Praying the Rosary

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James82

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Hello all,

I’m in a transition phase right now from Continuing Anglicanism to the Church. I have always had a fairly strict liturgical regimen that I go by every day, but praying the Rosary is something entirely new to me. I’ve always admired meditative prayer, and have dabbled in St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises.

So my question is on exactly what to do as regards how to pray the Rosary. I have memorized all the prayers but not sure how to meditate on the Mysteries in conjunction with repetition of the Hail Mary’s.

I bought a book called “Real Men Pray the Rosary” and it says to meditate on the Mysteries while reciting the Hail Mary’s. I can’t seem to do that; I find I’m focusing on one or the other.

Also, do others who pray the Rosary have all the mysteries down to memory? It seems quite the task, but I’m up for the challenge. Currently though, I’m picking up the book mid-way through prayer and reading the daily Mystery.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

In Christ,

James
 
Hello James,

Welcome to the Church! I pray the rosary each day, and here is what I would recommend. Say a Hail Mary, then pause and meditate upon the mystery while visualizing and listening to what is being said in the scene in your mind. Then, pause your mind and recite one or two more Hail Mary’s. Then meditate on another scene of that mystery while listening to the conversation that would have taken place. And continue doing this until the decade is complete.

Using this method will take you a bit longer, but I believe you will find it more enjoyable and your mind won’t wander as much. It’s like watching and listening to a movie and then hitting the pause button to pray a few Hail Mary’s.
 
It is something you get used to. Once you know the Hail Mary and have prayed the rosary enough to be more comfortable, you’ll find yourself saying “Hail Mary, full of grace …” while meditating. I know this is a bad comparison, but it’s a bit like typing. Your fingers move, but you don’t think about it. You say the Hail Mary, and you know you’re praying it, but you can still think about the Mystery as well.

What helps me is having a prayer book. I get very distracted in prayer sometimes, so I need something to look at to keep my mind focused. I have not read Real Men Pray the Rosary, so I can’t speak for that. I like to have a little book with pictures and scripture passages. Right now my favorite is My Complete Rosary Prayer Book, but Pray the Rosary is also very good, and I used that for a while before I found the other.

All I can say is that it takes practice and time. Before you begin, say a short prayer to Jesus and Mary; ask them to help you pray well. Pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire you. I’ve found this “concentration” prayer helps me a lot.

Also, don’t forget to pray slowly. If you need to linger a bit over each Hail Mary to think about the mystery, do so! I’ve noticed that when I felt I couldn’t meditate, or when people I know said they were having trouble, we were always going through the prayers quickly. Remember what Our Lord said about the babbling pagans, and slow down.

I hope you gain a devotion for this wonderful prayer. Just remember, don’t give up!
 
I posted a very similar thread a couple days ago.

I got a couple responses that suggested reading details of each mystery before each hail mary. I tried it today and it worked fantastically. here is what I found online for the agony in the garden today:

1.Jesus comes with his disciples to Gethsemani: “Stay here, while I go yonder and pray.”
2.Entering the garden with Peter, James, and John, Jesus prays, “My soul is sorrowful unto death.”
3.Jesus sees the sins of all mankind, whose guilt He has taken upon Himself.
4.He sees the wrath of the Father which His sufferings must appease.
5.So great is his anguish that His sweat becomes as drops of blood falling to the ground.
6.An angel appears to Him from heaven to strengthen Him.
7.“Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet, not My will but Yours be done.”
8.Finding the disciples asleep: “Could you not watch one hour with me?”
9.Jesus is betrayed by Judas, cruelly bound and led away.
10.Father, by the merits of the agony of Jesus in the Garden, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

i found this information on another online site called the rosary-center.
 
There is a website that helps called comepraytherosary, where you can join with those already praying the Rosary, or pray individually.

It helped me a lot when I was learning to pray the Rosary. 👍
 
This is just my take on it, and hypothesis, but I think praying the Rosary itself is a form of meditation. The mystery could then be an intent that one is mindful of as they pray the Rosary. The mind will tend to wander anyways, but instead of maybe thinking, “Oh I need to pick up a gallon of milk when I go out.” or other extraneous thoughts, you remember to return to the intent of mindfulness of the mystery. Don’t try to over think it or hesitate to pray the Rosary because you aren’t sure you are doing it perfectly, or you may find yourself simply putting it off.
 
Deus_tecum said:
This is just my take on it, and hypothesis, but I think praying the Rosary itself is a form of meditation. The mystery could then be an intent that one is mindful of as they pray the Rosary. The mind will tend to wander anyways, but instead of maybe thinking, “Oh I need to pick up a gallon of milk when I go out.” or other extraneous thoughts, you remember to return to the intent of mindfulness of the mystery. Don’t try to over think it or hesitate to pray the Rosary because you aren’t sure you are doing it perfectly, or you may find yourself simply putting it off.
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Emphasis on that last part, definitely! You will become more comfortable with the rosary as you grow in prayer and will find it easier each day. The key is to keep praying it, and not to put it down even when it seems like you aren’t getting anywhere. As someone who has recently returned to praying the rosary after a while of “putting it off,” I can promise you you’re better off sticking to it. The blessings and graces are well worth the struggle!

