the Rosary.

Then, I made it my business that every single day, when I got in my truck, before I did anything else, I would play the Rosary.

So, if my journey didn’t take me long enough to complete the Rosary, I would run another errand.

Once I had done the Rosary, I could turn on the radio or listen to other CDS.

The CD I purchased… I can’t recall who it was buy (I have since tried others, but I liked this one the best)

The cover was a grey and blue image… I believe of Mary.

It was a male voice leading the Rosary

At each decade, he would read the mystery, and the scripture verses related. There were sound effects. So, when Jesus was being scourged, you would hear the sound of the whips in the background.

Anyway, after a few months of doing that daily, I could do the Rosary in my head.

My truck was destroyed in an accident, so the CD was put away… and I misplaced it. But, if I can find it online, I will update this post.

And please, pray the Rosary OFTEN! They say it’s the ties that binds the devil. I believe that because it’s hard to pray to Mary, and think of Jesus, without putting distance between yourself and the devil!
 
I bought a CD of the Rosary as well. I still have a hard time concentrating on praying the Rosary, but it sure helps out a lot. I got it from www.therosary.info It has nice soothing music in the background and a male voice leads the prayers and a female voice follows.

I love it but still have to work on concentrating on it when I’m driving (where I live, drivers are crazy).
 
Thanks everyone! This really helps a lot. I recently purchased a CD of the Rosary. I’ll start listening to it daily whether I’m able to concentrate fully or not. 🙂
 
St. Louis de Montfort recommended adding a brief ejaculation after the Jesus’ Holy Name in each recitation.

For example, for the first Joyful Mystery, say, “…blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus, made incarnate…”

From the book “Jesus Living in Mary” -

After the method of “Offering Each Decade”, Montfort suggests a
“shorter method of celebrating the life, death and glory of Jesus and Mary, and of decreasing distractions. To do this, a word or two is added to each Hail Mary of the decade reminding us of the mystery we are celebrating. The words should follow the name of Jesus in the middle of the Hail Mary” (MR 6). Then Montfort suggests a list of fifteen “phrases” corresponding to each mystery. The first decade then becomes “Hail Mary . . . and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus becoming man. Holy Mary . . .” The following decades of Hail Marys includes “Jesus sanctifying” . . . Then, “Jesus born in poverty . . . Jesus sacrificed . . . Jesus holy of holies . . . Jesus in his agony,”
to “Jesus raising you up,. . . Jesus crowning you.” This venerable
method of phrases, older than the Rosary itself is very useful to
unite the heart to the voice, the mind to the word. It integrates vocal prayer with the meditation of the mysteries, and simultaneously highlights the fact that these are Jesus’ mysteries that we meditate with Mary. It also encourages creativity because there are no limits on the choice of the phrases.
 
Do you also have access to EWTN where you live? Sometimes, I follow along with Mother Angelica…she’s on in the morning and at night @ 9:30 pm EST. That really helps to stay focused, too…
 
I’ve been praying the Rosary for a few years, but I only finished RCIA two years ago. So I understand.

If you only feel comfortable doing a few decades to start, then only do that. Don’t worry about getting five decades in if it is too difficult or if you tire from it.

Stop trying to do two things at once. And only do one thing at a time. I think this is best for beginners. When I started praying the Rosary, I only prayed one Our Father … Ten Hail Marys … another Our Father. And that was it. Just one decade and no mysteries at all because I didn’t know them well at all.

If you know the mysteries and still can’t do two things at once. Continue to do just one thing at a time. At the start of the decade, take some time and think about the mystery. Then drop it and just focus on doing the prayers. This is only one thing at a time. And you can do it. And Our Lady will be very pleased with it.

Just one Hail Mary prayed devoutly by itself is very pleasing to Mary. Don’t ever forget this. You can pray a single Hail Mary at any time in the day or night. And that one prayer all by itself is of great value and can result in Mary giving grace to you. The same is true of the Our Father. It is a very good prayer even all by itself. Prayed well, the Our Father can be such a big thing all by itself.

Be honest and sincere in your prayers. We cannot fool God or Mary. They already know the truth about you. So be honest and sincere and pray words that you can sincerely mean.

Sometimes when I prayed a prayer (for example, Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes), I had to change a few words so that it would be sincere. I could not promise to imitate our Lady’s virtues because I was still quite ignorant. So instead, I promised to learn about Our Lady’s virtues. That was the first novena I ever tried. And Our Lady answered my prayer concerns so completely. And I have tried well to keep up my end of the bargain (I got a few books about Mary and read them). I still read “Mary Day By Day” (a daily devotional) with fairly short readings and a prayer for each day.

jmm08
 
Scriptural rosaries are quite good - you can just meditate on the scripture passage before starting on the decade (or the individual Hail Mary if it’s one that has a verse for each Hail Mary).
 
Also, it’s totally okay to flip back and forth between concentrating more on the Mysteries and concentrating more on the words of the prayers. Lots of people do. Anyway, you can’t concentrate if you don’t relax and let go. (Yes, I know that sounds weird.)

This isn’t rocket science. This is personal devotion; you can’t do it wrong.

The more you say the Rosary, the more you’ll figure out what works for you. Maybe you’ll visualize things. Maybe you’ll like music in the background. Maybe you’ll think a lot. Maybe your mind will be totally quiet, listening to God. Everybody’s mind works differently, and a lot of people do different things on different days. As long as you’re putting in the time praying, you’ll get something out of it from God – even if you don’t recognize it at the time.
 
true_believer said:
I agree with Betsy’s post.

What helps me when saying the rosary is to read the scripture pertaining to the mystery and forming an image in my mind of the mystery before I start the Hail Mary’s.
Click to expand...
That’s what I do as well. For me…the more I prayed the rosary, the more I was able to learn how to keep in tune with each mystery I was meditating on. I’d say start praying the rosary and keep praying. Before long, you’ll be able to pray it with no trouble. 🙂
And…welcome to the forums! 🙂
 
Also, where you pray can help a lot.
I find that at home I can be too relaxed and easily distracted. Of course I still am able to pray the Rosary well, my favorite place to pray is in front of the Blessed Sacrament at my Parish Church.
The images around me and the Holiness of my Church really keep me focused. I also love to pray the Rosary on my knees. Keeps me from being too compfortable.😉
 
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