Rosary: Do you change your meditations?

[BigRon]

For example: 2nd Sorrowful Mystery.

Do you go from imaging Jesus being flogged to being condemned by Pontius Pilate and then being flogged?

Same for the other mysteries.

 

[Vico]

For example: 2nd Sorrowful Mystery.

Do you go from imaging Jesus being flogged to being condemned by Pontius Pilate and then being flogged?

Same for the other mysteries.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

2708 Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. …

Typically I mentally review the scripture related to each mystery that I am meditating on, and this may include the corresponding Old Testament prophesy. It can even include apocryphal writings or traditions.

 

[TheLittleLady]

There have been times in my life when a specific mystery, the Finding in the Temple, will resound so deeply that I pray only that mystery for a long time. I will read it, visualize it, think of what an example this is to us to search for Jesus when we feel He has abandoned us.

 

[Minks]

For example: 2nd Sorrowful Mystery.

Do you go from imagining Jesus being condemned by Pontius Pilate and then being flogged?

Same for the other mysteries.

Yes, I do, but I’m speaking only for myself. I don’t know about the habits of others here. Google these different wordings:
—how to say the rosary
—rosary meditations
—rosary scripture meditations
—rosary picture meditations

You’ll find enough material to keep you busy for weeks! Note that some sites just list prayers without typing them out for you, and some omit the Luminous Mysteries. You might skim over them, but they’re sadly inadequate.

Some sites paraphrase scripture, some just list it, and others give an explanatory commentary after each verse. Some of them only identify each decade, but I prefer the ones with verses and explanatory comment at the beginning of each bead prayer.

Some sites are heavy with biblical paintings, but others have no art pictured at all. There are also tapes for use at home or in the car. While I agree that saying a rosary in heavy traffic is not a good idea, I live in a rural area, so most car trips are relatively free of traffic and praying the rosary helps to keep me alert.

If you read through the sites—and there are a bunch of them—you’ll soon identify your favorites.
What works well with you now may seem too simple two years from now. I think it pays to look over as many as you can before zeroing in on a choice. I like religious art for meditation, also.

You can apply the same techniques for praying the Stations of the Cross.

Best wishes!

 

[Minks]

@BigRon

“Let’s Pray a Perpetual Rosary,” a thread started by @St.Bede in the Spirituality Forum, is an excellent place to be introduced to the depth of the rosary and the warmth of fellow Catholics, and some non-Catholics, as well.

Including the scriptures and commentary in the rosary provides a verbal Biblical history of the salient points in the life of Our Savior, Jesus Christ. Due to the nature of posting, verses in this thread are usually limited to the main theme of each decade.

St.Bede is using the Mystery format of Joyful, Lumimous, Sorrowful, and Glorious, in order to keep the storyline of Christ’s life in chronological order.

We type a prayer, including our intentions, give the prayer bead number and mystery number after checking to see if anyone else has posted since we started typing, change the numbers, if necessary, and post.

Some of the art that posters have shared brings tears from the poignancy created by God’s religious artists. I like to enlarge the pictures and zoom in over the entire paintings or glasswork, especially the ornate altars and beautifully painted domed ceilings, and paintings featuring angels and cloud formations.

It’s interesting how artists of different nationalities and eras depict apostolic times as though they’d actually occurred among their own countrymen within the eras in which they lived—depicting Christ as, truly, a man for all ages (eras).

Occasionally I say what the warriors have posted out loud, but, usually, silently, as I concentrate more easily when I pray silently.

I invite you to read with us there, and become another prayer warrior with us.