Even great saints like Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who had an incredible dedication to Our Lady, struggled with the rosary:
… but when alone (I am ashamed to admit it) the recitation of the rosary is more difficult for me than the wearing of an instrument of penance. I feel I have said this so poorly! I force myself in vain to meditate on the mysteries of the rosary; I don’t succeed in fixing my mind on them. For a long time I was desolate about this lack of devotion which astonished me, for I love the Blessed Virgin so much that it should be easy for me to recite in her honor prayers which are so pleasing to her. Now I am less desolate; I think that the Queen of heaven, since she is my MOTHER, must see my good will and she is satisfied with it.
— From Story of a Soul
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It’s not easy to stay focus. I went through all the problems your experencing. I have books and printed material I read while praying. I set up pictures in front of me. I’ve not missed a night in 3 years are so. My wife who converted last Easter, who thought the Rosary was boring now prays with me. So to keep her interested I went to what helped me when I first started.

There are Rasary videos on youtube. Father Groeschel, who is awesome, my favorite is here,

SORROWFUL Mysteries
 
Get the Laudate App. It has a walkthrough rosary with the mysteries for each day of the week.
 
The Laudate app is awesome!! I prefer the Scriptural Rosary by Melissa, personally, that is included. For the mystery before the 10 Hail Marys and no other scripture, try Rosary Player.

I’m recently returned to the church, with not much catechesis as a child, so I struggle with a couple of the ending prayers, and some of the mysteries. For the Joyful, I think of the life of Christ from conception to young child. The Sorrowful is Christ’s Passion. Glorious (I think) The major events starting with Resurrection…

Shameless plug: I have the Rosary instructions on my blog, along with links to helpful spots. I put it together this summer after having returned a few months prior.

It’s crazy how I can’t ‘focus’ on the mysteries while praying, but I sure can think about what I forgot to do while at WalMart! LOL Sometimes it helps just to picture that mystery while saying Hail Marys. I’ve said it a hundred times at least since February, and I still struggle with concentration. I do have ADD/ADHD though, and difficulty focusing on many things, not just the Rosary.
Welcome home, btw!! 🙂
 
I purchased a wonderful little booklet called Portraits of the Rosary which contains for every Hail Mary bead we pray for the rosary an accompanying illustration and excerpts from the bible or Catechism. The illustrations will be very helpful to those of us who have problems envisioning in our minds the scenes from the rosary mystery we are meditating on.

It also contains many prayers and devotions as well. This little booklet is about 130 pages and is sold at the Family Land website at the url below…

familyland.org//FLStore/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=12329

Hope this helps.

God bless
 
Welcome to the Church, James! I am glad to hear that you are praying the Rosary— I will pray for you during your journey in RCIA. 🙂
James82 said:
…] So my question is on exactly what to do as regards how to pray the Rosary. I have memorized all the prayers but not sure how to meditate on the Mysteries in conjunction with repetition of the Hail Mary’s.

I bought a book called “Real Men Pray the Rosary” and it says to meditate on the Mysteries while reciting the Hail Mary’s. I can’t seem to do that; I find I’m focusing on one or the other.
Click to expand...
I understand the difficulty. When I began to pray my Rosary (when I came to my faith in mid-summer 2012), I considered the Rosary “too difficult” and hesitated to pray it. One day, however, I taught myself how (I am happy that I was able to teach myself, with the help of my prayer booklet my grandmother had given me a few years prior). However, in my first prayer of the Rosary, I did not meditate on the Mysteries whatsoever, rather saying the Mystery and continuing on with my prayers (I recall I used the Joyful Mysteries for my first Rosary; I may have said everything on that page, but I did not particularly meditate upon the Mysteries, rather “recited” them). I soon realized my mistake and began praying my Rosary “properly” (by using these meditations, and often reading the Scriptural passage the Mystery is based upon). I continue praying my Rosary in this way, albeit infrequently, as I have found myself (recently) praying my Rosary alongside Mother Angelica, and using the images (included during the Hail Marys) for my meditations, and recalling the Mystery in my mind.
jerryinbaok said:
I posted a very similar thread a couple days ago.

I got a couple responses that suggested reading details of each mystery before each hail mary. I tried it today and it worked fantastically. here is what I found online for the agony in the garden today:

1.Jesus comes with his disciples to Gethsemani: “Stay here, while I go yonder and pray.”
2.Entering the garden with Peter, James, and John, Jesus prays, “My soul is sorrowful unto death.”
3.Jesus sees the sins of all mankind, whose guilt He has taken upon Himself.
4.He sees the wrath of the Father which His sufferings must appease.
5.So great is his anguish that His sweat becomes as drops of blood falling to the ground.
6.An angel appears to Him from heaven to strengthen Him.
7.“Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet, not My will but Yours be done.”
8.Finding the disciples asleep: “Could you not watch one hour with me?”
9.Jesus is betrayed by Judas, cruelly bound and led away.
10.Father, by the merits of the agony of Jesus in the Garden, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Click to expand...
I would suggest this method of meditation on the Mysteries of the Rosary as well (I mentioned the Rosary Center beforehand, but when I mentioned my “improper” meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary).
 
Thanks for all the suggestions! Very much appreciated! I had put off praying past the 1st Mystery, but you guys having given me the impetus to get back at it and do it right.

I will attempt to make use of all the suggestions here, look forwarding to reading the blog as well!

In Christ,

James
 
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