The Rosary

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I guess I’m confused when you state there being as many decades as there are Psalms. There are 15 decades in the older rosary and twenty with the new Luminous Mysteries. Hardly as many as there are 150 Psalms.

I sure don’t know where the 150 decades are coming about from you.
 
EveningSkye111 said:
I guess I’m confused when you state there being as many decades as there are Psalms. There are 15 decades in the older rosary and twenty with the new Luminous Mysteries. Hardly as many as there are 150 Psalms.

I sure don’t know where the 150 decades are coming about from you.
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Each decade of the Rosary has 10 Aves (Hail Marys)
15 decades times 10 Aves per decade = 150 Aves, which is equal to the number of Psalms. Its not 150 decades; its 150 Aves.
 
TexanKnight said:
not to beat a dead horse, but when I converted a few years ago, one of the things I was taught about the beauty of the Rosary and how clever Mary was in giving us the Rosary was how the 150 decades matched the Psalms. We lose that with the Luminous Mysteries.
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as per above, can you tell me more about the connection of psalms and decades, to give an example how these match?
 
I kinda figured that, but it’s not what the OP said. He stated 150 decades, which comes out to 1500.
 
The Rosary was often referred to as the “Lay Man’s Psalter” in the distant past. The clergy have been and are still required to pray the Divine Office also known as the Liturgy of the Hours. The DO has prayers that correspond to the various hours of the day, e.g. Matins, Lauds (in the morning), Prima (first hour of the day), Tertia (third hour of the day), Sexta (sixth hour of the day), Nona (ninth hour of the day), Vespers (late afternoon), and Compline (evening prayer). In praying the DO, the clergy would effectively pray all 150 psalms. Since lay people cannot take off from work and their daily lives as easily as those in monasteries, the Rosary gave them a way to pray that sort of mimicked the Divine Office. Each Ave Maria was supposed to take the place of a psalm. My understanding is that the Rosary has undergone some evolution over the centuries, and that in many places it only consisted of the Aves and the mysteries in between. The Pater Nosters and Glorias may have been added later. Certainly the O Jesus Fatima prayer could only have been added in recent times, and at many churches I have heard people add additional prayers to the end of the Rosary. Our family adds the Salve Regina, and we ask the patron saint of each of our family members (mom, dad, and five kids) to pray for us. We also invoke the saint or saints of the day, which often results in discussion after the Rosary about saints with particularly interesting names, e.g. St. Leander for today.

We do not use the Luminous mysteries. They are an option, just like using the Memorare versus the Salve Regina after the Rosary. We opt not to use them. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Btw, I’m a Knight as well, so the Rosary is a particularly special devotion for me.
 
EveningSkye111 said:
I guess I’m confused when you state there being as many decades as there are Psalms. There are 15 decades in the older rosary and twenty with the new Luminous Mysteries. Hardly as many as there are 150 Psalms.

I sure don’t know where the 150 decades are coming about from you.
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I’m sure he meant the 150 Hail Marys are like the 150 Psalms. God Bless, mMmaw
 
There’s no “should” here. 🙂

I think that the Luminous Mysteries are wonderful and “mysterious” - I especially like meditating on the Transfiguration.

Also, there are other mysteries you can use which are more “traditional” than the Luminous. Try saying the Rosary using the 5 mysteries from the early life of Mary: 1. The Immaculate Conception, 2. The Nativity of the BVM, 3. The Presentation of Mary in the Temple, 4. The betrothal of Mary to Joseph and 5. The Annunciation.

In general, more devotions = great! I think we can fit in more than we usually think we can. :bounce:
 
Memaw said:
I do say the Luminous Mysteries, no problem, but sometimes I make up my own Mysteries to the Rosary. as long as they are part of the life of Jesus and Mary. I like to meditate on Simon helping Jesus carry His Cross and pray for all those who need a “Simon” in their life. Please, Sweet Jesus, send them a “Simon” to help them carry their cross. I especially pray that for all those on the CAF that ask for prayers. God Bless, Memaw
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I really don’t know where I read of it (and I read it not all that long ago!) and have been looking for it without success, but there’s been something online about someone’s practice of praying a set of “unofficial” mysteries some years ago. When we started hearing about those new luminous mysteries, this person noticed a good bit of overlap.

(Three or four were the same, I think–the overlap was probably a majority without being a perfect match. If I had to guess right now, I’d guess four, with the Wedding at Cana as the one “mismatch.” I don’t have a specific impression of what the corresponding “unofficial” one is, but it may have been a different miracle.)

Your post also gives me an idea of praying the Stations of the Cross as mysteries in a “rosary format.” Doing so doesn’t strike my fancy, for no immediately obvious reason, but someone may want to try it. (It could even be combined with the three remaining sorrowful mysteries for a total of 17 decades, and other variants are possible.)
 
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