the Rosary

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auroraj42

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I prayed the Rosary for the first time ever today, in honor of a family member who died tragically over the weekend…today is his viewing but we are unable to attend.

It helped me feel some peace, and it also confirmed for me that I am on the right path, that RCIA is where I need to be right now.

I do have one question though. when you begin each decade, do you read the versus that correspond to that part of Jesus’ life? I am not as well versed as I should be, but I was wondering if most people are able to recall it from memory to meditate on, or they are like me, and need the Bible there to read it…

Thanks,
Peace be with you,
Jamie
 
I am relatively new to the rosary as well. I have only been doing it for about 3 months and Sunday is the day I pray my rosary. I have this great little pamhplet put out by (I think) the Divine Mercy Chaplet, but I will check that tonight and let you know. It gives the words to all the prayers, all of the mysteries, and with each mystery it includes a pertinent Biblical verse. So I don’t have to break out my Bible to find the verse, it gives it to me. This little pamphlet is great for me!
 
I’m sorry for the loss of your loved one, but happy you have found peace in the Church. Its ok if you use a book or a meditation. Sometimes I do & sometimes I don’t. When I don’t I usually try to get a “movie” going in my head for each mystery, you know, a picture is worth 1000 words. When you start doing it regularly you will actually memorize verses without even trying!

There was also a poster here that would incorporate the mystery into the Hail Mary, so for the 1st Joyful mystery you could say,
Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women & blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, who became man. Holy Mary etc. insert a different truth about Jesus for each bead that relates to that mystery. I found this helps to keep me focused, my mind is less likely to wander because I have to think up the next truth.
 
Thanks!

wisdom, I’ll have to try adding the truths sometime…I was kind of doing the pictures in my head, but as I’m still learning the prayers, I had to refer to something they gave me in RCIA a lot, but I think I’ll be able to learn them pretty quickly and be able to focus on the mysteries a little more.

THank you!
 
Watching “The Passion” has helped with the visuals for some of the mysteries. Specifically the sorrowful mysteries. Seems there’s a scene from “The Passion” that fits perfectly with evey one of those mysteries and certainly makes it easier to stay focused.
 
I’m pretty new as well, but I think that when praying the Rosary in private it’s quite enough to meditate on the mystery without actually reading or reciting it from memory at the start of the decade.

I LOVE THE ROSARY, AND OUR HOLY MOTHER!! It’s truly an awesome prayer.
 
I am so sorry for your loss, and so glad that you found peace when praying the Rosary. I have had similar experiences. Immense peace is the most common result I get from praying the Rosary. The Divine Mercy Chaplet also usually brings me a permeating sense of calm and contentment.

There are many different ways to pray the Rosary, from using various Scriptures to other meditations. It can be merely a vocal prayer, a meditative prayer, or even a contemplative prayer. I have seen books and pamphlets which offer rosary meditations on the life of Mary, the life of Christ, the Stations of the Cross, the Eucharist, etc etc etc.

Here’s a clip form a couple of different websites I found once. Sorry that I did not save the links and cannot direct you there!

“The rosary has been with us know since the early Middle Ages. Its invention at that time was a stroke of genius because in those days there were no books, and when ordinary folks went to church on Sundays, they could not understand what the gospel was saying because it was proclaimed in Latin. Thus the common people did not have access to the Scripture. The rosary, based on repetition of the “Our Father,” which Jesus gave us, and portions of the Scripture that make up the “Hail Mary,” put these simple vocal prayers in a form that ordinary lay persons could easily recite. In effect, the rosary became the office of lay persons.”

"One of the secrets of the Rosary, though, is that it isn’t the sequence of Pater Nosters and Aves shown with an arrow on a drawing on the back of a “How to Pray the Rosary” pamphlet. It’s not a twenty-minute vocal prayer. It’s a meditation on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and you don’t finish meditating on that in twenty minutes … or ever! Vocal recitation is, as they say, the body of the Rosary, but the meditations are its soul.

It is not so much the quantity of prayer that is important, but its quality The development of faith and love is the fruit of reflecting on the mysteries of the rosary and especially of resting in them.
 
All these responses are wonderful! To get back to your question, aurora… I assume that you have a little pamphlet that lists the mysteries. If so, then as you announce the mystery before each decade, go right ahead and read out the verse accompanying it. Also, if it lists the fruit of the mystery, go ahead and say that aloud too. I find that reciting the verses and the fruits along with the mysteries helps focus my meditation. Then again, if you don’t want to say tham aloud, just announce the mystery and then read the other parts before reciting the Our Father.

There’s no set in stone rule about how you have to go about praying the Rosary (except to use the correct prayers). You may want to see if your parish has a time for group Rosary, then you could see how others are praying it. The bottom line, however, is to pray it in whatever way makes you feel most comfortable! 😃
 
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tkdnick:
Seems there’s a scene from “The Passion” that fits perfectly with evey one of those mysteries and certainly makes it easier to stay focused.
Click to expand...
I think that this is exactly what Mel Gibson was trying to accomplish. When I watched the movie, it was a dramatic acting out of the sorrowful mysteries. Very powerful and inspiring.
 
I started praying the Rosary when I first joined the church, which was 4 years ago!! When I bought my rosary, the little velvet sack in came in was large enough to hold a small pamphlet or book. That is exactly what I did. I went to the our Catholic book store (Knoxville only has one) and found a small book on the rosary that would fit. Now I have the two together, in a special pocket in my purse. If I am mediating, I can look at the pictures in the book, if I need the verse, it is right there. I find that it helps.
 
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