Is this ok?

[MarcusAndreas]

Is it ok to pray the Hail Mary just as “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” Leaving out the end part, with the desire for intercession implied, considering this is how it was done for hundreds of years and would’ve been how it was prayed when the rosary won the Battle of Lepanto? I have a hard time praying the rosary and I feel like it might be a bit less tedious if I shorten it a bit and say something about the mystery after the word Jesus.

 

[Della]

Not really a good idea. It would be better to get a good supplement, such as a scriptural rosary aid or meditations than to shorten the prayer itself. Besides, there’s no rule that says you have to meditation for an hour over every word (exaggerating of course). Just recite the prayers and leave the spiritual benefits up to God. It’s like eating a meal–you don’t dwell on how good those peas are for you every time you eat them–it isn’t necessary for you to do that in order to get their benefits. Neither do you have to work up any kind of spiritual feelings in order to get the good out of praying the rosary. Just pray it and live your life with Mary as you example, prayer partner, and helper, and leave the rest up to God.

 

[fred_conty]

Hi,
It won’t be the rosary, but it would be using the rosary beads to pray. That’s good too.
But it isn’t the rosary. Maybe you could get warmed up so to speak doing your way for
a while, then make a home run by doing it Mary’s way.

Remember any prayer is a good prayer coming from the heart.

 

[midori]

Ouch, that’s kind of slighting. While it might have worked in Lepanto days, it’s probably not the best idea now since it’s no longer the “accepted” version. It’s kind of like inviting someone over for dinner, but you shoo them out after the salad course because you don’t want to spend that much time hanging out with them. Not to mention, don’t you think it’s a good idea to ask Mary to pray for us now and at the hour of our death? That’s the kind of request I’d feel very foolish about deliberately omitting.

Are you talking about wanting to shorten a daily 5-decade, a 15-decade, or a 20-decade rosary? Rather than chopping up the prayers, if you don’t feel you have enough time to do 15 or 20 decades a day justice, do a proper 5-decade rosary and focus on making it a worthy prayer. Back in the pre-Luminous mystery days, we did M=J, T=S, W=G, T=J, F=S, S&S=G, but nowadays they do M=J, T=S, W=G, T=L, F=S, S=J, S=G.

If you don’t have 15, 20 min to do a 5-decade rosary in one sitting, try splitting it up through the course of a day. It takes about 3, 4 min per decade. If you can’t find 3 or 4 consecutive minutes to set aside totally for prayer, you can still pray a decade while walking from your car to your office, or while waiting in line somewhere, or while doing mindless housecleaning.

Good luck!

 

[justtryin]

I have a hard time praying the rosary and I feel like it might be a bit less tedious if I shorten it a bit and say something about the mystery after the word Jesus.

Have you considered the use of an audio Rosary? Praying the Rosary with the aid of audio may help bring you ease and slowly eliminate the tedious feelings you have.

rosaryarmy.com/?page_id=22

Here’s a great way to help you pray the Rosary while walking, cleaning, or on the go — LISTEN to the Rosary!

Below are links to listen to the Rosary directly from our website, or you can download the file to your computer and save them to CDs or load them to your iPod or other MP3 player. The Rosary MP3s are available in English, English with Scriptural Passages, and Dutch. No other languages are available at this time.

Rosary Army grants permission to make copies of these files onto CD and MP3 format only to give away as long as no modifications are made to the files, but none of Rosary Army’s audio, video, or other files are to be included in any mobile application or other distribution method. No funds are to be collected (including donations) for distribution of these files in CD or MP3 format. All files are Copyright (C) 2011 Rosary Army Corp.

 

[yinekka]

Leaving out the end part, with the desire for intercession implied, considering this is how it was done for hundreds of years and would’ve been how it was prayed when the rosary won the Battle of Lepanto?

Marcus, could you provide a source for how the Hail Mary was prayed in the time of the Battle of Lepanto.

 

[quiet52]

Here’s my opinion:

Prayer is always wonderful, whether it’s short, long or in-between.
The rosary is a wonderful tool for prayer. It helps us to pray. But OP, don’t get stressed about praying the rosary “correctly” because there are several ways to pray it. The primary objective is to pray – not to limit ourselves to one form of devotion. Catholics usually think of the traditional Dominican rosary, when we think of praying the Rosary. But there are other rosaries – here is one link which lists some of them.

the-world-directory.com/spiritual/the_different_kinds_of_rosaries.html

I know people who try to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet (using the ordinary 5-decade rosary) each afternoon at 3:00. I’ve seen the 33-bead rosaries, and other types of rosaries.

I believe God is not offended if we pray from the depths of our hearts. There have been times I have only had a few minutes to pray, and the rosary beads have helped me to offer my own brief prayers of petition, praise and thanksgiving in an organized and fervent way. I don’t think God or our Blessed Mother or the saints feel “shortchanged.” Of course it’s okay to personalize prayer in our private devotions – just so we mean what we pray, and trust that God’s Holy Spirit is helping us to pray.

