How do you say a decade of rosary

[ANGELIC_PEACE]

if you want to say a decade of the rosary do you say 1 our father 10 haily marys and 1 glory be…while meditating on a mystery…or do you say the opening and closing prayers of the rosary aswell?

ANGELIC PEACE

 

[ddeluna]

As far as I know, there’s no prescription for this, so pray as the Spirit moves you. In other words, as far as the rosary goes, there are clearly prescribed ways to pray the 5 mysteries. Doing something other than that is sort of your own thing, which means you do what you want.

By the way, the precursor to the rosary as we know it today was a (very) short prayer. It’s called the Jesus Prayer.

***‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,’ ***constantly repeated. It’s origin is 1Thes 5:I7, and Luke 18:13. The prayer is profoundly rooted in the spirit of the gospel, and some of the great teachers have always insisted on the fact that the Jesus Prayer sums up the whole of the gospel.

It started in the Egyptian desert by the monastic desert fathers of the fifth century.

 

[water]

if you want to say a decade of the rosary do you say 1 our father 10 haily marys and 1 glory be…while meditating on a mystery…or do you say the opening and closing prayers of the rosary aswell?

ANGELIC PEACE

It is up to you. However, if you want to pray 1 decade a day, you can actually finish the whole rosary after 5 days by following the same format that you pray the Rosary in one sitting.

 

[TOP]

If I’m doing a decade as penence, I do the opening and closing prayers as well. Tim

 

[ANGELIC_PEACE]

it says on the following website (lmi.utvinternet.com/rosaryprayer.htm )that before you say your rosary decades (whether it is 1 or 5 or more)…that you say
the sign of the cross
the apostles creed
1 our father
3 hail marys
1 glory be
(then you say your decade)
meditate on one mystery
1 our father
10 haily marys
1 glory be
1 fatima prayer
hail holy queen (plus other closing prayers)

is this compulsory or can you just pray it as
1 our father
10 hail marys
1 glory be
(while meditating on a mystery)

the reason i’m asking is because i want to begin praying the rosary and five decade straight off seems daunting…so if i start myself off with 1 decade then i can increase it until i am praying the full five decades…then maybe increase it even more to say more than one set of mysteries…

i want to do it this way too because i am a bit rusty when it comes to the mysteries so i can learn a mystery at a time and i can give it my full attention rather than try to remember what comes after that one…

i can learn one mystery at a time until i know one full set then move on to another…that way i am easing myself in to praying the rosary (gradually increasing the amount of decades)…

does anyone know of any websites where there is good descriptive rosary meditations that i can use…

do you think this is a good way to learn to say the rosary (to ease myself in to it with one decade and gradually increase the decades)? i would be overwhelmed if i tried to say five decades in one go…firstly because i would not be used to that amount of prayers and secondly because i would be worrying about forgetting the mysteries

have any of you learned to say it like this?

ANGELIC PEACE

 

[Timidity]

it says on the following website (lmi.utvinternet.com/rosaryprayer.htm )that …

Anyone can say anything on a website, which is why you’re wise to question them. It is difficult, though, to find an authoritative definition as to what constitutes the Rosary. The closest I’ve ever found was the 1968 Enchiridion of Indulgences where it defines what must be done in order to gain an indulgence for praying the Rosary.

A decade of the Rosary consists ONLY of an “Our Father” prayer, ten “Hail, Mary” prayers, and meditation on the mystery.

The Rosary itself consists ONLY of the recitation of 5 (or 15 or 20) decades.

Everything else is extra… good to do, but not really part of the Rosary proper. (At least as far as trying to gain indulgences goes).

 

[Sr_Sally]

We say a decade before each CCD session begins. So the kids get through an entire set of mysteries every month or so. In that setting, we say the opening prayers every week, but not the closing prayers. At home, if you are saying each decade spread out throughout the day, I would only say the opening prayers (Creed, Our Father 3 Haily Marys) once and only say the closing prayers (Hail Holy Queen, etc.) once. But if you can only say one decade a day, I would say the opening prayers each time, just because I think saying the Creed is so important. If you are going to join a group recitation, you should follow the group norms of course. However, after all that, I will finish by saying at the rosary is a private devotion and you may say it however you’d like.

