Suggestions for an Old Testament oriented Rosary

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psalm90

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Mysteries of the Old Testament for meditation
  1. The creation of the world
  2. The covenant at Sinai
  3. The dedication of the Temple, the earthly dwelling place of God
  4. The promise of a Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us
  5. The return from Exile
 
As a meditation-OK. As a Rosary-No. The Rosary is an honor and reverence to the Mother Of Jesus. How will you infer that the meditations on the OT could be called a “Rosary?” Don’ try to fix something that doesn’t need to be fixed/changed. Peace.
 
Interesting idea, however as Mary Estelle said, the rosary is really a devotional prayer to Mary. There are scriptural rosaries where psalms or other scriptures are associated with the different mysteries. Perhaps a personal devotion focusing on the ark of the covenant would be more appropriate?
 
Mary_Estelle said:
As a meditation-OK. As a Rosary-No. The Rosary is an honor and reverence to the Mother Of Jesus. How will you infer that the meditations on the OT could be called a “Rosary?” Don’ try to fix something that doesn’t need to be fixed/changed. Peace.
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Our Lady is an Old Testament figure. She lives most of her life in the Old Testament, before the New Testament is instituted. There are many ‘mysteries’ that are as first-class as any New Testament mysteries. I thought that Jesus was the focus of the Rosary.
 
The rosary is all about Christ.
Mary points to her Son…

As meditations, they sound nice…but since Christ is the fulfillment of all prophecy in the OT and all I think I’d just leave it.
 
psalm90 said:
Mysteries of the Old Testament for meditation
  1. The creation of the world
  2. The covenant at Sinai
  3. The dedication of the Temple, the earthly dwelling place of God
  4. The promise of a Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us
  5. The return from Exile
Click to expand...
If you did that it would not be the Rosary.
 
Mary_Estelle said:
As a meditation-OK. As a Rosary-No. The Rosary is an honor and reverence to the Mother Of Jesus. How will you infer that the meditations on the OT could be called a “Rosary?” Don’ try to fix something that doesn’t need to be fixed/changed. Peace.
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How about mysteries that prefigure teh coming of the Blessed Virgin/

1 - The person of Eve
2 - The persons of Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel
3 - The queen mothers of the kings of Judah
4 - Ruth, Esther, and Judith
5 - The Virgin who is to conceive a child and name him, “Emmanuel.”
 
poche said:
How about mysteries that prefigure teh coming of the Blessed Virgin/

1 - The person of Eve
2 - The persons of Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel
3 - The queen mothers of the kings of Judah
4 - Ruth, Esther, and Judith
5 - The Virgin who is to conceive a child and name him, “Emmanuel.”
Click to expand...
That would not be The Rosary. Change the Mysteries and it is NOT the Rosary.
 
I get that you’re trying to think of a way to incorporate some OT study in your prayer life. However, the Rosary wouldn’t be the place to do it. Given we ask Mary, the mother of God, to pray for us through the Rosary (and it’s a weapon she’s given us against evil), we reflect on mysteries involving the NT, not the OT.
 
psalm90 said:
Our Lady is an Old Testament figure. She lives most of her life in the Old Testament, before the New Testament is instituted. There are many ‘mysteries’ that are as first-class as any New Testament mysteries.** I thought that Jesus was the focus of the Rosary**.
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We only know about Mary because she is the mother of Jesus. Her importance is due to events in the NT. It also is not particulary true that she lives most of her life in the OT as it is believed she was only 13 or 14 (as was normal then) when she had Jesus. Jesus is a huge focus of the Rosary, which helps support not doing OT meditations.
 
Mysteries of the Old Testament for meditation
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The earliest Christians, many of whom were Jews, used pebbles or knotted ropes to count prayers. Strings of beads were also found in some tombs of early Christians, and were alleged to have been used to recite the Our Father.

It was only centuries later that the more modernized and familiar rosary prayer format was utilized that included the Hail Mary, etc.

If you want to meditate on the Old Testament, you might want to purchase a siddur (daily prayer book) from Art Scroll in English and Hebrew. While designed for English-speaking Jews looking to learn more about their Jewish faith, most of the prayers are very similar to our Mass and many come direct from the Book of Psalms (Tehillim in Hebrew).

The morning and evening prayers of the Jews are completely dedicated to the “Old Testament mysteries” you mention. Instead of a rosary, the Jews will hold the fringes of their prayer shawl between their fourth and fifth fingers during part of their prayers.

While our Muslim brethren do pray with their own version of prayer beads, as do other religious faiths, the Jews as a rule of thumb do not. I have read sparingly that some very religious Jews do pray with prayer beads, but I have no reliable source or understanding of what might be prayed, other than perhaps repetitions of the Shema. Perhaps one of our more versed Jewish brethren on these forums can enlighten us further.
 
WingsOfEagles said:
I get that you’re trying to think of a way to incorporate some OT study in your prayer life. However, the Rosary wouldn’t be the place to do it. Given we ask Mary, the mother of God, to pray for us through the Rosary (and it’s a weapon she’s given us against evil), we reflect on mysteries involving the NT, not the OT.
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The Old Testament is best understood in reference to its prefiguration to teh New Testament. So for example, Naaman’s washing and cure in the Jordan was a prefiguration ot the institution of the sacrament of Baptism and also the Baptism of Jesus,
 
poche said:
The Old Testament is best understood in reference to its prefiguration to teh New Testament. So for example, Naaman’s washing and cure in the Jordan was a prefiguration ot the institution of the sacrament of Baptism and also the Baptism of Jesus,
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Yes, but has no place for a Rosary.
 
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