How to pray the Rosary during certain seasons

[newguyhere]

Greetings. I have not prayed the Rosary since before the Luminous mysteries were introduced. In two different rosary booklets there are differences in how to pray at Advent and Lent. First, when specifically does Advent start , and what mysteries are prayed during the week. The same is requested for Lent as well. Thank you for your consideration and learned (name removed by moderator)ut.

 

[midori]

The first day of Lent is always Ash Wednesday.

The first day of Advent is four Sundays prior to Christmas Day. This year, it will start on Sunday, December 1st.

I still pray with the pre-Luminous schedule as well— M-J, T-S, W-G, Th-J, F-S, Sat-G, Sun-G. Mostly because I’m not normally in a place where I can check what the first, second, third Luminous mysteries are when I say my rosary, and I don’t have them memorized…

But if you wanted to incorporate the Luminous Mysteries, you could do:

Joyful: Mon/Sat; Luminous: Thursday; Sorrowful: Tue/Fri; Glorious: Sun/Wed.

And if you wanted it to not matter— you could pray a daily 20-decade, even if it wasn’t all in one sitting.

 

[Vico]

Greetings. I have not prayed the Rosary since before the Luminous mysteries were introduced. In two different rosary booklets there are differences in how to pray at Advent and Lent. First, when specifically does Advent start , and what mysteries are prayed during the week. The same is requested for Lent as well. Thank you for your consideration and learned (name removed by moderator)ut.

Advent starts:

• December 2, 2018
• December 1, 2019

Lent starts:

• Wednesday, March 6, 2019
• Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Since October 2002.
The joyful mysteries are said on Monday and Saturday; the sorrowful mysteries on Tuesday and Friday; the glorious mysteries on Wednesday and Sunday; the luminous mysteries on Thursday.

You can still use the original method without the luminous.

 

[newguyhere]

Thank you for some clarification. So, to reiterate, there is no particular change during Advent or Lent. I only ask since The Holy Rosary booklet by Catholic Book publishing includes the following:
The Five Joyful Mysteries Usually said on Mon. and Sat. [except during Lent] and the Sundays from Advent to Lent.
The Five Luminous usually said on Thurs., except during Lent. The Five Sorrowful Usually said on Tues. and Fri. throughout the year and every day from Ash Wed. to Easter. And, the five Glorious usually said on Wed. [except during Lent] and the Sundays from Easter to Advent. To someone new, perhaps you can understand the confusion.

 

[midori]

It never occurred to me to “seasonally adjust” the mysteries, and no one I’ve ever done group rosaries with in any of the diocese I’ve lived in has seemed to have done that, either… but I can see how it would appeal to some people, if they were wanting to immerse themselves in a liturgical season, would want to adjust their meditation choices.

Me, personally, I see it as a wide scope of Jesus’ lifetime. And so as you approach this liturgical season or that liturgical season, it can be appropriate to see the mirrors or the paths that led to a certain point. ie, the Incarnation happened so that the Redemption could occur; his obedience to his earthly parents mirrored his obedience to his Heavenly Father; etc.

So, there’s no wrong way of doing it. If it appeals to you, give it a try— and if it doesn’t appeal, that’s okay, too.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

So, to reiterate, there is no particular change during Advent or Lent. I only ask since The Holy Rosary booklet by Catholic Book publishing includes the following:
The Five Joyful Mysteries Usually said on Mon. and Sat. [except during Lent] and the Sundays from Advent to Lent.
The Five Luminous usually said on Thurs., except during Lent. The Five Sorrowful Usually said on Tues. and Fri. throughout the year and every day from Ash Wed. to Easter. And, the five Glorious usually said on Wed. [except during Lent] and the Sundays from Easter to Advent. To someone new, perhaps you can understand the confusion.

Traditionally, the Joyful Mysteries are emphasized during Advent, and the Sorrowful Mysteries are emphasized during Lent. However, different Rosary books will express this emphasis in different ways, if they express it at all. And many people who say the Rosary are unaware of the Advent and Lent changes, perhaps because they didn’t use a Rosary book that had these changes when they were learning to pray the Rosary.

