The Rosary - Do I have to say it because I'm Catholic?

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The OP’s reasons for not saying it was she doesn’t like saying so many Hail Mary’s and her mind wanders. Those aren’t concrete reasons for not saying a rosary.
Maybe not, but I would rather be focused when I pray and not simply rattle off prayers while my mind is miles away. If that means picking one way of praying over another, then so be it. Prayer is ultimately for my benefit, so I don’t think it is wrong to choose to pray in a way that benefits me more. For example, I don’t like praying charismatically. I think it is wonderful and I appreciate the beauty of it. I just get more out of being in a silent chapel by myself, so that’s what I would prefer to do.

YMMV. 🙂
 
To me it’s the equivalent of saying “It bores me, so I don’t do it.” 🤷
FWIW I have two points to make here.

#1 The rosary is not required of anyone, it is not part of the liturgical cycle, it does not have pride of place in the prayers of the church. No Catholic is required to say even one rosary in a lifetime to be a good Catholic, therefore no Catholic is required to produce a reason at all either in favor of praying a rosary or not in favor of praying a rosary. This person happens to have stated a reason, but none is required.

#2 Wandering has always been a problem with repetitive prayer such as (but not limited to) the common rosary, which is probably why the meditations were added to it. In a way, for many people the meditations are the actual prayer. If this technique is not working for someone they are certainly free to try something else. It has already been mentioned here that one should “Pray as you can, not as you can’t!” I think that is good advice.

Boredom at Mass? no excuse. Boredom with the rosary? no problem.
 
The OP’s reasons for not saying it was she doesn’t like saying so many Hail Mary’s and her mind wanders. Those aren’t concrete reasons for not saying a rosary.
Those are very concrete reasons. There are so many opportunities for prayer in the Catholic Church that all of us have so many choices.

No one has to pray the Rosary. :confused: And it really bothers me that somehow some people make it sound as if we aren’t quite Catholic if we don’t pray the Rosary every day.
 
Not a requirement, but I would reflect inward as to whether or not you truly have a good reason not to.
My original statement. Said nothing about everyday. Preferring one prayer over another is a legit reason. Simply deciding, “Meh, I find that boring.” is kind of demeaning to those who find a rosary helpful.
 
You don’t have to pray the rosary. But when you pray the rosary it changes your life.

It makes your life have a different path you could say.

Your stress level goes down like a million percent.
You feel closer to God and his Mother. Its like being back in a loving home surrounded by family.

You become more patient and compassionate of others.
You feel like your problems are no longer just yours they become ours. You and God’s. You feel that help is given or will be.

It does not happen over night, It takes alot of time sometimes years. Oh but when it comes. You feel no fear, and there is nothing you and God can do.

But hey thats what you get when you take time with God, he takes time with you do. Ask and you will receive!😃
Precisely my experience. 😃
 
The OP’s reasons for not saying it was she doesn’t like saying so many Hail Mary’s and her mind wanders. Those aren’t concrete reasons for not saying a rosary.
you do not need a reason to not say the rosary,let me repeat that ,you do not need a reason to not say the rosary. saying or not saying the rosary has no bearing on your eternal soul.none.
 
saying or not saying the rosary has no bearing on your eternal soul.none.
Surely you haven’t researched the Rosary nor known Souls who with devotion followed this prayer recitation during the entire course of their life. Observe carefully on your earthly journey and you will witness and realize these Souls will leave a lasting impression on your life which echos God.

God instituted prayer and He made no mistake with the Rosary.

“Would you like me to tell you a ‘secret’? It is simple, and after all, is no secret: ‘Pray, pray much. Say the Rosary everyday.’” -Pope John Paul II

“Spread the Rosary, the prayer so dear to the Virgin and so esteemed by popes; by it the faithful can best fulfill the command of Christ: ’ Ask and it shall be given; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.’ (Mt. 7:7). The Rosary puts all who have trust in it into communication with Our Lady.” -Pope Paul VI

“The Rosary, as is known to all, is in fact a very excellent means of prayer and meditation in the form of a mystical crown in which the prayers Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be to the Father are intertwined with meditation on the greatest mysteries of our Faith and which presents to the mind, like many pictures, the drama of the Incarnation of our Lord and the Redemption.” -Pope John XXIII

“If you recite the Family Rosary, all united, you shall taste peace; you shall have in your homes concord of souls. Hearing the Christian home resound with the praised of the Queen of Heaven (is) a simple fact in appearance, but extraordinarily received by God, such as to enrapture the Angels, which from Heaven see and hear! The Rosary recited in common gathers the parents with their children, piously joins them with those absent, with the deceased, draws all there, close to the Virgin, who, as Mother, will be in the midst of her children. We esteem the Rosary to be the most suitable and efficacious means to obtain the help of God. The flowers of the Rosary never perish.” -Pope Pius XII

