Tips on enjoying the Rosary

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Samson01

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Saying the Rosary seems like such a chore to me. I enjoy the Divine Mercy Chaplet, even singing it, but having a difficult time with the Rosary. Any tips or advice?
 
I so understand. My Aunt Margaret used to pray one bead per person for whom she promised to pray. “This bead is for: -Bea.” Then she would pray the prayer for whatever bead she was on.

I tried this and not only did I feel connected to the people,but also I remembered their situation for which they asked me to pray. I said a prayer of thanksgiving at the end and said, “Lord, I didn’t realize that many people are counting on me. They trust that I am praying for them and by golly, I am.” Or, if you don’t have that many people on your prayer list then just cycle through again. One bead for each person.

Please try this and let me know how you find this way of praying the Rosary works for you. Peace and good-will.
 
Bea_Attitude said:
I so understand. My Aunt Margaret used to pray one bead per person for whom she promised to pray. “This bead is for: -Bea.” Then she would pray the prayer for whatever bead she was on.

I tried this and not only did I feel connected to the people,but also I remembered their situation for which they asked me to pray. I said a prayer of thanksgiving at the end and said, “Lord, I didn’t realize that many people are counting on me. They trust that I am praying for them and by golly, I am.” Or, if you don’t have that many people on your prayer list then just cycle through again. One bead for each person.

Please try this and let me know how you find this way of praying the Rosary works for you. Peace and good-will.
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I love this though I may not know 50 people off the top of my head.lol. Did once get a penence to find one thing I was thankful for on the beads. Struggled to find 50 things, which is kind of sad, by thought or cause. I’ll try this.

Is obedience or joy the driving factor in praying the Rosary for most of you? Thanks.
 
I don’t pray the Rosary much, but I have an easier time praying it when I sing it. I use the Hail Mary from the song “Hail Mary, Gentle Woman” (HERE), and I use the chanted “Our Father” and “Glory Be”. It takes longer, but I enjoy it more.
 
You know, I found the Rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet a bit dull. It’s the repetitive type prayers that put me to sleep (literally). If you’re finding that it’s a real chore, try different type of prayers and see what works for you. The rosary isn’t required. I’m not trying to discourage you from praying the rosary, just don’t feel pressured into praying it. I tried all sorts of devotional prayers and whatnot and discovered that my heart lies with the Divine Office. I tried Lectio Divina today for the first time, and I definitely want to pursue that.“Pray as you can, not as you can’t.” 🙂

BTW: praying the rosary with the scriptures can be very enlightening:

scripturalrosary.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7
 
somewhere else I recently offered some tips that have helped me.
  • start with a specific prayer and intention.
  • enter the scene of each mystery…what must it have looked like in detail, pausing 5 seconds to imagine this before beginning each new decade
  • don’t worry about praying it while walking, or driving or splitting up parts over the course of the day. It’s a prayer, not an exacting formula or penance of some sort
  • give each decade or each bead an intention…sometimes/often I do the “friends and family rosary”…offering each bead for a family member, someone I’ve been asked to pray for, large intentions (all priests and sisters and brothers).
  • at the end offer the well said rosary, offer it all as "roses’ to our Lady…“Please do something pleasant for others with these roses, some are pretty than others, but please fi them up and make them prettier and more useful.”
  • St Josemaria remarked something to the effect of “the monotony of the rosary?..just like the monotony of our sins…!!!”
  • Set aside a day of the week and say it with your family.
  • Say it during adoration?
  • Find some good meditations to go along with it…there are many good ones
  • Pray it in front of an abortuary.
  • Pray when you don’t feel like it…offer your extra effort for some intention.
 
Samson01 said:
I love this though I may not know 50 people off the top of my head.lol. Did once get a penence to find one thing I was thankful for on the beads. Struggled to find 50 things, which is kind of sad, by thought or cause. I’ll try this.

