The Rosary, some guidance

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FrancisPio

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The 5 mysteries to each rosary don’t change. How does one keep the rosary unique each day? Personally, my mind is losing attention more each week due to it being exactly the same as the previous weeks. I would like to pray the rosary the traditional way. How do people keep their attention through those 10 hail Marys and keep it unique for themselves? Love to hear your thoughts and advice. Thanks!
 
Well, I take it you meditate on each mystery, yes? Maybe you could meditate on a different aspect of each mystery?
 
I say a lot of rosaries each week and I use all kinds of rosary aids I find on the Internet and Youtube and in booklets to help me. You are right that it would get very boring to say the same one all the time and it’s good to broaden our thoughts about the Mysteries by using different “helps”, that’s sort of the point.

There are lots of different Youtube videos. Be aware that you can change the speed of the video using the Settings gear so if the person on the video is praying too slow or too fast for you, you can set it to something more comfortable to pray along. Some are scriptural rosaries, some are stained glass windows, some are clips from movies about Christ’s life. Some of them have the late Father Peyton praying.

Also if you google “Scriptural Rosary” or “Rosary Meditations” you will get many, many web pages where there are different meditations to use. I can always find one I haven’t done yet or haven’t done in a while. Some are the kind where you read a line of scripture or a line of meditation for each Hail Mary and some are where you just read a meditation at the beginning and think of it all the way through.

You can also use any number of rosary books that are available for not very much from various Catholic rosary and gift shop websites. Seriously, this is one topic where there is an endless supply of books. If your church has a book lending room (some of mine do), you’ll probably find some in there to borrow so you don’t have to buy them. Sometimes the parish book rack also sells them for a couple bucks or you can find them on eBay. I’m sure there are apps with rosary meditations as well but I haven’t exhausted the web, youtube, and books yet so I haven’t looked into the apps.

Somebody on here recommended a technique where after each “thy womb Jesus” in the Hail Mary, you insert a word or phrase about the mystery you’re on. (Thanks very much to whoever on here suggested this! I’ve found it very helpful.) This works great for when I’m saying the rosary in the car and can’t read scripture or look at a video. Sometimes I use the same word all the way through the decade, like “blessed be the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, risen” for the Resurrection, and sometimes I’ll make it different for each Hail Mary, like the first one will be “Jesus, in the tomb” and the second one will be “Jesus, bursting out of the tomb” and the third one will be “Jesus, scaring the soldiers at the tomb” and the fourth one will be “Jesus, appearing to Mary Magdalene by the tomb” etc.
 
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By the way, if you use enough of these “helper” sites you’ll just naturally start coming up with your own meditations along the same lines as what you read, or at least I do.
 
I understand there are ways of changing the rosary to stay focused while praying, but I would like to know how people stay focused with the rosary in its traditional form. Anyone do it that way daily? How people like padre Pio did the rosary 20+ times a day is a true mystery to me. I don’t see how one keeps it unique.
 
“Changing the rosary” is only one of the several things I mentioned.

If you don’t like to add a word to the prayers, and don’t want to do a “Scriptural Rosary”, you can use one of the other methods I suggested: watching a video with it (it just shows pictures while you pray in the “traditional form”) or a meditation book of pictures (you can look at pictures while you pray in the “traditional form”).
Also, most people who think about a meditation for a couple of minutes at the beginning of a decade don’t consider that a deviation from the “traditional form” because you are supposed to announce or at least think about the title of the mystery and think about it for a minute before you go ahead with the prayers.

Padre Pio was a mystic and he knew how to meditate. It is to some extent a learned art that one would pick up after saying many, many rosaries, but also, he was gifted. Most of us do not have the gifts of Padre Pio and need to work at it. I believe St. Therese of Lisieux said that she had difficulty staying focused during the Rosary, so even all the saints were not so gifted at it.
 
I second using the scriptural rosary. Not that I actually use it, but, I find it useful to find one verse from Sacred Scripture to meditate on while reciting the mystery. The scriptural rosary gives you 10 to choose from for each decade.
 
What in us needs to have the mysteries different?

Whatever it is…we change that.
 
Well said. However, we are frail little creatures. Sometimes we need a little candy to get us to do the right thing. And for some people, occasional variety is the candy.
 
then we pray what you say…Mary I am frail…teach me more about your Son’s baptism, life, death, resurrection…teach me a new virtue on every mystery…

gratitude
humility
obedience
fortitude
sacrificial love
abandonment
trust in God
spirit of offering
queenship
unity with God
spiritual childhood
hospitality
attentiveness to God’s word.
Charity

every day Mary teach me anew. I’m weak, but I am even weaker than I want to admit. Help me more.

The Rosary becomes a whole inexhaustible program of teaching of holy and helpful virtues.
 
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It helps me to relax, clear my mind of all but the name of the mystery and let the meditation unfold on its own. It takes the pressure off of me and allows a space of prayer for the Spirit to move and guide me to the mysteries spiritual fruits. May God Bless you as you pray.
 
I use a 54 day rosary novena which uses a formula like this…“Sweet Mother Mary, meditating on the Mystery of the Visitation, when, upon your visit…”

At the end of the decade, 1 Glory Be and 1 Fatima Prayer, as usual, then “I bind these snow-white roses with a petition for the grace of…”

(Granted, it is designed for a 54 day novena, but there is nothing saying that you can’t use it for a daily rosary instead.)
 
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When i prayed the Rosary i only ever used the Sorrowful mystery.
 
you could always find pictures on the internet of the passion and pray whilst looking at Jesus and his suffering
 
Don’t sweat the small stuff. The prayers are an anchor to keep you in prayer. Even if you’re totally distracted you’re still praying and sooner or later your mind will come back to the mysteries. If you’re too preoccupied with worrying about how to meditate upon the mysteries that’s going to form a mental block. Let go and let God.
 
Through the DVR, I have recorded the Mother Angelica (sorry; initially I said Theresa) Rosaries from EWTN. I accompany them each morning. While I am not keen on all of the graphics that accompany the EWTN Rosary, I have found it comforting to have other voices pray the Rosary with me in union.

If you have the option to record and follow along, perhaps that may help.
 
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I am sorry. I meant MOTHER ANGELICA.

I did do a YouTube search and came up with this:
 
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