Learning to Meditate on the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary

The Holy Rosary is a beautiful way to honor our Lady but it may not be the easiest devotion to do correctly in order to enrich our spiritual life.

It is easy to fall into the trap of just speeding through the Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and Glory Bes just to be able to say we said our daily rosary.  However, if we do that we are cheating ourselves out of the richness of what the Holy Rosary really is....Mary's Family Album.  Father Eric Bowman, a priest in Ohio and a friend, described the Holy Rosary in such a manner.  He pictured himself next the the Blessed Mother and she would show him the photos of the life of her Son, Jesus..."and this is when He was a baby being presented in the temple...and this was the time He was lost in Jerusalem..."

I made a promise a long time ago to pray the Rosary daily.  But I doubt I was enriched with the graces of praying Our Lady's Rosary by the way I said it.  I rushed through the Rosary in the morning, just to get it out of the way.  My mind meditated on my daily problems, food,  and duties I had to perform and never once on the mysteries of Christ's life.  Yet,  our Lady took pity on my poor attempts and gradually over the course of twenty years or so, I finally learned how to meditate on each mystery.

At first I used a little Scriptural Rosary book to help me.  I would read the scriptural passage pertaining to each mystery before I recited the Hail Mary.  I did not really meditate on the mystery but it was much better than the way I had been praying it so I persevered.

Then like a child learning to ride a bike without training wheels, it was time to let go of the Scriptural Rosary book and try to meditate on each mystery before the recitation of the Hail Mary.

I still used the method of recalling the scriptural passage but I found that when I tried to recall each passage myself, instead of reading it, it lead to another thought and another imagery regarding a particular mystery.  I did this for each of the four mysteries:  The Joyful, the Sorrowful, the Luminous and the Glorious.  Some meditations of the mysteries were more difficult than the others.  I found the Glorious Mysteries difficult to meditate on because I had trouble picturing Heaven.  The Sorrowful mysteries I found to be easy to meditate on,  and are also my favorites.  I was in awe on how much Jesus had to endure, in suffering, in torture and willingly, because He wanted to save our individual souls.  Sometimes, I brought myself to tears thinking of a particular mystery maybe because of how much Jesus or  Mary suffered for my sins but also because I could relate to it on a personal level.  For example,  after Jesus rose from the dead, I pictured Him being greeted by His dear Mother in the dark sepulchre, and then He has to leave her side to continue His work on redemption during the 40 days prior to His Ascension.  That mystery brought tears to my eyes as I recalled the day my son left home and my side to start his own life.

The following are examples of how to meditate on the mysteries.

1.  The First Sorrowful Mysteries:

a.  Imagine Jesus going to the Garden of Gethsemane with His chosen apostles.
b.  Imagine Jesus warning them to pray because He knew they were weak men.
c.  Imagine Jesus going off by Himself to talk to God in private, all this while experiencing an agony we cannot even begin to fathom.
d.  Remember His words:  "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me."
e.  Remember:  "Yet, not My will, but Yours be done."
f.  Imagine great drops of sweat like blood dripping from His sacred head.
g.  Imagine an angel ministering to Him but wiping His brow and giving him words of comfort. Sometimes I image the Blessed Mother sending the Angel to help Jesus.
h.  Imagine Jesus going back to His disciples because He needed them for strength and finding them sleeping.  Imagine how disappointed He must have been.
i.  Remember His words to them "Could you not keep watch with Me for even an hour?"
j.  Imagine how Jesus must have felt at being betrayed by one of His own.

Help Save the United States of America, pray the Rosary!

My mom would like to do something to save our beloved country.  Her idea was to order these calling cards and to share them.  Hopefully, it will remind everyone to pray the rosary for the United States' intentions.

Month of October Dedicated to the Holy Rosary

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WHAT ABOUT THE ROSARY ?

Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.

Origin of the Rosary

    

     The Rosary, the blessed beads that quietly slip between our fingers as we pray over the mysteries of Jesus’ redemptive life, has an ancient origin.  Most likely its pre-Christian ancestor originated in the ancient East, perhaps in India, and not in the medieval West.  It was and still is a popular prayer device among the Muslims, who use the Arabic term masbahat , which means to give praise.  Devout Muslims used the masbahat  in repeating the attributes of God, just as it was used by the early Christian hermits.  Following the Crusades the Rosary found its way to the West, and the prayer form kept that name.  “Rosary” comes from the Latin rosarium, which means a rose garden.  Applied to the prayer beads, the name connotes a crown of roses for the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The missionary who worked hardest to spread this devotion was Abed El-Ahad, Saint Dominic, and his Dominican companions.

     The Rosary became a popular method of prayer and spread quickly in the West during the Middle Ages.  For Christians it has always been “the Gospel strung on beads.”   It is a simple and easy prayer that can be employed for vocal prayer or silent contemplation by individuals, families, and communities.

Papal Encouragement

    

     Since the 16^th century the popes have frequently encouraged the faithful of East and West to pray the Rosary.  The first was a Dominican pope, Saint Pius V, who wrote a papal letter about the Rosary in 1569 shortly after the Council of Trent, and instituted the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

     In the late 19^th century after the First Vatican Council the illustrious Pope Leo XIII wrote more than ten encyclicals and instructions promoting the use of the Rosary.

     To make pastoral applications of the Marian teachings of the Second Vatican Council Pope Paul VI in 1974 authored the apostolic exhortation Devotion to Mary (Marialis Cultus).  Paul VI discussed the Rosary at some length as a summary of the Gospel comprised of prayers based on Gospel texts.  He urged the faithful to pray the Rosary, and especially recommended the family Rosary in these words:

           “We would like now to join our voice to the voices of our      predecessors and strongly recommend the prayer of the Rosary in    the family…because the Christian family is a family church….If the family neglected this communal prayer, it would lose its character as a Christian family.”