The “regular” weekly Rosary schedule for ordinary time (not Advent or Lent) is generally as follows:
Joyful: Monday, and also Thursday if the person does not wish to pray the Luminous on that day
Sorrowful: Tuesday and Friday
Luminous: Thursday, if the person wishes to pray these (some traditionalists choose to not pray the Luminous Mysteries)
Glorious: Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday outside Lent or Advent

During Advent, the Joyful rather than the Glorious mysteries are said on Sundays in Advent. Some books, like yours, continue this all the way to Lent, and some go back to the regular schedule after Advent ends on Christmas.

During Lent, books usually take one of two approaches:
either say the Sorrowful Mysteries on Ash Wednesday and on Sundays in Lent and otherwise keep to the regular schedule; OR
say the Sorrowful Mysteries every day during Lent and resume the regular schedule on Easter.

It also goes without saying that if you’re celebrating some feast day relating to a Mystery, you may want to say the appropriate set of mysteries containing the feast day mystery on that day. Example: Christmas falls on a Wednesday but you might want to pray the Joyful Mysteries on that day because the Nativity is a Joyful Mystery and you are celebrating the Nativity that day.

HOWEVER, these schedules set by prayer books are just suggestions, not requirements, and as noted prayer books do not all list the same schedules anyway. The Rosary is a private devotion, and you are free to meditate on whatever mysteries you like, on any day of the year. Jesus and Mary are happy when you simply pray the Rosary and meditate on the Mysteries. They do not care if you choose to make up your own schedule, or meditate on the Glorious Mysteries on Monday instead of Saturday, or meditate on the same mystery on every decade you say for 3 months.

You can follow the schedule in your book, or simply choose what mysteries you want to meditate on each day. It’s your choice. But please do not stress about choosing the “correct” mysteries for the day.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It never occurred to me to “seasonally adjust” the mysteries, and no one I’ve ever done group rosaries with in any of the diocese I’ve lived in has seemed to have done that, either

In my experience, most Rosary books only do the seasonal adjustment for Sundays and major observance days like Ash Wednesday (obviously one would choose Sorrowful Mysteries on Ash Wednesday). Parish Rosary groups generally are praying the Rosary on ordinary weekdays, and not meeting on Sundays or on major observance days. So one typically wouldn’t see a big seasonal or observance day change in one’s rosary group.

 

[newguyhere]

I just want to express appreciation to Vico, midori and Tis_Bearself for all the genuinely helpful suggestions and replies. I can be a stickler for routine yet can understand the need to change the order based on personal needs or liturgical seasons. Thank you also for touching on the Luminous mysteries.

 

[Glennon_P]

As stated previously, there are no rules on what mysteries are prayed on particular days, but there are certainly customs which you are free to follow.

Following the addition of the Luminous mysteries by St. John Paul, I read a suggested rotation online, which I follow (I pray five decades daily):

Monday - Joyful
Tuesday - Sorrowful
Wednesday - Glorious
Thursday - Luminous
Friday - Sorrowful
Saturday - Joyful
Sunday - Glorious, regardless of the liturgical season. The thought was that Sunday is a celebration of the Lord’s resurrection, whether it’s Lent, Advent, Easter, Christmas, or ordinary time, so it’s appropriate to pray the Glorious on Sundays.

Beyond that, I pray only the Joyful mysteries during the Christmas octave and only the Glorious mysteries during the Easter octave, since those eight days are liturgically considered to be the Solemnity of Christmas and Easter.

Finally, notwithstanding the rotation above, on a feast day that is also a mystery, I will pray those mysteries. For example, on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is the first Luminous mystery I pray the Luminous regardless of the day of the week.

This is my “system”, but a person is free to pray any and all mysteries any day of the week.

Kudos to you for making the Rosary a part of your spiritual life

 

[nightshade]

I have a little blue book I used to learned the rosary. I do Monday Joyful, Tuesday Sorrowful, Wednesday Glorious, Thursday Joyful, Friday Sorrowful, Saturday glorious.

Sundays during Easter and Ordinary time are glorious.

Sundays during Advent and Christmas are Joyful.

Every day of lent is Sorrowful.

Although I like the idea of the luminous mysterious I do not use them. They mess up 54 day novenas.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Every Sunday from Advent to Candlemas the Jouful are supposed to be said.
From Septuagesima Sunday to Holy Saturday the Sorrowful are said every day. During Eastertide until Saturday of the Octave of Pentecost the Glorious are said every day.

With respect, if the OP is following the current Ordinary Form calendar and not following the old Extraordinary Form Calendar, he is probably not even going to know what “Candlemas” and “Septuagesima Sunday” are.