What "bothers" me about the Rosary

[edward_george]

SPOKENWORD:

Yes and repiticious. God Bless

So’s going to a church service every Sunday.

-ACEGC

 

[SPOKENWORD]

edward_george:

So’s going to a church service every Sunday.

-ACEGC

Thats only five decades a year, God Bless

 

[Della]

SPOKENWORD:

Yes and repiticious. God Bless

And so are the Psalms and the praises of God: Holy, holy, holy! So, what’s your point? As if I didn’t know and as if you have never been on a Catholic discussion board and read the Catholic answer to that!

 

[Church_Militant]

Tongues is all well and good, but NOWHERE in the Word of God does it say that it is the perfect way to pray. In fact St. Paul says that you don’t even know what you are saying.

Read 1st Corinthians very carefully and you’ll find that Paul gets all into this from about the 12th chapter to the 14th. Anyone who tells you that it’s the perfect way to pray is giving you nothing more than their personal (and unscriptural) opinion.

The Rosary, however is a beautiful prayer and scriptural meditation upon the life of Christ. There is nothing in the Word of God that condemns this kind of praying, since it is anything but “vain repetition”.
Pax vobiscum,

 

[Church_Militant]

Paris Blues:

What I have a hard time with is concentrating on saying it plus meditating on what I’m suppose to be meditating on. That’s why I don’t pray it because I can’t do both things simultaneously!

Suggestions? Advice?

Hi PB!
Focus on the mystery as you pray the Our Father and then just let the Holy Spirit guide your mind along to whatever He wants you to think about. I often find myself praying for people He brings to mind or needs or just worshipping God for His love for us.

Hey… I LOVE the Rosary and the DMC (Divine Mercy Chaplet). I also pray the chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel.
Pax tecum,

 

[PointBreak]

Great question, and great responses. One of the things I do to reconcile the two activities in my mind is to imagine I’m AT that situation, and praying. For example, if it’s the angel coming to Mary and telling her she will conceive the Christ Child, I imagine I’m in the room, and I’m praying these things while watching the situation. I will get a mental image of Mary looking up at the angel, and what she might be feeling, and thinking. Then I freeze frame that moment in my mind, and pray while “watching it.” Someone early on mentioned St. Josemaria Escriva’s “Rosary” prayer book. I think this was written for men, but I just LOVE it. It’s SO from a child’s eyes…humbling. It makes it very easy to appreciate the basics of the sitiuation while still being engaged in meditation.

 

[Unfinished]

It is hard to stay focused.

Often I start out each decade well, focused on the mystery, but by the third or fourth “Hail Mary”, my mind is drifting to all kinds of things. Sometimes what I am praying about, other times to just random thoughts.

If I don’t catch myself, I usually don’t realize it until the end of the decade and my hand moves off the last bead.

It’s hard to stay on track. Sometimes it is so bad for me I stop and think “I hope I said all the Hail Mary"s completely”.

Adam

 

[MamaSusie]

Great question, and great responses. One of the things I do to reconcile the two activities in my mind is to imagine I’m AT that situation, and praying. For example, if it’s the angel coming to Mary and telling her she will conceive the Christ Child, I imagine I’m in the room, and I’m praying these things while watching the situation. I will get a mental image of Mary looking up at the angel, and what she might be feeling, and thinking. Then I freeze frame that moment in my mind, and pray while “watching it.” Someone early on mentioned St. Josemaria Escriva’s “Rosary” prayer book. I think this was written for men, but I just LOVE it. It’s SO from a child’s eyes…humbling. It makes it very easy to appreciate the basics of the sitiuation while still being engaged in meditation.

 

[aj830]

What I have a hard time with is concentrating on saying it plus meditating on what I’m suppose to be meditating on. That’s why I don’t pray it because I can’t do both things simultaneously!

Suggestions? Advice?

I don’t remember where I heard this ,but I think it was something about somewhere in Africa where whenever they say the Hail Mary for the decade they will say the mystery after Jesus is mentioned.

…Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, who rose on the third day…
and on the next decade they would say
…Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, who ascended into heaven…

Don’t know if that would help you but maybe give it a try and see if it won’t help you meditate more.

