I stopped praying the rosary when

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So we are obligated to attend Mass on each and every one of the huge number of Marian feasts that are on the Church’s calendar as well, I suppose?

Of course.not.

Neither are we obligated to pray the Rosary. Not in the least.

St Dominic preached it? Great. Preachers are tasked with preaching all manner of topics. Some preach on apparitions such as Fatima. Guess what - we are TOTALLY free to pay no nevermind at all to Fatima, regardless of how many preachers preach about it!

St Faustina - and more so her devotees - promote the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Not even slightly obligatory.

Private devotions, like private apparitions, are utterly optional.

Would you advise someone wirh no appetite for, say, broccoli; to force it down themselves regardless? To do so is foolish. Instead you should encourage them to explore the many equally nutritious and possibly more pleasing alternatives among vegetables.

The poster has lost their appetite for the rosary specifically. Not all Marian devotions, not prayer in general.
 
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Yes, there are certain Marian Feasts which we are obligated to attend. Devotion to Mary is for the whole Church. We take that devotion up with the necessary means. Nothing whatsoever to do with Broccoli.

The subject of the Divine Mercy Chaplet is another context.

Fatima, another.
 
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In my country there is ONE, and only one, Marian feast which is a day of obligation. The catechism makes no distinction between those which are obligatory ans those which aren’t. Your logic fails.
 
No. Fatima and the Divine Mercy arr exactly like the Rosary in the essential point of being optional devotions. Like most Marian feasts.
 
There is an order of importance due to the hierarchy of grace.
 
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Not nearly important enough to be obligatory, case closed.

St Faustina obtained more than sufficient grace through the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Likewise the Apostles without praying a single rosary in their lives.
 
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Yes: it is important enough.

Apparitions are not aspects of the faith one has to give one’s assent of faith to.

One is supposed to recognise Divine Mercy Sunday.

Similarly, the Rosary, while you might choose not to pray it, is to be acknowledged. Marian Devotion is something Catholics have to give their assent of faith to.

Expression of this devotion is obviously necessary because we are human beings in a physical world.

The Church as a whole gives special devotion.

Religious Orders have to pray the Rosary when instructed out of obedience.

If people never prayed the Rosary at home or at Church, attended feast days, or prayed Marian prayers, then where would be the expression. Feast days express the Church’s devotion. We are instructed to understand that Our Lady is our Mother. As said, the Rosary is not expressed as an ‘obligation’ as such. But we are to recognise its value.

Yes, devotion is held in the heart, but expressing it, is a part of our humanity and devotional disposition as Catholics, as children of Mary.

It is true, that obligation does come down to where people are. We are Catholics. Jump on board.

There are books, sacramentals, and a plethora of material out there for Catholics to read and educate themselves.

The only reason I could see, that not praying the Rosary might not be in some way neglectful, on some level, is if the person has a problem holding the beads, or has problems with distractions etc…and some other reasons.

I like what you said about devotion being in the heart.

That’s that. I will stop urging.
 
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I don’t know why you’re so desperate to read some kind of obligation into the Church’s understanding of the rosary. When the Church obligates us to do some positive act, it does so explicitly and clearly. It has not done so with the rosary. Case closed.

Again, no one is saying the rosary is not a great devotion. It is. But your need to find some kind of implied mandate is just…odd. If someone has an active and meaningful prayer life that doesn’t include the rosary, who are you to tell them they’re wrong?
 
Praying the Rosary is considered as being ‘private devotion’. The Rosary is a Sacramental.
 
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Found this from another thread:

'Supremi Apostolatus Officio
Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the Devotion of the Holy Rosary (September 1, 1883)

Not only do We earnestly exhort all Christians to give themselves to the recital of the pious devotion of the Rosary publicly, or privately in their own house and family, and that unceasingly, but we also desire that the whole of the month of October in this year should be consecrated to the Holy Queen of the Rosary.

We decree and order that in the whole Catholic world, during this year, the devotion of the Rosary shall be solemnly celebrated by special and splendid services.

