Praying The Rosary

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Hi

I hope I’m in the right spot for this.

So I love the idea of the rosary and I’ve been trying to pray it daily.

I do have one question. When you pray with the mysteries, are you supposed to be thinking about them or the words of the “Hail Mary”?:confused: I cannot think about the words and meditate at the same time, and I have heard it said that both ways are acceptable.

I would like to meditate on the mysteries but I do not feel its right to not think about the prayers I’m saying.

Any help would be great. Thanks!
 
As long as you believe the words you are saying I see nothing wrong with meditating on the mysteries rather than focusing on every single word that you are saying. I know I can’t think about the words I am speaking and what they mean and also focus on the meaning of the gospel passage at the same time. My brain just doesn’t focus on the meaning of multiple things at once; at least not if I’m truly meditating on either of them.
 
ChildOfTheLight said:
I hope I’m in the right spot for this.

So I love the idea of the rosary and I’ve been trying to pray it daily.

I do have one question. When you pray with the mysteries, are you supposed to be thinking about them or the words of the “Hail Mary”?:confused: I cannot think about the words and meditate at the same time, and I have heard it said that both ways are acceptable.

I would like to meditate on the mysteries but I do not feel its right to not think about the prayers I’m saying.
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First of all, either way is fine. Especially as you are learning the prayers, it IS hard to think about other things, like the mysteries. As you get more comfortable with the whole thing, it will become easier to meditate while you are praying. I tend to think of the Hail Marys kind of like background music while I’m thinking about the mysteries. Also, especially while you are learning, you can just stop for a moment before you start each decade to meditate on the mysteries before you begin that part. 👍

The biggest thing to remember though, is perfection is not what counts in prayer, it is effort. God would much rather have our feeble attempts at sincere prayer than he would have us rattle everything off perfectly, but not be thinking about anything remotely prayerful. :rolleyes: 😃
 
Thank you both for your replies.🙂

Karen: By “background music” do you mean sort of what kmbeck said about really just believing the words and not focusing on them?

I have been praying the rosary for a few months (each day if I can) and I have found so many ways to do it. Maybe a scriptural rosary would be good for me? Going back and forth beween meditation and vocal prayer?
 
I say the rosary on my way to work. I use the prayers as a vehicle to mediate on the mysteries. I am *saying/I] a Hail Mary, I am *thinking about Christ on the Cross. The prayers serve to amplify my concentration on Christ, as opposed to distracting from it.
 
Hi ChildOfTheLight, you’ve received good answers so far. Prayer is a personal thing, even when praying with others. So there is no single “correct” way.

Find your own way to meditate on the Mysteries. Me, I just let it happen, so to speak, and seldom follow a pattern. For example, the Sorrowful Mysteries. I may say, “the first Sorrowful mystery, The Agony in the Garden”, and immediately pray the Our Father. Then I may simply visualize Our Lord in the Garden while I pray the decade of Aves. or, I may say a personal prayer to God such as “My Lord, my God, my All, when in times of anxiety, let me remember the agony my Savior endured for my salvation, for my worries are but nothing in comparison” before I pray the decade. Sometimes, I may pause in the middle of the decade and say something similar to Our Father in Heaven.

Same with all the Mysteries, whatever allows me to humble myself as I pray the Rosary. “Let me never allow my emotions regarding good fortune of mundane things in this world ever exceed the joy of Your Son’s Glorious Resurrection”. Things like that.

Just continue praying the Rosary daily and soon you will find your own way to meditate on the Mysteries 🙂
 
I like to think of the prayers as background music, in the manner of Gregorian chant, as I contemplate the mysteries. At some level of our being, we cannot recite a prayer without an awareness of its content. The Rosary is prayer - but contemplative prayer. As such, we are free to contemplate either the prayers or the mysteries, but the mysteries of the Gospel are the reason we are contemplating, so I focus on them. What helps, as other have pointed out, is to listen to Mp3, CD or other recorded versions and pray along with them, as in a group. I love the reflections on both Fr. Kevin Scallon’s and Fr. Benedict Groeschel’s Rosaries. Tons of wisdom and insight contained therein.

