Rosary

[SeekingRevert]

Why is it set up the way it is? I know that first it was 150 psalms/150 Pater Nosters for laymen. Then it changed to 150 Ave Marias? This is just so odd to me. I accept the Hail Mary as a biblical prayer. It is. She’s the Queen of heaven and I’m grateful for her prayers, more than I can say.

But…there is in “The Four Loves” a line that particularly speaks to my heart regarding Mary (not who he’s talking about, but beside the point.) “It is probably impossible to love any human being simply “too much.” We may love [her] too much in proportion to our love for God; but it is the smallness of our love for God, not the greatness of our love for the [woman], that constitutes the inordinacy.”

He goes on to say that feeling is irrelevant, that it is whom you serve most that is the person you love most.

To that end, the rosary seems backwards. The Gloria and the Our Father are the prayers of love and petition to God, and Mary is a person. Sinless and perfect, my Holy Mother, who wants me to focus on Her Son. So why 53HM/6OF/6GB? I know the point is to reflect on Jesus’ life, but when I’m praying the rosary it’s hard to remember the Mystery after the 4th or 5th hail mary - probably a personal problem. Am I asking Mary to help me focus? Why don’t I ask the Holy Spirit to help me focus?

(practically I’ve been using a little booklet with 10 meditations on the mystery, but this also makes the rosary take twice as long, unless I either don’t say the meditation aloud or just say the meditation and then follow it with “Holy Mary Mother of God Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death” which seems less good)

I am madly in love with the mysteries. I want to pray them, daily. But, I do feel distracted by the rosary itself. I also feel like, as someone who will be called to answer for the faith, this is an answer I should know - and not just kinda be sort of aware of.

I feel like I should reiterate that I do not mind praying “to” Mary. I am aware that I’m asking her to pray for me, etc, not treating her as a God. Though I admit a little that I feel like a toddler sitting at a closed bathroom door: “MAMAMAMAMAMAMAAA” Thankfully, Mary is a better Mother than I.

As an aside point, I have two practical questions regarding devotions. Are there any “standard” devotions focused on pure worship/glory be? And when people talk about saying a decade of the rosary, what does that even look like? Do you start with the dangling bit each time, the cross and then apostles creed and etc? or do you just jump in to literally a decade, and how do you pick which mystery? Is this like The Distracted Mom rosary where I started it before breakfast and now I just say a decade when I can and hope I’m done by bed?

 

[Jennifer132]

I am actually a little new to Catholicism and fairly new to the rosary as well.

I want to address first the “how” in praying the rosary. For me, I enter into this prayer the most when I have pictures of each mystery in front of me, and also using the scriptural rosary. So I say one scripture that’s pertains to the mystery at hand for each of the ten Hail Marys. And while I’m saying the Hail Mary, I meditate on the picture corresponding to the mystery. I got my pictures in a 4 x 6 size from Amazon and put them and the scriptures in a photo album. So I just flip through the pages of the album as I pray. It takes me about 20-25 minutes to do one rosary. I do prefer doing it alone and in silence.

As for the ratio of Hail Marys to Glory Be’s and Our Fathers, as I understand it, the Hail Mary is meant to be almost background music to the mysteries, which take center stage. Whatever you can do to bring those mysteries to the forefront I think is going to level out the ratio issue for you. Also, I just wanted to point out that from a practical standpoint, my husband probably spends more time talking to people at work than time talking to me and the children on a given weekday. That doesn’t mean that he loves them more than us or honors them more. Love isn’t defined by how much we talk to a person, imo, but on the depth of my relationship with that person.

 

[Shawnq]

Their are a lot of videos in YouTube that help me sometimes showing image’s of the mystery I’m praying to help keep me focused. Just search holy rosary and whatever the days mystery is and find one that you like.

 

[Wannabe_Monk_16]

Firstly and more importantly thank you for saying the rosary. It is a beautiful prayer structure that is rich with graces. Given that you say it as often as you do, you probably can recite a Hail Mary with little effort! Instead of having to concentrate on remembering the words of this prayer, focus on the mysteries themselves!!
You can do this in a number of ways, like how Jennifer uses the Scriptural Rosary. This helps you stay locked into the actual mystery and prevents your mind from wandering. If you do stray, gently realigned your efforts and continue. This happens to me a lot too. I try to focus on a very specific aspect of the current mystery during each Hail Mary and focus on that to the best of my ability.
For example on Fridays, on the last decade, on the first Hail Mary, I picture an exhausted and bloodied Jesus being laid out on the Cross. On the second third and fourth Hail Mary I imagine Jesus receiving the stigmata. Usually on the 9th Hail Mary of this decade I imagine Our Lord and Savior telling the entire Church to “behold His Mother.”
It is awesome that you are praying the rosary to begin with, but try to pray with as much effort as you can. Do your best, but be gentle with yourself spiritually when you falter!