Rosary decade question

[Kit15]

Something I’ve been curious about for a while.

We all know that there is an “approved” basic form of praying the rosary that involves more than picking up the rosary and starting on decade one. Sign of the Cross, Apostles Creed, Our Father, 3 Hail Marys and so on until the Hail Holy Queen. Fatima Prayer if one is inclined to include it.

But what about praying a single decade? Is there an “approved” form for this as well? Or does one just make the Sign of the Cross and start right at the Our Father? Are the mysteries incorporated into the habit of saying a daily decade.

I ask because I spotted the “hate praying the rosary” topic and I found myself relating to the OP a great deal. Though I do NOT “hate” the rosary, I also struggle with the full rosary (I feel a greater calling to the Divine Mercy anyway). But I can pray a decade without a struggle. So I was wondering if there is a “proper” way to do it.

 

[John_Russell_Jr]

My dear friend

You can make your own rules, but I would view it as a steeping stone to a full rosary. It brings back fond memories for me. I found my church 20 yrs ago and my P.P. gave me a rosary and leaflet and I started praying the rosary every day and found it very hard. I wondered why it took so long. 5 decades took 90 mins because I would meditate after saying a hail Mary for a while. Someone told me how to do it soon after. It was much easier then. Just reminiscing. If you pray 5 decades every day your virtually guaranteed Heaven you know? I would pray 1 decade for a while and over a few months push myself to 5. prayer is a virtue you acquire through work. You get the virtue through hard work. The more you pray and push yourself the easier it gets. But the devil will fight you so you have to push yourself and persevere. I think it’s good to see yourself cooperating with grace. God who dwells in us does all the work actually. He prays in us and through us to Himself. we just cooperate. We do nothing but say yes and even the yes cannot be said without grace. The more we cooperate with grace the more God gives us and the more we can do, and it gets easier too. We cannot do anything good without grace so try to get as much grace as possible. This will fix the problem. Grace is like life giving Living Love that works in us to transform us into another Christ. The more we get the more we become like Him and the happier we are, the more truly human we become and the more loving we become.

May God bless you:thumbsup:
John

 

[Epistemes]

While there are many benefits to praying the entire five decades, Fr. Thomas Keating in his book *Intimacy With God *discusses the benefits of praying as many decades as necessary until we’re drawn into a more deep meditative prayer. If you only require praying three decades before being drawn into this deeper prayer, then there are no official rules stating your prayer is invalid.

However, please consider this: Consider that the deeper mysteries of our faith always seem to be the fourth and fifth mysteries. The Presentation of Our Lord, the Finding of the Lord in the Temple, the Carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Transfiguration, the Last Supper, etc. all occur following what I consider to be the “introductory” mysteries; however, these preliminary mysteries cannot exist without the deeper mysteries and vice versa.