Here is a link to an audio Rosary page. You can try any of several versions and find a favorite. I find the one by Catholic singer David MacDonald (3rd selection down on the Mp3 page) to be particularly mysterious and conducive to meditation.

Christ’s peace be with you.
 
I pray the rosary when I am on the treadmill, keeps my mind busy, and what a blessing for those who the rosary is offered up for. I mediate on the mysteries for a few minutes then say the Hail Mary’s.
 
I have no printer and it’s beeeennnnn 15 years since I last considered myself Catholic. So, I can’t find my rosary booklet. I can pray at the monitor but it’s kind of odd for me this way. There’s a few booklets online that look pretty good.

The ones on this page seem somewhat identical to what I had, way back when.
how-to-pray-the-rosary-everyday.com/rosary-booklets.html

Guess I’ll head to Kinkos in the morning. 😛

Here’s a nice virtual rosary, for those who don’t have one:
ourcatholicfaith.org/onlinerosary.html

It has Gregorian chants on the link, so it helps. 😉
 
Dymphna82 said:
I have no printer and it’s beeeennnnn 15 years since I last considered myself Catholic. So, I can’t find my rosary booklet. I can pray at the monitor but it’s kind of odd for me this way. There’s a few booklets online that look pretty good.

The ones on this page seem somewhat identical to what I had, way back when.
how-to-pray-the-rosary-everyday.com/rosary-booklets.html

Guess I’ll head to Kinkos in the morning. 😛

Here’s a nice virtual rosary, for those who don’t have one:
ourcatholicfaith.org/onlinerosary.html

It has Gregorian chants on the link, so it helps. 😉
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Given your handle, you know who to ask for help if you need assistance with mental concentration or clarity while you pray. 🙂
 
Cat_Herder said:
Given your handle, you know who to ask for help if you need assistance with mental concentration or clarity while you pray. 🙂
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Oh yes. When I saw her name online last week and read her story, she became one of my favorites. Life has been hard. I hope the devil stays out of my life.

When is the best time to pray to a Saint? Before or during using the rosary? I remember a lot of things but I’ve forgotten so much. Reading this site, I see my catechism and confirmation teachers were really not all that knowledgeable. I was at the top of my classes and that doesn’t say much. Might have to take adult education or something.
 
Dymphna82 said:
Oh yes. When I saw her name online last week and read her story, she became one of my favorites.
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Have you seen the homepage of her national shrine?
Life has been hard. I hope the devil stays out of my life.
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Well, if the devil is gunning for you, you know that you are on the right track!
When is the best time to pray to a Saint? Before or during using the rosary?
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Before, after or during. Many people add an invocation to Mary or to the Sacred Heart after each decade.
I remember a lot of things but I’ve forgotten so much. Reading this site, I see my catechism and confirmation teachers were really not all that knowledgeable.
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I’m sorry to hear. It is generally understood that we are coming off of a generation of insufficient catechesis. I became a catechist in order to help address this problem (actually, the DRE recruited me right off the altar after I was confirmed [and baptized and received first Communion all at once]). 🙂

I was at the top of my classes and that doesn’t say much. Might have to take adult education or something.

That’s an option. But there are also plenty of folks here who can answer any questions you may have.
 
Some great answers. You know what you might want to read which will give you a better perspective of a spiritual struggle. “Devine Mercy of my Soul, Dairy of Saint Faustina.”

Our suffering is redeemable through other souls without a doubt. Don’t confuse your trials for Our Lord not paying attention to you. He is always. always with you. What I’ve come to realize is he makes his presence know at the times we least expect. The Lord does not reward for good results but for the patience and hardship undergone for his sake.

God Bless.
 
ChildOfTheLight said:
Hi

I hope I’m in the right spot for this.

So I love the idea of the rosary and I’ve been trying to pray it daily.