          “In addition to the prayer of the Liturgy of the    Hours …the      Rosary of the Virgin Mary would be the most preferable  communal prayer for the Christian family.”

Pope Paul VI concluded his recommendation by saying: “We would like to repeat that the Rosary is an excellent and magnificent prayer….”

      Pope John Paul II, enthusiastic devotee of our Blessed Mother, in 2002 issued a pastoral letter entitled The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, in which he proclaimed October 2002 until October 2003 the Year of the Rosary, and put forth the Luminous Mysteries based on the public life of Jesus. 

     Our present Holy Father, Benedict XVI, values the prayer of the Rosary as a means of contemplating Jesus with Mary’s eyes.  For him pondering the mysteries of the Rosary calms a “restless spirit,” allows the soul to settle into tranquility…and grants a vision of God.”  He associates the Rosary with consolation and healing, an inner refuge which enfolds us “in the rhythm of the prayer of the whole Church.”  “I do it quite simply,” he said, “just as my parents used to pray.”

The Rosary Today

     While some Eastern Christians erroneously consider the Rosary foreign to Eastern spirituality, quite the opposite is the reality.  The Rosary is a prayer for all peoples and for all seasons.

     Early on, the Rosary was a common method of prayer in the East among Christians and non-Christians.  Even though it came to us through Western missionaries, it was and still is an easy and rich method of prayer to help the faithful fathom the mysteries of God along the journey of salvation.  And we do so with a special companion, the Mother of God and our Mother.  Praying the Rosary, particularly in the family, is an excellent method of bringing us together in the faith under the protection of her who always and everywhere intercedes for all people.  Let us spare no effort to remain close to her.

Rosary Miracle at Hiroshima

Shared by Loci Lenar and Matthew. Just click their names to read their posts.

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My mother taught us about the miracle at Nagasaki. I was not familiar with this story.

Updated: Also see message left by Loci:

Thank you very much for sharing the links to the Rosary Miracle at Hiroshima. There is a documentary trailer regarding the events of August 6, 1945 and can be seen on my website here

The video gives an account of the miraculous survival of Father Hubert Schiffer and other Jesuit missionaries from the atomic explosion on Hiroshima, Japan.

Thanks Loci!

A Powerful Weapon Against Evil

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...Since human ills are caused by unbelief, selfishness, immorality, and revolt against God, a spiritual weapon is needed. That weapon is the Rosary, a very powerful, armor against hell. The American Catholic can confidently say of the Rosary what David said of the sword of Goliath: "There is no sword like it. Give it me." (1 Kings, 21:9)

Because Mary has promises that through the Rosary sinners will be converted and the just will grow in grace, devout Catholics should recite the Rosary for the conversion of sinners who draw down the punishment of God and the scourge of war. St. Charles Borromeo, used to say, during his holy war against heresy, "I rely almost entirely upon the Rosary for he conversion and sanctification of my people..."

- The Rosary Crusade by a Dominican Father, published the the National Headquarters Holy Name Society, 1943

My Rosary

My friend Philip gave me a prayer card with this lovely poem on it. I thought I would share it with you.

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

Pope Leo XIII personally started the practice of devoting October to the Rosary devotion. In a letter of September 1, 1883, mindful of the Rosary's power to strengthen faith and foster a life of virtue, he outlined the triumphs of the Rosary in past times and admonished the faithful to dedicate the month of October to the blessed Virgin through the daily recitation of her Rosary in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, in order to obtain through her intercession the grace that God would console and defend His Church in her sufferings.

Queen of the most holy Rosary, pray for us.
Indulgence of 300 days.

Source: The Prayer Book, Catholic Press

October - Month of the Holy Rosary

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

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Free Rosary Book

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Courageous Priest has graciously offered St. Robert Bellermine's Book on the Holy Rosary online. You can find the e-book With This Weapon!
The Hidden Secrets of the Rosary"

Mahalo John!

How to Avoid Distraction During the Rosary

La Virgen del Rosario José Campeche y Jordán (San Juan, PR. 1751- 1809)

c. 1776- 1779

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1) Put yourself in the presence of God and imagine that God and his Blessed Mother are watching you.

2) Imagine that your guardian angel is at your right hand, taking your Hail Marys, if they are well said, and using them like roses to make crowns for Jesus and Mary.

3) Remember that at your left hand is the devil, ready to pounce on every Hail Mary that comes his way and to write it down in his book of death, if they are not said with attention, devotion, and reverence.

4) Do not fail to offer up each decade in honor of one of the mysteries, and try to form a picture in your mind of Jesus and Mary in connection with that mystery.

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The Rosary

BLESSINGS OF THE ROSARY

1. Sinners are forgiven.
2. Souls that thirst are refreshed.
3. Those who are fettered have their bonds broken.
4. Those who weep find happiness
5. Those who are tempted find peace.
6. The poor find help.
7. Religious are reformed.
8. Those who are ignorant are instructed.
9. The living learn to overcome pride.
10. The dead (the Holy Souls) have their pains eased by suffrages.

BENIFITS OF THE ROSARY

1. It gradually gives us a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ.
2. It purifies our souls, washing away sin.
3. It gives us victory over all our enemies.
4. It makes it easy for us to practice virtue.
5. It sets us on fire with love of Our Lord.
6. It enriches us with graces and merits.
7. It supplies us with what is needed to pay all our debts to God and to our fellow men;
and finally, it obtains all kinds of graces for us from Almighty God

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