“The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin… It not only serves admirably to overcome the enemies of God and of religion, but it is also a stimulus and an encouragement to the practice of the evangelical virtues, which it develops and cultivates in our souls. Above all, it nourishes our Catholic Faith…If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors.” -Pope Pius XI

“The Rosary elevates minds to the truths reveled by God and shows us Heaven opened. The Virgin Mary Herself has insistently recommended this manner of praying. All Graces are conceded to us by God through the hands of Mary.” - Pope Pius XI

“Nevertheless, if men in our century, with its derisive pride, reject the holy Rosary, there is an innumerable multitude of holy men of every age and every condition who have always held it dear. They have recited it with great devotion, and in every moment they have used it as a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight, to preserve the integrity of life, to acquire virtue more easily, and, in a word, to attain real peace among men.” -Pope Pius XI

“From it (the Rosary) the young will draw fresh energy with which to control the rebellious tendencies to evil and to preserve intact the stainless purity of the soul. Also in it, the old will again find repose, relief , and peace from their anxious cares. And to all those who suffer in any way, especially the dying, may it bring comfort and increase the hope of eternal Happiness.” -Pope Pius XI

“The prayer of the Rosary is perfect because of the praises it offers, the lessons it teaches, the graces it obtains, and the victories it achieves.” - Pope Benedict XV

“St. Dominic knew well that, while on the one hand Mary is all powerful with Her divine Son, who grants all graces to mankind through Her, on the other hand, She is by nature so good and so merciful that, inclined to aid spontaneously those who suffer, She is absolutely incapable of refusing Her help to those who invoke Her. The Church is in the habit of greeting the Virgin as ‘Mother of Grace’ and ‘Mother of Mercy,’ and so She has always shown Herself, especially when we have recourse to Her by means of the Holy Rosary.” -Pope Benedict XV

" The Rosary is the most beautiful and the richest of all prayers to the Mediatrix of all grace; it is the prayer that touches most the heart of the Mother of God. Say it each day." -Pope St. Pius X

" The Rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life. It is the remedy for all our evils, the root of all our blessings. There is no more excellent way of praying." -Pope Leo XIII

“Among all the devotions approved by the Church, none has been so favored by so many miracles as the Rosary devotion.” - Pope Pius IX

“Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.” -Pope Pius IX

There are many things in the Church we are not required to do which is to say; “I don’t have to do that”. That recipe leaves one with the bare minimal in their path towards the Lord. I would contemplate carefully on exactly how you choose to approach the Lord in this regard of thinking.

Should one fill their life with Church, Eucharist, Prayer, the Divine Office among others litany’s and prayer devotion so too this is wonderful. Do not think less of, or minimize the relationship those who pray the Rosary daily have developed with the Lord.
 
misspoke,should not have said ( saying or not saying the rosary has no bearing on your eternal soul.none.) i should have said,saying the rosary is not required for salvation,you can go to heaven with out praying the rosary.to say otherwise is bordering on heresy and superstition.the op started this thread about difficulty praying the rosary. it has evolved into veiled and outright assertions of pride on the ops part.
 
Are you talking about Protestant objections, or are you responding to my post about liturgical vs. devotional piety?

If the latter, then some post-Vatican-II Catholics see the rosary and other devotions as rivaling more liturgical expressions of piety for the time and attention of lay Catholics.

Edwin
I can understand why some Protestants might have objections to it; but why would a Catholic (I suppose you did answer my question). It’s unfortunate there’s so much division between Catholic and Protestant on this issue.
 
I can understand why some Protestants might have objections to it; but why would a Catholic (I suppose you did answer my question).
This may have been more common in the time and place when/where I first explored Catholicism (Diocese of Raleigh, late 90s), than in other places or more recent times. The 90s weren’t that long ago, but sometimes they seem like ancient history. . . . they were, after all, last millennium!

The parish where I was a candidate for admission to the Church seemed to have a good deal of suspicion of both Eucharistic Adoration and the Rosary, at least on the part of the priests and the laypeople involved in RCIA. Mind you, there was an active Legion of Mary who prayed the Rosary daily, but I got the impression that the priests tolerated rather than encouraging these folks.

Edwin
 
Nevertheless the issue isn’t the Rosary. The point behind all this as with Adoration/ Rosary are the mysteries of the Apostolic Church which are; Jesus Christ, Eucharist, and the Blessed Virgin Mother. Those three Mysteries connect the Apostolic Churchs through time. Those are Neon Lights on the path to where the Apostolic Church is.

The Rosary is a Sacramental. A devotion/prayer recitation, starts with the Cross and ends with the Cross. The decades inbetween start with the Our Father end with the Glory Be. The meditations are the mysteries of the Apostolic Church, Incarnation to the Institution of the Eucharist. Those mysteries are Jesus, Eucharist, the BVM.

The children of Mary be it followers of St Louis de Montfort, Saint Catherine Labouré, Fatima Blue Army, Lourdes or the Legion of Mary are a mainstay in all the Churchs and some differ in degree from very active to small daily attendence. Same with Adoration you may find this is very large in one Congregation and not so much is another.