From the first day of next October, therefore, until the second day of the November following, in every parish and, if the ecclesiastical authority deem it opportune and of use, in every chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin–let five decades of the Rosary be recited with the addition of the Litany of Loreto. We desire that the people should frequent these pious exercises; and We will that either Mass shall be said at the altar, or that the Blessed Sacrament shall be exposed to the adoration of the faithful, Benediction being afterwards given with the Sacred Host to the pious congregation. We highly approve of the confraternities of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin going in procession, following ancient custom, through the town, as a public demonstration of their devotion. And in those places where this is not possible, let it be replaced by more assiduous visits to the churches, and let the fervor of piety display itself by a still greater diligence in the exercise of the Christian virtues.’
 
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My wife and I pray the rosary daily…we’ll both start to yawn and nod off at times…have to keep nudging each other…I think it’s because it’s very relaxing to pray so we just keep drifting off…lol
 
Friardchips, and anyone else, I would suggest that you all just ignore those “overposting” warnings. They come from the software automatically and they are annoying netnanny stuff.
If you’re having a substantive discussion (as we are on this thread) and not just a silly “says who?”/ “your mom” type argument, do not be put off by them.
 
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Okay-doke, thanks. Was a bit concerned about it. 🙂

I have to backtrack a little. I was suggesting that the Rosary is obligatory. I don’t think I can do that. I was always aware of the fact that the Rosary is a private devotion. But it is most certainly advisable.

Devotion to Mary on the part of the Church, however, is not just a private concern.
 
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While I understand that the Rosary is not obligatory in the sense that Sunday Mass is obligatory under pain of sin if you miss it without a good reason, I am troubled by the way some posters on this thread and on other threads minimize the Rosary, or Marian devotions in general.

We can all name saints who for one reason or another weren’t big on the Rosary, and others for whom the Rosary was extremely central to their devotional life. So rest assured that however you feel about the Rosary, you can find some good company.

We all know that some people prefer to read Scripture, say the LOTH, or say the Divine Mercy (even though some in the Church are concerned that the DM discourages people from saying the Rosary because it is like a “Rosary Lite”).

I agree that one is not sinning by falling asleep during a Rosary or even failing to say a Rosary, but some of the posts, and perhaps it is the nature of the Internet, seem very dismissive of Marian devotion in general. This is something that is really important for a lot of Catholics. Not all, but a lot. On other threads, I have encountered posters who were openly hostile towards the Rosary, often in response to some sort of perceived Catholic pressure that they must pray it when they really don’t want to.

My personal opinion is:
If you don’t like the Rosary, feel free to pray something else, but don’t diss on the Rosary (or Marian devotion). For some of us, that comes off like you just dissed our mom. And we have to suppress the defensive impulse one would typically have against someone who dissed our mom. I’m Irish. If anybody dissed my mom, there is a good chance I’d be arrested for assault and/or battery within the next hour.

Just sayin’.
 
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Your post reminds me of something Pope Francis said about those who insult one’s mother deserving a punch - when talking about knocking other people’s faith. On this subject, I understand the punch to be of the proverbially ‘crushing’ kind: (Gen. 3:15).
 
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friardchips said:
Not only do We earnestly exhort all Christians to give themselves to the recital of the pious devotion of the Rosary publicly, or privately
Click to expand...
This actually supports my position, not yours. Exhort means to encourage or urge. The Pope could have easily said “mandate” or “oblige” if he had meant that. The fact that he didn’t implies what I’ve been saying all along: it’s a good practice and is encouraged, but is not mandatory.
 
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It’s the flip way it is mentioned. “Oh, the Rosary is an optional devotion. The Apostles never bothered to pray it.” blahblah. By the way, the Apostles didn’t NEED to pray it because they had Mary right there, they could (and did) visit her.

This thread isn’t too bad though. There was one a few weeks ago involving different posters that was really bad.

I’m not sure if anybody here reads MariaChristi’s threads being concerned about the decline in Marian devotion. I don’t see such a decline around my parishes, but when I read these threads, I can understand the concern. It was worse in the 70s, believe me…way worse
 
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