Is obedience or joy the driving factor in praying the Rosary for most of you? Thanks.
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I do get distracted many times while praying the Rosary. Since I say it every day, it’s impossible not to. But God is so merciful and I think he understands the limitations of my mind. As soon as I realize my thoughts are drifting, I get back to what I should be meditating on.
I say it because Our Lady of Fatima asked us all to so. It’s a small way for me to help others and I know there are many blessings for saying the Rosary on a regular basis.
Also, it helps to pray a Scriptural Rosary as a way to keep my mind on the mysteries.
 
livnlern said:
I do get distracted many times while praying the Rosary. Since I say it every day, it’s impossible not to. But God is so merciful and I think he understands the limitations of my mind. As soon as I realize my thoughts are drifting, I get back to what I should be meditating on.
I say it because Our Lady of Fatima asked us all to so. It’s a small way for me to help others and I know there are many blessings for saying the Rosary on a regular basis.
Also, it helps to pray a Scriptural Rosary as a way to keep my mind on the mysteries.
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I pray Ave’s while doing my tread mill exercise also.

I finish the prayer saying,

Holy Mary, Mother of God pray for. Johnny and his deepest need,
And pray for us sinners now and at the hour of death,Amen

At that time in the prayer I simply toss in the name of whom ever is on my prayer list, along with their need. Works for me,;):cool:🙂 Peace, Carlan
 
Carlan said:
I pray Ave’s while doing my tread mill exercise also.

I finish the prayer saying,

Holy Mary, Mother of God pray for. Johnny and his deepest need,
And pray for us sinners now and at the hour of death,Amen

At that time in the prayer I simply toss in the name of whom ever is on my prayer list, along with their need. Works for me,;):cool:🙂 Peace, Carlan
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I have always taken my beads to bed with me to pray before sleeping.Most of the time I drift off to sleep before I finish, this at one time gave me a touch of the guilts, untill some one in my past told me not worry it, the Heavenly Angels always finish up for us. And I thought how lovely of them, and I don’t worry, just thank them.:)Carlan
 
livnlern said:
I do get distracted many times while praying the Rosary. Since I say it every day, it’s impossible not to. But God is so merciful and I think he understands the limitations of my mind. As soon as I realize my thoughts are drifting, I get back to what I should be meditating on.
I say it because Our Lady of Fatima asked us all to so. It’s a small way for me to help others and I know there are many blessings for saying the Rosary on a regular basis.
Also, it helps to pray a Scriptural Rosary as a way to keep my mind on the mysteries.
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👍 Beautiful description, reminders, and approach.
 
Carlan said:
I have always taken my beads to bed with me to pray before sleeping.Most of the time I drift off to sleep before I finish, this at one time gave me a touch of the guilts, untill some one in my past told me not worry it, the Heavenly Angels always finish up for us. And I thought how lovely of them, and I don’t worry, just thank them.:)Carlan
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You guys could sell this good advice.
 
Past my editing time…

I realize my last post may have sounded like I’m not a big fan of the rosary (or it might be my mind messing with me ;)), but what ended up happening was a kind of spiritual burn out. Too many devotions, not enough time and a touch of scruples = burnout! I had to really take a look at what I wanted to stick with and the Divine Office is the official prayer of the church, so IMO (outside of daily mass) it’s the most powerful prayer of the church and that takes precedence over any devotional prayers. Plus, I really really like it!

I was saying the rosary before daily mass and found myself rushed and extremely distracted. I’m a very, very visual person. Having something to read (like in a scriptural rosary) in front of me makes all the difference in the world in being able to focus. I tried praying Morning Prayer from the Divine Office last week before leaving for daily mass and found myself kind of rushed to say the Morning Prayer cause it’s a bit of a time crunch in the morning (I’m up at 5am, mass is @ 6:15…I usually get to mass around 6ish).

The rosary was a big part of my daily prayer life for a while. Just one week without praying it and I feel like something is missing! I think this week I’ll try incorporating one or two decades before leaving for mass.