I suspect that there might be readers who won’t like my comments, but no one but God judges our hearts when we pray.

 

[TiggerS]

We should pray as we can, not as we cannot. The primary objective in prayer is to pray - is well stated - its not about following rules especially if some ‘rule’ asks one to pray with words one finds difficult for some reason. While the intercessionary second part of the Hail Mary prayer really appeals to me, this is not to state that it should/must appeal to all.
I am sure both God and Our Lady would prefer prayer using words that come from the heart.

 

[Petergee]

Leaving out the end part, with the desire for intercession implied, considering this is how it was done for hundreds of years and would’ve been how it was prayed when the rosary won the Battle of Lepanto?

Marcus, could you provide a source for how the Hail Mary was prayed in the time of the Battle of Lepanto.

I second that.

As far as I am aware the Rosary prayers were standardised (in their current form except for a few additional prayers added in the 20th century) by the Council of Trent which finished in 1563.
The battle of Lepanto was in 1571.

 

[Joannm]

I second that.

As far as I am aware the Rosary prayers were standardised (in their current form except for a few additional prayers added in the 20th century) by the Council of Trent which finished in 1563.
The battle of Lepanto was in 1571.

here is an article about the development of the Hail Mary. rosary-center.org/ll61n2.htm

 

[Petergee]

here is an article about the development of the Hail Mary. rosary-center.org/ll61n2.htm

Thank you, that confirms my recall was correct: The Hail Mary said at Lepanto was exactly the same as the Hail Mary we say today.

 

[midori]

We should pray as we can, not as we cannot. The primary objective in prayer is to pray - is well stated - its not about following rules especially if some ‘rule’ asks one to pray with words one finds difficult for some reason. While the intercessionary second part of the Hail Mary prayer really appeals to me, this is not to state that it should/must appeal to all.
I am sure both God and Our Lady would prefer prayer using words that come from the heart.

I agree that praying with the heart is fabulous, but he’s talking about praying the rosary, which is a specific series of prayers. If you don’t pray that specific series of prayers, you’re not praying a rosary. Granted, there are variations— the way I learned it included the Hail Holy Queen and the Memorare at the end, but when we pray it in a group at church, it ends differently— but I’d be willing to bet that no standard variation involves half-Hail Mary’s.

I like the Our Father, too, but you know, that bit about God forgiving me my trespasses based on how I forgive those who trespass against me just doesn’t appeal to me. I just want God to forgive me, and not worry about how I treat others, so I think I’ll leave that part out. And St. Paul’s letters are usually pretty boring and hard to listen to, so when we pray the Mass, I think I’ll see about leaving the Second Reading out, too, and maybe use that time to make sure the coffee and doughnuts are set up properly.

The OP reminds me of when we were kids praying the rosary. I remember asking my mom once, “Can we do it backwards today?” just for a little variety, lol. Or when she had to take a sibling to a doctor’s appointment, and left the rest of us to say our 15-decade rosary together, sometimes the leader’s hand would juuuuuuust-so-happen to slide a mystery forward because it was too long, y’know. But unless the OP is in elementary school, chopping up the Hail Mary’s for novelty/time/whatever isn’t really appropriate to recommend. Pray the rosary if you want to pray the rosary, or something different if you don’t, but don’t bend over backwards to find a way to justify mangling it and expect the forum to agree that it’s a good idea.

 

[TiggerS]

I agree that praying with the heart is fabulous, but he’s talking about praying the rosary, which is a specific series of prayers. If you don’t pray that specific series of prayers, you’re not praying a rosary. Granted, there are variations— the way I learned it included the Hail Holy Queen and the Memorare at the end, but when we pray it in a group at church, it ends differently— but I’d be willing to bet that no standard variation involves half-Hail Mary’s.

Prayer to be prayer needs come from the heart. Perhpas the OP is not praying the traditional rosary, but his own version of the rosary - and nothing in any ‘book’ I know of to prevent that.

I like the Our Father, too, but you know, that bit about God forgiving me my trespasses based on how I forgive those who trespass against me just doesn’t appeal to me. I just want God to forgive me, and not worry about how I treat others, so I think I’ll leave that part out. And St. Paul’s letters are usually pretty boring and hard to listen to, so when we pray the Mass, I think I’ll see about leaving the Second Reading out, too, and maybe use that time to make sure the coffee and doughnuts are set up properly.

I dont think the above quite captures the sense of the OP. However, certainly were I to think that I wanted God to forgive me without being concerned about me forgiving others, I would be terribly insincere in the Presence of God to pray: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”.
And if one found St. Paul’s Letters boring in a Second Reading Sunday Mass, it just may be more sincere and honest to check on the coffee and doughnuts, than to sit and listen to the Reading just to give the impression to others that I was absolutely attentive.