 

[ANGELIC_PEACE]

We say a decade before each CCD session begins. So the kids get through an entire set of mysteries every month or so. In that setting, we say the opening prayers every week, but not the closing prayers. At home, if you are saying each decade spread out throughout the day, I would only say the opening prayers (Creed, Our Father 3 Haily Marys) once and only say the closing prayers (Hail Holy Queen, etc.) once. But if you can only say one decade a day, I would say the opening prayers each time, just because I think saying the Creed is so important. If you are going to join a group recitation, you should follow the group norms of course. However, after all that, I will finish by saying at the rosary is a private devotion and you may say it however you’d like.

thanks sr sally
i think i will use the opening and closing prayers…
when you meditate on the mystery do you meditate and then say the prayers…or do you meditate while saying the prayers?..i don’t know whether i am doing it right so i just try to think of the particular mystery and sort of tell myself the story of it in as much detail and imagine it in my mind at the same time…but i haven’t figured how to do that and pray at the same time…my mind won’t do it because if i concentrate on the prayers i can’t think of the mystery and if i concentrate on the mystery i can’t think of the prayers…have you any advice to help me

ANGELIC PEACE

 

[baltobetsy]

ANGELIC PEACE, when I say a group of ten Hail Marys, I find my mind wandering to all kinds of things - what to have for dinner, what happened at work today, what my family members are up to, etc., etc. Would that happen to you, too? Well, the mysteries are a way of directing your distraction to heavenly things. When we meditate on the mysteries, we decide that when our mind drifts from the prayers, it will drift in the direction of the scenes in the Gospels that the mysteries present to us.

I usually announce the mystery to myself before I begin the decade, and give it a bit of thought. Then I hold the mental picture of the scene before me as I pray the Hail Marys, without any additional words - just the picture, as if I were looking at a painting while I pray. Or you can find yourself some pictures that you like and really look at them while you pray. I remember my old prayerbook had beautiful color pictures for each mystery, and I looked at them or recalled them as I prayed. Then, if your mind drifts while your mouth prays, you will end up thinking of the mysteries and their meaning in your life, and this is wonderful prayer.

Betsy

 

[blessedstar]

When my daughter and I pray a decade of the Rosary (she’s six years old aww) We start with the Our Father, then ten Hail Mary’s, then the Glory Be, prayer to our Guardian Angel and Hail Holy Queen. I keep it simple because she is learning and will increase the structure of it as she grows older and able to concentrate for longer. It’s good for me too because until recently I was unable to pray the Rosary at all.

As you are rusty, I think you can permit yourself to simplifying the structure of the Most Holy Rosary, it is far more important that you meditate on the mystery and follow the prayer that leads you to be inspired in your soul by the Holy Spirit.

Give it a try, there is nothing wrong with doing as the little ones do. None of us are spiritual giants, if we think we are then we have forgotten to be little before Jesus.

In the Living Prayer of my life

 

[KarenElissa]

thanks sr sally
i think i will use the opening and closing prayers…
when you meditate on the mystery do you meditate and then say the prayers…or do you meditate while saying the prayers?..i don’t know whether i am doing it right so i just try to think of the particular mystery and sort of tell myself the story of it in as much detail and imagine it in my mind at the same time…but i haven’t figured how to do that and pray at the same time…my mind won’t do it because if i concentrate on the prayers i can’t think of the mystery and if i concentrate on the mystery i can’t think of the prayers…have you any advice to help me

ANGELIC PEACE

I totally understand what you are saying. I have the same problem, although it seems to be getting better. I’m converting and had just started trying to say the rosary. I think it is harder because I don’t know the prayers very well yet. It seems to be getting easier to both focus on the mystery and the prayers as I get better at them. So I think just keep doing it and it will get easier with time.

 

[Sr_Sally]

thanks sr sally
i think i will use the opening and closing prayers…
when you meditate on the mystery do you meditate and then say the prayers…or do you meditate while saying the prayers?..i don’t know whether i am doing it right so i just try to think of the particular mystery and sort of tell myself the story of it in as much detail and imagine it in my mind at the same time…but i haven’t figured how to do that and pray at the same time…my mind won’t do it because if i concentrate on the prayers i can’t think of the mystery and if i concentrate on the mystery i can’t think of the prayers…have you any advice to help me

ANGELIC PEACE

It is hard, isn’t it! When I started saying the rosary again after years and years away, I had to use a book to remember the mysteries. So I would read the mystery and the little meditation in the book, think on it for a little while (few minutes), and then say the prayers (Our Father and 10 Hail Marys). Then I would repeat for the next mystery. After I had re-remembered the mysteries and the order, I didn’t use the booklet as much. Now, I can say the prayers and meditate on the mystery or my intention at the same time, but it has been about 2 years. I really like the idea of finding pictures of the mysteries to contemplate while saying the prayers.