How to Pray the Rosary?

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My father got a free rosary in the mail from the Society of the Little Flower. Since he isn’t religious, he gave it to me. It is a Saint Therese rosary.

My question is this: how does one pray the rosary? Which prayers do you say, and on which beads? Can you read the prayers instead of remembering them?
 
Hi Melodeonist,

I am posting a link for you to a Rosary website that has prayers and a detailed picture, so that you can clearly see how to pray the Rosary, and what what mysteries are to be prayed on what days, in case you do not want to pray all of the decades at once, in the same day.

Some people do take the time to pray all of the decades of the Rosary at one time in one day, and some people split up their prayer time and pray them throughout the day, while some people only pray one decade at a time, for one day, meaning that they only pray one decade at one time in that entire day. It is totally up to you how you want to do it.

Anyway, here is the link for you to the “how to pray the holy rosary” website:

holyrosarysite.com/how-to-pray-the-rosary

I am editing my post to say that you don’t have to memorize any of the prayers. This website has all of the prayers that you are looking for–that you need to pray the Rosary.
 
Melodeonist said:
My father got a free rosary in the mail from the Society of the Little Flower. Since he isn’t religious, he gave it to me. It is a Saint Therese rosary.

My question is this: how does one pray the rosary? Which prayers do you say, and on which beads? Can you read the prayers instead of remembering them?
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The rosary is a private devotion, so there are no liturgical norms for it, only tradition as to how one says it. When praying it with others there is definitely a set way of doing it, but in private you can pray it however you like.

Sacramentals, like the rosary, are helps to faith, not ends in themselves. So, don’t stress over it in any way. It is best when beginning to follow some guide, such as Melodeonist provided. There are many such guides. A quick online search will bring up several.
 
So you can say as many beads as you want, as long as you do at least one mystery? How do you hold the rosary? Do you wear it like a necklace? Or do you wrap it around your hand? Or does it not really matter how you hold it?
 
Melodeonist said:
So you can say as many beads as you want, as long as you do at least one mystery? How do you hold the rosary? Do you wear it like a necklace? Or do you wrap it around your hand? Or does it not really matter how you hold it?
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Hold it in your hand. You may do one decade (which is 10 Hail Mary’s) but generally we pray the entire rosary, MEDITATING ON THE LIFE OF CHRIST as the Mysteries suggest.
It will take you anywhere form 20 minutes to 45 minutes to pray an entire rosary.
Many people just pray one decade, but we do try to meditate on some aspect of the life of Christ while doing so.
I suggest that pray with someone else who already knows how to pray the rosary for the first couple of times until you get the hang of it, and are familiar with the prayers. You can do it via Skype if you don’t know any Catholics locally.
There are some websites where you can pray along with other people.
It’s a beautiful devotion, but one that takes a bit to get into. Don’t worry if you struggle fro a while.
Our Lady appreciates all prayers directed to her Son. 😉
 
I just prayed two decades (I think). Unfortunately, I don’t exactly understand what to do when praying the decades. Do you focus on the individual mystery, and try to see it in your head?
 
I’m a new Catholic (as of last year), and I try to pray the Rosary every day (although as I do it in bed, I sometimes fall asleep before I finish the 5 decades).

The ‘unfamiliar’ prayers (unfamiliar to those of us who aren’t cradle Catholics) are soon remembered by heart, after you’ve read them and said them a few times. I have found praying the Rosary to be a great comfort and would encourage you to persevere with it. It’s something new to you now, but you’ll soon find it’s something you look forward to doing.
 
Melodeonist said:
I just prayed two decades (I think). Unfortunately, I don’t exactly understand what to do when praying the decades. Do you focus on the individual mystery, and try to see it in your head?
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Please don’t fret over this. The first step in RCIA will be learning salvation history and what the Catholic Church teaches. Plenty of time for private devotions. It’s laudable that you desire the rosary as part of your prayer life. You’ll be fine.
 
Melodeonist said:
I just prayed two decades (I think). Unfortunately, I don’t exactly understand what to do when praying the decades. Do you focus on the individual mystery, and try to see it in your head?
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I often pray two decades [1st & 2nd Glorious Mysteries - Resurrection and Ascension] when I visit my wife’s grave. They seem good subjects to meditate on there.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
I often pray two decades [1st & 2nd Glorious Mysteries - Resurrection and Ascension] when I visit my wife’s grave. They seem good subjects to meditate on there.
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That’s beautiful. thanks for sharing!
 