I suppose some running the RCIA may have a streamlined agenda and may well not engage in these practice’s. I have no idea, though I was educated by the Sisters and I would assume from a different approach covering a longer span of time.

Worship becomes the issue and the further one seeks to worship the more one must pray. The mysteries are Jesus, Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin Mother. There is no getting around this formula.
 
I am a recent convert having received my sacraments of initiation at Easter this year, so take my opinion for what it is worth.

First, one of the phrases I want to encourage people to abandon is “have to.”. I prefer “get to.”. We are blessed to have been given all of the gifts to use in our relationship with God. He wants us to love Him, and we all have different ways of showing that love. The devotional of the rosary is a perfect example of one of the many ways we can show that love.

Second, I have received two rosaries as gifts during the past four months. They both held special meaning to the people who gave them to me. I appreciated them for their significance, but I did not see myself as a “rosary guy” and didn’t even know the prayer without reading it. One of them is a single decade with hand carved beads, and I started carrying it in my pocket and used it like some people use “worry stones.”. Two weeks ago, for some reason, I pulled it out while praying in our parish adoration chapel. As though He was guiding me, I was reciting Hail Mary and Our Father.

I look forward to learning more about the Mysteries and how I get to use them in my journey toward our Lord.
 
Yes, the Gospel readings are about His Life, and if we pray a decade of Jesus Prayer or Anima Christi, the Rosary remains about Him. It is not necessary to pray the Hail Mary to pray about the Lord.

losh, are you saying that it was not necessary for the Arch Angel Gabriel, to say the “Hail Mary”? …Luke 1: 28 And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. If the Arch Angel Gabriel said it… So will I and My household, and so should you, Losh don’t be afraid or are you saying you are better than the arch angel Gabriel?
Jn 19:25-27. We don’t know whether it was Mary who brought John (and Mary wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene) or whether they all came together, etc. It’s a pious thought but no less pious in the converse (that John escorted Mary to protect her, after seeing what they did to her Son).
Losh, what I said was no sin… However what you say about Virgin Mary, well, let me tell you, I don’t want to be in your shoes in the end.

Sorry for not answering back quickly, I am very busy

Ufamtobie
 
Have not read the entire thread but here is a suggestion that has helped me to pray the
rosary and stay focused.
I had a cd that I got from catholicity.com I put it on and
find it helps me pray the rosary without drifting off.
I recently bought a cd fromlighthousecatholicmedia.org but I have not put in on yet.
The first was for a small donation or free really. The second was $3.00 for a fund that
keeps them ordering more cds on the faith and helps with postage.
It has become a daily prayer for me and the graces, mainly a lot of peace and tranquility
in the midst of trials, and a sense of closeness to our Lord and his Mother.
 
Do we have to pray the rosary you ask? God gave us free well. We can choose to pray or not. If we choose to pray should we pray the Rosary. The most Holy Mother of God has said in Medjugorie and other places where she has appeared that she would like everyone to pray the rosary. She said the rosary was especially dear to Her.

Many people believe that the rosary is the most powerful prayer. And why is this? To pray the rosary requires a life style change of discipline, devotion, and holiness because it is a longer prayer.

If you have trouble praying the rosary, that means your prayer is not yet sincere. Focus on each word so your mind won’t drift and take your time. Do not rush or think about when you will finish. But prayer is a communion of hearts with God. When you discover prayer from the heart, God will fill your heart with joy and peace. Do not give up. Because the fact that you have asked such a question comes from God. He is calling you to holiness through His Holy Mother.

Pleace be with you!
 
Do we have to pray the rosary you ask? God gave us free well. We can choose to pray or not. If we choose to pray should we pray the Rosary. The most Holy Mother of God has said in Medjugorie and other places where she has appeared that she would like everyone to pray the rosary. She said the rosary was especially dear to Her.

Many people believe that the rosary is the most powerful prayer. And why is this? To pray the rosary requires a life style change of discipline, devotion, and holiness because it is a longer prayer.

If you have trouble praying the rosary, that means your prayer is not yet sincere. Focus on each word so your mind won’t drift and take your time. Do not rush or think about when you will finish. But prayer is a communion of hearts with God. When you discover prayer from the heart, God will fill your heart with joy and peace. Do not give up. Because the fact that you have asked such a question comes from God. He is calling you to holiness through His Holy Mother.

Pleace be with you!
Unapproved apparition and I would never recommend anything said by such, as a reason to pray the Rosary.

No Catholic has to pray the Rosary to be a good Catholic. There are many devotions in the Church to lead us to a holy life.

That said, I learned the Rosary from Mother Angelica through EWTN before I became Catholic.
If you have trouble praying the rosary, that means your prayer is not yet sincere.
That is completely untrue and sounds to me as judgmental.
 
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