Roasary time commitment

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paxromana

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in this modern, fast paced world some have trouble finding time to pray. When i pray the rosary i sometimes find myself zipping through hail mary’s which detracts from the meditative process of prayer… how long should it take to do it? how long should you take to reflect on each mystery?
 
Takes me 15 minutes. My parents are faster. At the end of each decade, if you feel like you haven’t meditated on the mystery enough, you can take a pause to think about the mystery some more before moving on, this may help you get a deeper appreciation.
But if you do have to say it in 5 minutes in the car on the way to work, that’s still better than nothing.
 
I once heard that Archbishop Fulton Sheen said that the Rosary is the perfect prayer because it takes exactly 17 minutes to say it and that is the attention span of an adult.😃

And I have timed myself and if I say the rosary with no extra scripture readings or extra readings (such as in Magnificat’s Rosary Book or the Scriptural Rosary) it takes roughly 17-20 minutes.
 
A priest I know suggests that people pray one decade a day, and by the end of a week, they will have prayed one set of Mysteries.

Or pray one decade in the morning, one in the afternoon, etc.–it goes fast, and you will be praying the Rosary.

I agree–17 minutes, but I often take longer because I meditate on Scriptures.
 
I try and get my Rosary prayed after work, UNLESS, there are 2 sink of dishes that need washing AND I need to fix supper OR have to check in on mom, that having been said, to make sure I get my Rosary prayed, I pray one decade from my house to work, one decade from the work to the bank, one decade from the bank back to work, one decade on the way home and the last decade at home. God Bless.
 
Wow, 17 minutes seems pretty fast. That’s not at all demanding and makes you realize that it’s something that ought to be done every day.

Sometimes I do the Rosary with my kids, one of whom is a very inquisitive five year old, and it can take a LOT longer. Amazing how quickly a five year old can stump me with theological questions. I’m usually cross examined into a corner with about 4 or 5 well honed questions.

Btw, when do you think a child is old enough for the Sorrowful Mysteries?
 
I can’t see how the Rosary could take less than 17 minutes unless one is a speed talker. And even then, if the prayer is “rushed” so that one can get out the door to do other things, I would say that it greatly hinders the whole purpose of the Rosary. The Rosary is a prayer of meditation, as has been mentioned. So, one were to slow down their speech, they would have more time to meditate on the mysteries of Christ. Indeed, if a person were to just rattle off a bunch of Hail Mary’s without the meditation they would be guilty of “babbling like a pagan”. Not that I am saying the OP or anyone else is doing that, I just want to emphasize the meditative quality of the Rosary. I don’t know the mind of God, but can’t help but think that He would be more pleased with one decade of the Rosary prayed well (with thoughtful meditation), than a whole Rosary that is rushed through. There are definitely people whose lives are so busy, they haven’t a choice but to pray in between tasks. But I think there is a larger majority who just don’t make prayer their highest priority. If they say to themselves “oh, I have to hurry to get my rosary prayed fast before “Lost” starts on TV” then there is a problem. (Again, I’m not implying that I think anyone who posted here does that… but I know people who do.)

Personally, it takes me at least 25 minutes to say the Rosary but usually longer. While I say my Hail Mary’s I actually read meditations. There are a couple books by Christine Haalpa with a meditation for each Our Father and Hail Mary. They really help me to maintain focus.
 
I agree that 17 minutes seems a little fast, but maybe others are able devote sufficient concentration on the Mysteries and still do it that fast. I can’t. I get greatly distracted and have to yank myself back constantly. Then I pause and try to regain where I was before continuing.

I had thought that my contemplation was fairly shallow, but it must be getting better. I tried to do the Rosary while riding a bike the other night, and found myself going into a state where I was going to crash my bike. Won’t do that any more.
 
Super_Grover said:
I agree that 17 minutes seems a little fast, but maybe others are able devote sufficient concentration on the Mysteries and still do it that fast. I can’t. I get greatly distracted and have to yank myself back constantly. Then I pause and try to regain where I was before continuing.