I do have one question. When you pray with the mysteries, are you supposed to be thinking about them or the words of the “Hail Mary”?:confused: I cannot think about the words and meditate at the same time, and I have heard it said that both ways are acceptable.

I would like to meditate on the mysteries but I do not feel its right to not think about the prayers I’m saying.

Any help would be great. Thanks!
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When I pray the Roasy, I frist mention the
mysteries,than as I,am saying the Hail Mary, I keep the mysteries of that decade, in my head and blank every thing else out, not hard to do, if your really meditationg.

Hope this helps you God Bless johnthebaptist1:)
 
I have a related question (it’s about praying the Rosary).

I am fairly new to praying it. Some sources tell me to pray the Glory Be, Fatima Prayer and Our Father after each decade (along with announcing the mystery). But other sources don’t mention the Fatima Prayer. Which is right?
 
mellowcalico said:
I have a related question (it’s about praying the Rosary).

I am fairly new to praying it. Some sources tell me to pray the Glory Be, Fatima Prayer and Our Father after each decade (along with announcing the mystery). But other sources don’t mention the Fatima Prayer. Which is right?
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There is certainly no canon that says you absolutely must say the Fatima decade prayer - but it is traditional among Catholics.

I grew up saying it and even if I tried, I couldn’t finish a decade of the Rosary without saying it (my mind says it automatically.)

Pope John Paul II made the excellent suggestion that we begin each decade with a reflection/prayer on what the significance of the Mystery is for the Christian life by way of a particular virtue we should practice. We should end the decade with a short collect asking Christ and our Lady for the grace to practice that virtue.

For my money, the best way to keep one’s mind on the mysteries is to add a short “scripture tag” at the end of “Jesus” in the Hail Mary or else a “thought tag” that deals with the Mystery. We can vary the tags for each Hail Mary or else have just one tag for the entire decade. This is how the Rosary was often prayed in the Middle Ages i.e. the Golden Rosary of 63 Hail Mary’s still prayed in Schrocken in Austria"s Vorarlberg Alps.

Reading a portion of scripture before each decade can also really inspire one to focus on the mystery, in which case one may not need the tags at all.

It is good to vary the methods, as we feel moved. The Hail Mary is also a “Jesus Prayer” which celebrates the Incarnation and Life of OLGS Jesus Christ.

There have been Saints who daily said the Hail Mary thousands of times (i.e. St Padre Pio) and have been sanctified thereby.

It is good to say a Hail Mary or a decade at the turn of each hour of the day and evening, when we can, to say a Hail Mary leaving from and returning to home, before and after work, at the times of the Angelus (some versions of the Angelus had 9 or ten Hail Mary’s).

Let’s always keep an image of the Most Holy Virgin Mary near us, on us so we can frequently gaze on her and the Son she holds.

It was once said that when our Lady went to Egypt, she would hold her Son to touch people who were ill - since such healing power came out of Him.

This is, according to tradition, the reason why she is so often depicted holding her Son in images. Alex
 
Some history about the rosary here:
fisheaters.com/rosary.html

The guide that came with my free rosary from church is exactly this:
newadvent.org/images/rosary.pdf

And it has Hail Holy Queen, and this prayer at the end:
O GOD, WHOSE only-begotten Son by
His life, death and resurrection, has
purchased for us the rewards of eternal life;
grant, we beseech Thee, that by meditating
upon these mysteries of the Most Holy
Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may
imitate what they contain and obtain what
they promise, through the same Christ our
Lord. Amen
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I’ve seen guides that don’t have that, so it’s confusing.
 
I think the answers here show the beauty of the Rosary. The basic structure of the Rosary is essential, but it is still a very personal prayer, in that we all have our own ways of mediating on the Mysteries if we chose to do so rather than follow printed guides. And the guides are fine as well if they move us. I think that is one of the things that makes the Rosary so powerful. It builds the faith in the individual, while at the same time giving due honor to Our Lady.

Surely this pleases our Father in Heaven 🙂

Deo gratias !
 
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