Melodeonist said:
So you can say as many beads as you want, as long as you do at least one mystery? How do you hold the rosary? Do you wear it like a necklace? Or do you wrap it around your hand? Or does it not really matter how you hold it?
Click to expand...
I am right-handed, so what I do is hold it in my left hand when I pray with it, while I finger the beads with my right fingers.

In the picture that is at the bottom of the website that I showed you, you will see that you pray with the Rosary going from your/our right, going counter-clock wise.

You start with prayers on the Crucifix, and you work your way up towards the Hail Mary beads, which are the “decade” beads, working your way around the Rosary. It shows this in the picture.

You can also hold it however it is comfortable for you, too. I usually end up using it in a way that is comfortable for me, as long as I don’t lose count of where I am at in the mysteries.

You of course, can stop at any time.

As others have said, it might be easier for you as you are just starting out, to find an audio program, or even a YouTube video to follow along with right now as you are learning, or even a Rosary group at your church, where you can just pray along with your church group out loud, to see what it is like.

Sometimes when I am praying with a group and I am not feeling well, I will just focus on the prayers and not even worry about focusing on my Rosary. I have just simply held on to it and just prayed. I didn’t even worry about where I was “at” regarding the beads. I just focused on the prayers, and on being with the others in prayer.

So like the others have said, try not to worry about it, at the same time. Just take your time, and know that Our Lord and His beautiful Mother, Our Lady, appreciate your effort. God bless you! 🙂
 
If you are interested, you can free download mp3 audio files of EWTN’s Mother Angelica and the nuns of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery praying the holy rosary, here. There is a file for each set of mysteries: joyful, luminous, sorrowful, glorious.
 
Todd977 said:
If you are interested, you can free download mp3 audio files of EWTN’s Mother Angelica and the nuns of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery praying the holy rosary, here. There is a file for each set of mysteries: joyful, luminous, sorrowful, glorious.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this link! Just what I was looking for.
 
Melodeonist said:
My father got a free rosary in the mail from the Society of the Little Flower. Since he isn’t religious, he gave it to me. It is a Saint Therese rosary.

My question is this: how does one pray the rosary? Which prayers do you say, and on which beads? Can you read the prayers instead of remembering them?
Click to expand...
Many people meditate on the mystery of each decade, while saying the Hail Mary. Sort of background music. I usually say the mystery at the beginning of the decade and then just concentrate on the words of the prayer. I have a difficult time focusing on both.
 
Today, I prayed five decades. I tried to imagine the mysteries in my head while saying the ten Hail Marys. 🙂
 
oldgraymare2 said:
Hi Melodeonist,

I am posting a link for you to a Rosary website that has prayers and a detailed picture, so that you can clearly see how to pray the Rosary, and what what mysteries are to be prayed on what days, in case you do not want to pray all of the decades at once, in the same day.

Some people do take the time to pray all of the decades of the Rosary at one time in one day, and some people split up their prayer time and pray them throughout the day, while some people only pray one decade at a time, for one day, meaning that they only pray one decade at one time in that entire day. It is totally up to you how you want to do it.

Anyway, here is the link for you to the “how to pray the holy rosary” website:

holyrosarysite.com/how-to-pray-the-rosary

I am editing my post to say that you don’t have to memorize any of the prayers. This website has all of the prayers that you are looking for–that you need to pray the Rosary.
Click to expand...
I have been going to the site in this post for several days now. However, today I was unable to get there, as Google found links to malware sites there. Are there any other websites similar to this one, with the mysteries, and prayers, written on the same page?
 
Aside from the ‘how’, this morning the topic of ‘what mysteries’ was posed by our pastor. In our parish the rosary is prayed before every Mass. Today, he heard the sorrowful mysteries being prayed because ‘it is lent’. Father offered that every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection and that he wondered when the practice of the sorrowful mysteries was started. We mentioned, , too, that during Advent we prayed the joyful mysteries.

Can anyone offer a resource where this is addressed? I believe our pastor has a valid point.

Thank you.
 
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