Why do people kiss their Rosary?

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dizzy_dave

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I think kissing the Rosary at the end is a great thing, but I’ve always wondered why this is done. You don’t see it much, at least I don’t.
 
Some people have adopted the practice of kissing the crucifix on the rosary as a reminder/renewal of their love for and gratitude to our suffering Savior.

Hope that helps.
 
Why? One doesn’t have to, of course. I kiss the Crucifix, as a sign of reverence, The Rosary is a Sacramental and “should” be blessed so one is reminding oneself of his/her commitment to live the Sacramental life - i.e.availing oneself of the Graces to be obtained in the Sacraments and Sacramentals.
Peace on earth to men of good will.
LaVada
 
I like to put a kiss on my rosary. On the crucifix because of what reason Servulus said. It is a way of showing love and respect and devotion. Not to mention it is said there is an indulgence for doing so, yes? If devoutly?
 
when it comes to kisses statutes of christ and/or the crucifix, i try to pray to Jesus, something along the lines of: “You are not here on earth now for me to kiss your feet, so let this kiss be offered to you, and may i someday kiss your feet in heaven.”
 
I never really ever thought of it! I just kiss Jesus because I love Him.

When my children were little they use to love to gaze upon the “Good Sisters” who would teach them catechism and such, sit on their knees and play with their beads, the loving sisters would always in the most reverant, loving, voice I have ever heard say “would you like to kiss Jesus” The children were alway egar to kiss Jesus on sisters beads.
 
I never even have given this a second thought…to kiss the feet of my Lord and Savior just seemed to be the right thing to do when I first learned how to pray the Rosary.

And as I recall, my grandmother always did it as well. She always had the Rosary wrapped around her wrist throughout the day…
(Yet another seed planted for my future conversion to the Faith!)
 
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LaVada:
Why? One doesn’t have to, of course. I kiss the Crucifix, as a sign of reverence, The Rosary is a Sacramental and “should” be blessed so one is reminding oneself of his/her commitment to live the Sacramental life - i.e.availing oneself of the Graces to be obtained in the Sacraments and Sacramentals.
Peace on earth to men of good will.
LaVada
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I know the seven sacraments, but what are ‘sacramentals’?
 
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campion:
I know the seven sacraments, but what are ‘sacramentals’?
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Catholics have a strong belief in the sacramentality of Creation. All Creation is a “sign” of the reality and nature of God. (In Genesis, a rainbow was used as a “sign” of God’s promise to mankind, etc). This is the general idea of what “sacramental” means.

There are only seven sacraments of the Church - Baptism, Confession, Eucharist, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick. Sacraments are the specific “signs” that Christ instituted to enable us to receive His graces in these specific ways.

Sacramentals are the other “things” that carry a particular sacramental meaning under the authority of the Church. A perfect popular example of a sacramental is holy water (water, blessed by a priest, that is sacramental in nature in that it reminds us of our baptism in Christ and by our use we re-affirm our baptismal promises and belief).

Crucifixes, rosaries, holy cards, icons, medals… all that Catholic “stuff” that fills Catholic homes (to greater or lesser degree ;)) all fall under the “sacramental” heading.

The sign of the cross motion is sacramental in that it reminds us of the Trinitarian nature of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The movement of the hands/fingers, and perhaps the verbalization of the Trinity, is the outward “sign” of this spiritual reality.

In and of themselves, sacramentals contain no graces, they are not “magic”. But, they “signify” the graces of God as given to His Church, reminding us of Him, and they lead our thoughts to the glory of God. Sacramentals have a deeper meaning and purpose attached to them.

Here is some of what the Catechism has to say on sacramentals -
1667 “Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy.”[171]

1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. “For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God.”[174]
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Numbers 1667-1679 in the Catechism all deal with Sacramentals. Visit christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/others.html#LITURGICAL to read them all.

Hope this helps 🙂

+veritas+
 
I kiss the crucifix with the implied mental wish that I could do it in person.

DaveBj
 
and as far as i understand, when items are blessed and become sacramentals, they become “tools” for the Holy Spirit to use to work on us, kinda like conduits for certain graces to be passed through. devotion through these sacramentals are really due to trusting in Christ’s promises, and not because of the sacramentals themselves.

and i think most sacramentals can be available for anyone, including non-Catholics. for instance, everyone is welcome to come up to receive the cross of ashes on their foreheads during Ash Wednesday or the palm leaves on Palm Sunday., and sometimes even available to non-Christians, for as long as they’re given by Catholics who will pray for these people, like blessed scapulars and medals.
 
Many years ago, when I was newly married, my employment required me to travel to distant cities for about 8 days each month. It distressed me to have to leave new hubby behind, so I kept a photo of him in my wallet and placed a framed photo at my bedside in the various hotel rooms where I stayed. And yes, I’d look at the photo when talking to him on the phone and I’d kiss it goodnight and kiss it when packing up in the morning, and taking it out in each location. In my heart, I was kissing him – not as good as the real thing, but enough to tide me over until my business was done and I could fly home.

As a former Orthodox and now an Eastern Catholic, you bet I kiss that which calls to mind and heart the reality of our Lord and the saints: icons, statues, the crucifix, rosaries and even the hands of priests who’ve stood in persona Christi for me. It’s a simple expression of incarnational faith.
 
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