Rosary as a sleep aid

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MichelleByrne

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Is it wrong to lie in bed praying the rosary until you fall asleep, when you have trouble sleeping? I’ve done it. My husband is scrupulous and feels this is wrong and disrespectful. He is the insomniac - gets very little sleep at night, has tried everything, etc. Yet - during our daily rosary he invariably gets drowsy and falls asleep. It’s been like this for years. I tell him, “why don’t you pray the rosary, that always puts you to sleep?” But for him this is out of the question, because the intent is wrong. Me, I think it’s fine, it’s better than thinking dumb thoughts or worrying while waiting to fall sleep…
 
Michelle,
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Tell him that ALL prayer is useful and pleasing to God.  It is the raising of our hearts and minds to Him that counts.  If he happens to fall asleep, then fine, especially if he's said his Rosary earlier in the day.

Keep in mind that being scrupulous means he is worrying about something with absolutely no base in truth.  I don't think that's the case from what you've described, because one should not pray frivolously for reasons other than to connect to God, etc.  I don't think he would be, as long as he tries.  That's all God asks.  :)

 I say my Rosary at night with my grandson and sometimes he falls asleep before we finish.  I just let him sleep.  He's only 9 and is getting to like the Rosary.  When he asks at night, I tell him to "go get our weapons!"  And he goes in my bedroom and gets them. (They're hanging on a peg.)   I'm praying for him that he may have a vocation to the priesthood, if it be God's will.  He'd make a good one, and probably get lots of attention (he has flaming bright red hair. LOL).
God bless!

Scooby
 
There is no better way to fall asleep than in prayer.

Alas the Rosary is not my favored form of prayer (I prefer the LOH), and invariably I can’t make it all the way through without falling asleep. I realize it’s a good summary of the theology of the Incarnation, but… I can’t deny that it’s sleep-inducing.

Fortunately praying the Rosary is not compulsory.

I chant (usually) the Liturgy of the Hours as my preferred form of prayer, and that forces a certain degree of focus!!!
 
Scoobyshme said:
Michelle,
Code: 
Tell him that ALL prayer is useful and pleasing to God.  It is the raising of our hearts and minds to Him that counts.  If he happens to fall asleep, then fine, especially if he's said his Rosary earlier in the day.
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Yes! I pray the Rosary while on my morning walk. Lately, however, I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep. So, I pray the Rosary again for whomever the Lord brings to my mind. And almost always, I fall back asleep as soon as I’m finished. If I don’t pray, I have a very hard time getting back to sleep. I’ve never had the thought that it was wrong in some way to pray for that intention and that I would fall asleep again!

Peace in Christ 🙂
 
To the best of my knowledge, it is not sinful to pray the rosary till one falls asleep from it. So long as in doing so you are not cheapening the rosary’s value and meaning into a mere sleep aid but still intend to engage in devout prayer, I don’t believe there is anything actually wrong in it.

Each individual prayer of the rosary has indulgences attached to it, the mere act of mental prayer is indulgenced, crossing oneself is indulgenced - he could simply offer up the indulgences he will earn at the beginning of his prayer for his soul or those of purgatory, if that makes the idea of praying till he falls asleep easier to swallow. Then, it’s praying with a purpose, not just to help him sleep.
 
I have a Rosary made from cord which hangs on the post of my bed. I often pray the rosary as I am going to sleep. A good and holy friend once told me that, when we start a prayer and fall asleep before we finish it, the angels finish the prayer for us. It has always been a comfort to think of being surrounded by angels who finish my prayers as I sleep.:sleep::gopray2:
 
MichelleByrne said:
Is it wrong to lie in bed praying the rosary until you fall asleep, when you have trouble sleeping? I’ve done it. My husband is scrupulous and feels this is wrong and disrespectful. He is the insomniac - gets very little sleep at night, has tried everything, etc. Yet - during our daily rosary he invariably gets drowsy and falls asleep. It’s been like this for years. I tell him, “why don’t you pray the rosary, that always puts you to sleep?” But for him this is out of the question, because the intent is wrong. Me, I think it’s fine, it’s better than thinking dumb thoughts or worrying while waiting to fall sleep…
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It’s said that if you fall asleep praying the Rosary, your guardian angel finishes it for you.
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
It’s said that if you fall asleep praying the Rosary, your guardian angel finishes it for you.
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LOL…That’s what I tell myself every night. It puts me to sleep too. Glad I’m not the only one. Guess my angel will get all the credit for the poor souls in Purgatory:o
 
tabbey48 said:
I have a Rosary made from cord which hangs on the post of my bed. I often pray the rosary as I am going to sleep. A good and holy friend once told me that, when we start a prayer and fall asleep before we finish it, the angels finish the prayer for us. It has always been a comfort to think of being surrounded by angels who finish my prayers as I sleep.:sleep::gopray2:
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That is what my grandmother told me.