I also strongly encourage you all to fall asleep praying the rosary. I’ve been getting the best sleep of my life since I started falling asleep praying the rosary. It keeps all those pesky thoughts and worries about the day, about tomorrow, etc, from creeping in (praying/having a conversation with God about the day before bed helps too). I rarely make it past one decade…the other night I don’t think I made it through one Our Father…I never use to be able to fall asleep that quickly…
 
Carlan said:
I have always taken my beads to bed with me to pray before sleeping.Most of the time I drift off to sleep before I finish, this at one time gave me a touch of the guilts, untill some one in my past told me not worry it, the Heavenly Angels always finish up for us. And I thought how lovely of them, and I don’t worry, just thank them.:)Carlan
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I also used to feel guilty about falling asleep while praying the Rosary, but I’m over that now. I have anxiety, which leads to bouts of insomnia. Sometimes the only way for me to get to sleep is to start praying. As the priest at the parish I visited this evening said, “Don’t count sheep, talk to the Shepherd.” 👍 Then again, his brother died a week ago while praying the Rosary. What a way to go!!!
 
Let me offer a slightly different bit of advice here. The Rosary is an extremely powerful prayer and is the most indulgenced prayer the Church has. Having said that the Rosary is also a devotional form of prayer and not all devotions are for everybody.

I say it’s okay if you don’t like to pray the Rosary or aren’t getting much out of it. If you like the Divine Mercy Chaplet then pray that faithfully and regularly. In the Church all of us have different yet complimentary gifts and talents. If this is the best way to express your devotion then use that one and don’t try to shoehorn a devotion that doesn’t particularly work for you. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pray the Rosary occasionally but if it isn’t the centerpiece of your devotions and something else is then that is okay.

ChadS
 
“Blessed be the monotony of Hail Marys which purifies the monotony of your sins”.

St Josemaria Escriva
 
I have been devoted to the rosary for years now. I just finished reading Tom Walsh’s book on Fatima and since then I’ve been praying not just one, but two or three rosary’s a day now. On Marys Birthday I got three in.

I have to say when I finished the book, I didn’t make a resolution to pray the rosary more, in fact I struggle with at times like most people. It’s almost like it just happened.

I guess I feel called.
 
You know a fast and facinating read. St Louis de Montforts “Secret of Mary”. And also “True Devotion to Mary”.

You’ll walk away feeling totally different about Mary. And Fatima is wonderfull also. You can also go to fatima.org and get yourself on their mailing list. Or look around the sight. It is in itself a wonderfull place and fully devoted to Our Lady of Fatima.

I find myself saying the Rosary very often during the day. Driving usually, sometimes working around the house. At the Miraculous Metal Mass of course. Mary is a Blessing that can’t be emphasised enough. I believe Mary brings you to grow closer to God as you are ready. She’s the path and the escort on the path. Just take her hand and allow her to lead you. You can’t and won’t miss. Mary is very Real, make no mistake about that. When you say “Hail Mary” she responds to you. I’m so facinated by that, that I often Pray to her just to get her attention and spend time with her.

God Bless, GT
 
GaryTaylor said:
You know a fast and facinating read. St Louis de Montforts “Secret of Mary”. And also “True Devotion to Mary”.

You’ll walk away feeling totally different about Mary. And Fatima is wonderfull also. You can also go to fatima.org and get yourself on their mailing list. Or look around the sight. It is in itself a wonderfull place and fully devoted to Our Lady of Fatima.

I find myself saying the Rosary very often during the day. Driving usually, sometimes working around the house. At the Miraculous Metal Mass of course. Mary is a Blessing that can’t be emphasised enough. I believe Mary brings you to grow closer to God as you are ready. She’s the path and the escort on the path. Just take her hand and allow her to lead you. You can’t and won’t miss. Mary is very Real, make no mistake about that. When you say “Hail Mary” she responds to you. I’m so facinated by that, that I often Pray to her just to get her attention and spend time with her.

God Bless, GT
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Thanks good stuff. I’ve read True Devotion by De Montfort & Glories of Mary by Ligori - I can’t remember if I’ve read Secret of Mary, I’ll start reading it though, it’s all good. I’ve consecrated myself to Mary and I’m a member of Maximilian Kolbe’s Militia Immaculata. We’ve always said if you don’t want your life to change don’t consecrate to Mary because once you do, things change & she really begins to use you to bring her Son to others.

It is amazing what can happen to your life with Mary at your side. I could go on for quite a while but… :rolleyes:
 
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