I had thought that my contemplation was fairly shallow, but it must be getting better. I tried to do the Rosary while riding a bike the other night, and found myself going into a state where I was going to crash my bike. Won’t do that any more.
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Yes, I know what you mean, we all have different capabilities. I have found that I don’t really meditate that well, if I am in my car, and forget about even trying to meditate on a bike! I even find myself distracted when praying the Rosary while in a group of people even though we are all saying the same prayers at the same time. So, I really do better just going into my quiet prayer “closet”. Still, I am not going to presume that everyone has the same attention deficit as I do.😊

Way to go in improving your meditations, I’m sure that is very pleasing to the Lord.
 
I take at least 20 minutes. It’s hard to figure out when to do it. I tried first thing, then last, then at a meal, but it was very hard. Now I’m not praying the Rosary every day, but I want to get back into it.
 
The Holy Land Rosary with Father Mitch on EWTN takes about 17 minutes.The audiotape of Father Patrick Peyton also takes about 17 minutes per decade.

handymanjimnoonan.com
 
paxromana said:
in this modern, fast paced world some have trouble finding time to pray. When i pray the rosary i sometimes find myself zipping through hail mary’s which detracts from the meditative process of prayer… how long should it take to do it? how long should you take to reflect on each mystery?
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If you find you’re not meditating on the mystery sufficiently, then you’re not taking long enough. And I have to admit, using Fr Mitch’s I occasionally feel that.

On the other hand there’s a lovely scriptural audio Rosary from rosaryarmy.com that takes longer - closer to 25 minutes (although you can cut out some of the ending prayers and simply stop before the prayers for the Pope’s intentions) - but it has a verse or two of scripture before each Hail Mary that really gets you focused.

IMHO it’s much better to say one or two fewer decades and concentrate on it more, rather than race through it because somehow you feel you must get all of those five decades done in one sitting. 🤷
 
I have an attention span that is both long and short; I can’t say “Hi” without getting distracted midway through, yet I can read fifty big books on a subject in a row before getting bored with it, then get into the topic again in a year, then a few years later. Relatively trivial arguments or movie lines from many years ago pop into my head as if they had just hapened al the time, but I have trouble meditating on anything. If I just go through it and try to think at least a little about each mystery, at least once, then the thought is in my head and cycles around later in the day or next day.
 
when I walk it takes almost exactly 15 minutes for each 5-decade set. it is tied to the pace of the prayer and the pace of the walking. however quite frequently I get in a meditative track and keep thinking about one mystery even tho I go on praying “around the beads”. In a group it seems to be 15 minutes. (in Spanish, 10-12 minutes, they really fly)
 
OK,

When you say 17 minutes-do you mean 17 minutes for one Our Father and ten Hail Mary’s or do you mean 17 minutes for the whole set of five mysteries?
 
I haven’t clocked it precisely, but normally it comes in a bit under twenty minutes-- seventeen sounds about right. That allows me a bit of time to meditate at the start of each decade. But bear in mind, too, that the rosary’s repetitive nature necessarily lends itself to meditation-- I try to keep reflecting on the mystery as I cycle through the Hail Marys.

I wouldn’t get too hung up about allowing more time than your schedule allows so that you can say it “perfectly.” As John XXII put it, “The worst rosary is the one that doesn’t get said.” 👍

Margaret
 
strngrnrth said:
I have an attention span that is both long and short; I can’t say “Hi” without getting distracted midway through, yet I can read fifty big books on a subject in a row before getting bored with it, then get into the topic again in a year, then a few years later. Relatively trivial arguments or movie lines from many years ago pop into my head as if they had just hapened al the time, but I have trouble meditating on anything. If I just go through it and try to think at least a little about each mystery, at least once, then the thought is in my head and cycles around later in the day or next day.
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That’s exactly how I am. I have a hard time meditating on anything. It really has to be the “right” day and time (which is why I rarely feel that I’ve said a “good” Rosary when I say it daily).
 
Karl_M said:
OK,

When you say 17 minutes-do you mean 17 minutes for one Our Father and ten Hail Mary’s or do you mean 17 minutes for the whole set of five mysteries?
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Generally 17 for five decades, but not everyone takes the same amount of time of course
 
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