The OP reminds me of when we were kids praying the rosary. I remember asking my mom once, “Can we do it backwards today?” just for a little variety, lol. Or when she had to take a sibling to a doctor’s appointment, and left the rest of us to say our 15-decade rosary together, sometimes the leader’s hand would juuuuuuust-so-happen to slide a mystery forward because it was too long, y’know. But unless the OP is in elementary school, chopping up the Hail Mary’s for novelty/time/whatever isn’t really appropriate to recommend. Pray the rosary if you want to pray the rosary, or something different if you don’t, but don’t bend over backwards to find a way to justify mangling it and expect the forum to agree that it’s a good idea.

If some formal written and spoken prayer does not express what I think and feel, should I pray those words to The Lord, knowing to Whom I am speaking?

 

[TiggerS]

Some good responses in this thread: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=577233

…and especailly these Posts:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8102479&postcount=14

forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8075680&postcount=3

Opening Post in this thread:

MarcusAndreasIs this ok?
Is it ok to pray the Hail Mary just as “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” Leaving out the end part, with the desire for intercession implied, considering this is how it was done for hundreds of years and would’ve been how it was prayed when the rosary won the Battle of Lepanto? I have a hard time praying the rosary and I feel like it might be a bit less tedious if I shorten it a bit and say something about the mystery after the word Jesus

.

MarcusAndreas seems to be having problems maintaining a prayerful disposition in the intercessory part of the Hail Mary and would like to replace it with a reflection "about the mystery after the word, “Jesus”. Nothing wrong in that, in fact an admirable attempt to maintain concentration and meaning in his prayer - and such prayer is placing ourselves consciously in the Presence of God.
Times of formal prayer can become tedious under some circumstances and all and any attempts to break that tedium are admirable and necessary.
Since he was incorrect about the understanding of the Hail Mary in the Battle of Lepanto, perhaps he might find his concentration sustained during the intercessory portion - I hope so, it is a beautiful intercession: “pray for us sinners - now, AND AT THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH”. Our Lady hears that and will certainly pray for us at the time of our death. A powerful advocate to have ‘on side’ at the time of our dying. As well as our mother and powerful advocate before God in all our “now’s”.

I agree that praying with the heart is fabulous, but he’s talking about praying the rosary, which is a specific series of prayers.

I think I am reading you wrongly. Surely you cannot mean that the rosary does not have to be prayed from the heart?

 

[midori]

I think I am reading you wrongly. Surely you cannot mean that the rosary does not have to be prayed from the heart?

Oh-- that’s not what I’m saying at all. When I talk about “praying from the heart”, I’m talking about freeform prayer, rather than the recitation of a set prayer like a Litany or a Chaplet or a Creed.

I think the thing that made me twitch about the OP’s post was that he called the rosary “tedious” the way it is. Normally, if I disconnect with a purely optional prayer to the point that I consider it “tedious”, I discard it from my routine and spend my time with something that clicks better with me. I’m a little perplexed by the OP’s desire to pray the rosary without actually wanting to pray the prayers themselves or ever making mention of finding it the least bit enjoyable or spiritually profitable or anything.

Rather than asking, “I want to pray it, but I find it difficult to focus for so long— I’m saying the prayers, but my head’s full of my shopping list and everything I’m going to do after I finish this. What do you recommend I do to help me change?” the OP asked, “Hey, if I just cut the prayers in half, maybe it will go faster and I won’t be bored-- is that okay?” The bit about “saying something about the mystery” after the word “Jesus” is a little superfluous, because you should be already be meditating on the mysteries themselves, and there are plenty of rosary booklets that have individual sub-meditations within each mystery to give you something unique to focus on for each prayer.

The OP having abandoned his own thread and not responded to any of the enclosed advice with additional info about his motivations or problems hasn’t helped the thread much. It’s really heartwrenching when you try to pray, but feel empty/distracted/unfulfilled, and it’s hard to put in the time when you’re not feeling the return on your effort. There’s lots of ways to remedy the situation, but ultimately it’s his choice as to how to proceed, and all we can do is give our best third-person (name removed by moderator)ut based on our own experiences with his problem.

 

[fred_conty]

Hi,
Prayer comes with distractions.
Prayer comes with temptations.
If not, then we are asleep.

The first part of the Hail Mary is straight from the Bible.
Nothing wrong with that unless we have a problem with the Bible.

The last part is to Mary from us.
Nothing worng with that unless we have a problem with Mary.

 

[TiggerS]

…edit… There’s lots of ways to remedy the situation, but ultimately it’s his choice as to how to proceed, and all we can do is give our best third-person (name removed by moderator)ut based on our own experiences with his problem.

I agree!

TS