 

[davewan]

I’m not much of an apologist, but I would suggest that it is the effort that matters and not even what we utter, or upon what we meditate, so long as our prayer is offered to the Lord in a spirit of worship and thanksgiving:

Romans 8:26 states: "In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings."

I take great solace in this scripture because I know that when I wish to pray, but cannot organize even what I might consider a rational thought, my effort to do so is offered to the Holy Spirit, who knows the desires of my heart.
Dave

 

[MamaSusie]

I often need to remind myself that prayer is a form of communication, and that when communicating with a loved one, sometimes it’s best to just listen.

 

[AndyF]

CatholicSam:

Guess what? Even if you don’t meditate on the mysteries but just think about the words of the Hail Mary, that also “counts” as saying a Rosary! Even just one Hail Mary is worth many years of sufferings on Earth!

Here’s an excerpt from St. Louis de Montfort’s book, Secret of the Rosary (the nineteenth Rose):

“Blessed Alan says that a nun who had always had a great devotion to the Holy Rosary appeared after death to one of her sisters in religion and said to her: “If I were allowed to go back into my body, to have the chance of saying just one single Hail Mary - even if I said it quickly and without great fervor - I would gladly go through the sufferings that I had during my last illness all over again, in order to gain the merit of this prayer.” (Blessed Alan de la Roche, De Dignitate Psalterii, Chapter LXIX) This is all the more compelling because she had been bedridden and had suffered agonizing pains for several years before she died.”

Thanks for the quote.
AndyF

 

[MamaSusie]

Wow.

 

[SPOKENWORD]

Church Militant:

Tongues is all well and good, but NOWHERE in the Word of God does it say that it is the perfect way to pray. In fact St. Paul says that you don’t even know what you are saying.===============================================================================Hi C.M. St. Paul also says in Romans 8;26-28. In the same way the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for,BUT the Holy Spirit himself intercedes for us with GROANS that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit,because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with Gods will. Do you see the connection by praying in the Holy Ghost? The Holy Spirit and Gods Spirit are interconnected. God Bless.

 

[Church_Militant]

SPOKENWORD:

St. Paul also says in Romans 8;26-28. In the same way the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for,BUT the Holy Spirit himself intercedes for us with GROANS that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit,because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with Gods will. Do you see the connection by praying in the Holy Ghost? The Holy Spirit and Gods Spirit are interconnected. God Bless.

I have yet to EVER hear ANY Charismatics/Pentecostals groan…just babble like madmen out loud and disorderly, which cannot be justified or rationalized away. It’s plainly stated to be disobedient to scripture…which makes those who do so and teach others to do so, all the more scandalous.

I don’t doubt the gifts at all, but those who abuse them and try to ignore the plain guidelines of the New Testament while proclaiming themselves led of the Holy Spirit put themselves and others in spiritual jeopardy IMO.

 

[SPOKENWORD]

Church Militant:

I have yet to EVER hear ANY Charismatics/Pentecostals groan…just babble like madmen out loud and disorderly, which cannot be justified or rationalized away. It’s plainly stated to be disobedient to scripture…which makes those who do so and teach others to do so, all the more scandalous.

I don’t doubt the gifts at all, but those who abuse them and try to ignore the plain guidelines of the New Testament while proclaiming themselves led of the Holy Spirit put themselves and others in spiritual jeopardy IMO.

I believe that you do doubt this gift. This shows me that you dont know what it means to be walking in the Spirit. God Bless

 

[petra]

SPOKENWORD:

Yes and repiticious. God Bless

Speaking in tongues is very repetitious, too, if you haven’t noticed.

 

[SPOKENWORD]

petra:

Speaking in tongues is very repetitious, too, if you haven’t noticed.

For those with a limited vocabulary it can be. God Bless

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

SPOKENWORD:

Yes and repiticious. God Bless

So is the Our Father. You are missing His point, Jesus Christ isn’t condemning repeating prayer (since He commanded us to pray one), He is condemning repetitions said in vain. If you don’t know why you’re praying something, then it becomes vain. You need to add 1 + 1 and keep it in context.

Mat 6:7

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

He’s clearly saying, “Don’t think that just because you’re talking, that your prayer will be heard. Instead, when you pray, think of what you’re praying about as well as why you’re praying and meditate on it.”

 

[Sirach14]

I use pictures of the mysteries, while I’m praying the Rosary, so to keep my mind from wandering.