Help with the Rosary

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I lately have been finding myself not being able to meditate on the mysteries as I say the Rosary…my mind just wonders (I have OCD so I do say it fast so my mind stays on target with the prayers) but I was wondering is it complete if you can’t meditate on the mysteries? Also any advice or tricks to help me meditate on them?
 
Since you say “lately”, I assume it hasn’t always been this way, which is why I suggest that you still try to meditate, because it is very pleasing to the Lord when you try amidst difficulty to do so. I believe it is still complete, because before the Our Father you do state or think of the Mystery, and as you pray the 10 Ave Maria you are, to some extent, relating to the Mystery. Sorry I don’t have better advice…I am sure others will 🙂
 
Just about everybody has this problem. For some people it’s all the time - other people have “good” days and “bad” days.

The practice of meditating on the mysteries is a later development, anyway, it was not part of the rosary from the beginning. I’m not dismissing the importance of the mysteries or saying that we shouldn’t bother with them - just trying to indicate that it is still a rosary whether we focus on the mysteries or not.

The bottom line is, do your best, God doesn’t ask any more than that.
 
Just offer up your mistakes to God. My mind wanders too during every Rosary I pray but I offer my mistakes to God in reparation to his Sacred Heart and in atonement for the sins of the world.
 
Read up on the importance of the Hail Mary, and then do your best to say really good Hail Mary’s. Your mind will be so busy trying to focus on the words that you won’t have room to worry about feeling dry when it comes to the mysteries. 😛
 
Hi hiccups… I was diagnosed with OCD too and have been struggling with scrupulosity for the past couple of years (scruples can be a form of OCD). I can empathise for sure. 😉

Personally, I’ve found the Scriptural Rosary very helpful, as it gives you something specific on which to meditate for each ‘Hail Mary’ (virtually always a relevant passage from Scripture - hence the name). It takes about ten minutes extra than a ‘normal’ Rosary. The good folks at RosaryArmy.com provide free downloadable audio of the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries in both the ‘normal’ Rosary and Scriptural Rosary.

Another excellent website is holyrosary.ageofmary.com. It gives you lots of traditional artwork to help you concentrate on each mystery, and also offers St. Louis Marie de Montfort’s five methods of praying the Rosary. Sadly, the Luminous Mysteries are not included - not yet, at least! - but, if memory serves me well, St. Louis de Montfort says in ‘The Secret of the Rosary’ that we can make up our own methods too; so, you could perhaps extend each method to include the Luminous Mysteries.

Whatever comes, keep up the Rosary - there is no other devotion into which God has poured so many graces - little wonder that it’s known as ‘the Dry Mass’!

May God bless you and increase your devotion to the Rosary!
 
Lost_and_Found said:
Just offer up your mistakes to God. My mind wanders too during every Rosary I pray but I offer my mistakes to God in reparation to his Sacred Heart and in atonement for the sins of the world.
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Can I borrow this from you?
 
What helps me to focus on the mystery is to “picture the scene” as much as possible. I have laminated images of each mystery (originally made for my children), or when praying alone I often just use an icon of Jesus or Mary and look at it while praying each mystery.

I find it helps me to recognise this time as a time of being present with Jesus, in the various facets of his life, when I look at an image like this.

Another good tip might be to use a booklet with scriptural passages or saintly writings on the various mysteries, to give more substance to each mystery so you have more to think about. (This of course wouldn’t be necessary for those who have read the Bible many times over before they even started praying the rosary, but of course for other people it will be quite the opposite.)
 
In order to help stay focused on the rosary mysteries, St. Louis DeMontfort suggested that, when praying the Hail Mary, add a brief description of Jesus which represents the context of the mystery at hand.

For example, the first joyful mystery is the Annunciation, so St. Louis suggests saying each of the 10 Hail Marys in the following manner:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,
blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus becoming man.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Here is a list of his specific suggestions to add after the name Jesus in the Hail Marys:

Joyful Mysteries
  1. …becoming man
  2. …sanctifying
  3. …born in poverty
  4. …sacrificed (i.e., the animal sacrifice at the temple during a child’s presentation was considered a vicarious sacrifice representing the child)
  5. …Holy of Holies
Sorrowful Mysteries
  1. …in his agony
  2. …scourged
  3. …crowned with thorns
  4. …carrying his cross
  5. …crucified
Glorious Mysteries
  1. …risen from the dead
  2. …ascended into heaven
  3. …filling thee with the Holy Spirit
  4. …raising thee up
  5. …crowning thee
Naturally the Luminous Mysteries were formulated long after St. Louis’ time, so I had to come up with my own:

Luminous Mysteries
  1. …baptized
  2. …transforming
  3. …calling us to holiness
  4. …transfigured
  5. …giving us his Body and Blood
 
nahbios said:
Another excellent website is holyrosary.ageofmary.com.
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Warning: I’ve just discovered, last night and this morning, that the Age of Mary site has at least one link to the SSPX website. Now, my suspicions could be misplaced: I haven’t looked through the site as I don’t want to expose myself to sedevacantist material if it does exist on the site. It’s not reviewed on CatholicCultures site reviews. If anyone knows anything about this site, please do let us know - probably on another thread, though!

I hope this doesn’t derail the thread too much - the reason why I initially mentioned the site is because of its Rosary section. :o
 
I also add a word or phrase after the name of Jesus.

Joyful
  1. Incarnate
  2. Sanctifying
  3. Emmanuel
  4. Redeemer
  5. Teaching
Luminous
  1. Baptized
  2. Providing
  3. Messiah
  4. Transfigured
  5. In the Eucharist
Sorrowful
  1. In the Garden
  2. Scourged
  3. King of kings
  4. Taking my cross
  5. Crucified
Glorious
  1. Resurrected
  2. Lord of lords
  3. Indwelling
  4. Raising us up
  5. Prince of Peace
 
Thanks guys! I’m going to try every suggestion and see which one fits best for me. Last night I was saying my Rosary and my mind went wandering and thinking of 9 million things to do list also as well as a few OCD things. So I’m going to try everything! It feels like I’m just saying Hail Mary’s instead of actually praying you know?
 
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