I also try to keep the rosary in my hand. When I wake in the night I continue on from where ever I remember. Unfortunately I lost the rosary one night. How can one lose a rosary in a bed and not be able to find it? It isn’t as if there was a large area to search.
 
Is a mother offended when a small child wants to be rocked to sleep on her lap? Of course not. Mary won’t be offended either, if one wishes to use the rosary to help fall asleep.

Betsy
 
My wife made me a rosary on which the beads slide along two plastic cords and then stay put. If I’m having problems falling asleep, it’s usually because my mind is too active. So I pray the rosary using that set of beads. If I fall asleep, no problem–one of my old-age medical problems is nocturnal polyuria, so when I have to get up in the middle of the night, I just pick up where I left off. It seldom happens that I don’t finish sometime during the night.

DaveBj
 
Don’t worry about it … all prayers are important in the eyes of our Lord.

Plus I agree that praying the Rosary in bed is the best way to relax. I consider it my daily meditation which force me to relax and only focus on the prayers.

Keep on the good habits.
 
I recently had a brain tumor removed. I needed to have an MRI. You have to be very still for a long period of time. While lying there, I prayed the Rosary. It was very calming to me and kept me still.
Balisha
 
I’ve always been told that praying the Rosary to sleep is totally fine, and it’s an insomnia cure that’s as old as the Hills. 😃 Being a meditative prayer, it lends itself naturally to deep relaxation. What better subject to meditate on while you’re drifting off than the life of Jesus and Mary?
 
What a beautiful way to fall asleep. Saying the rosary. I too was told when I was young that your guardian angel will finish the rosary for you when you fall asleep, Saying the rosary, meditating or just talking in your own words to God, relaxes you and helps you go to sleep.
 
MichelleByrne said:
Is it wrong to lie in bed praying the rosary until you fall asleep, when you have trouble sleeping? I’ve done it. My husband is scrupulous and feels this is wrong and disrespectful. He is the insomniac - gets very little sleep at night, has tried everything, etc. Yet - during our daily rosary he invariably gets drowsy and falls asleep. It’s been like this for years. I tell him, “why don’t you pray the rosary, that always puts you to sleep?” But for him this is out of the question, because the intent is wrong. Me, I think it’s fine, it’s better than thinking dumb thoughts or worrying while waiting to fall sleep…
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I am of different opinion than others on this thread in that I say the Rosary out of bed. I say other prayers until I fall asleep but the Rosary to me should be a conscious and purposeful meditation.

All prayer is useful and does go to God. But incomplete Rosaries is something I don’t do. Once I’ve comitted to starting the Rosary, I finish it.

I pray it on my knees - but that’s just me.
 
mangy_dog said:
I am of different opinion than others on this thread in that I say the Rosary out of bed. I say other prayers until I fall asleep but the Rosary to me should be a conscious and purposeful meditation.

All prayer is useful and does go to God. But incomplete Rosaries is something I don’t do. Once I’ve comitted to starting the Rosary, I finish it.

I pray it on my knees - but that’s just me.
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I know some others who pray it this way. I think it’s great. But personally I can do the meditations much more easily if I’m in a comfortable position. Which I’m sure could be changed eventually through discipline…🤷 So sitting in a darkened room, or laying down…

But everyone is different. So to go back to the OP, I don’t think your husband is wrong in the way he feels about praying. It’s just that yall are different. So he might not change his mind, but it’s great IMO that he at least takes his prayers seriously.
 
We are all different and because we are we should pray the way that is most comfortable to us. God doesn’t care what position we are in. He just wants us to talk to him. Doesn’t matter if it’s the rosary or spontaneous prayer.
 
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