How does one pray the Rosary?

How is your week going? Well, if it is going good it is about to get better because we are going to discuss the last Rosary question: “How does one pray the Rosary?”

A bright yellow pillow of mums seemed like a good place to have some roses between them!

 This is a perfect post for a perfect fall day with crispy crunchy air, a pumpkin that I am going to cook, and a morning filled with praying the Rosary and watching mockingbirds dance a little territorial dance.

Delicious and nutritious!

I was pondering the answer to “How” one is to pray the Rosary yesterday and was happy to be inspired in two ways: This light-hearted podcast by Kevin Wells featuring Fr. Dan Leary where they talk about the Rosary. My main take away was this, and it’s deep: “When I pray the Rosary I get constantly distracted, but when I watch Gilligan’s Island on TV I’m never distracted. .”- Fr Dan. Which led me to think that we are actually on Gilligan’s Island these days. How different is life from Gilligan’s Island? Remote, isolation, fend for yourselves etc. I guess the answer is to be on Gilligan’s island with your Rosary.

It feels like Mary is off-limits at times when one is starting to pray the Rosary, like you are on Gilligan’s Island and Mary is the boat passing along not seeing our flare signals for help.

Bottom left door, a poor man wasn't allowed in because he had no mask and his jeans were ripped and he was a little smelly. Don't we all smell a little due to sin? Aren't the jeans of our soul ripped? Don't we need a Father to help guard our mouths and minds with our thoughts?

Our Lady of La Vang: off limits

Chapel of Lourdes: off limits.

Clearly you are not allowed in here. Nope, no candles either. I made a U-turn from my favorite chapel. 

Mary isn’t ever ever ever unreachable, doesn’t do social distancing and is her schedule is always open for you.

She holds you when you pray the rosary.

And covers you with her mantle. 

 In fact, your heart becomes a little cathedral of prayer to the risen Lord and that is something that will never close it’s door as long as you keep its doors open. What does your inner cathedral look like? Mine has wild pearls and blooming flowers. Why not? When you pray the Rosary, you are as close to Mary as you can be. She is present with you when you pray.

Mary is with you when you pray, shining the sun on your soul to show you her Son.

The entrance to your inner Cathedral could even be a beautiful inner garden.

So how does one pray the Rosary? The best way to pray the rosary is simple:

1.      Same time every day. Try to be respectful of your prayer time. Something will try to throw you off, but keep at it.

2.      Pray with your heart in conversation with Mary. The repetitions will bring things to your heart that you can offer up in your prayer. It isn’t meant to be monotonous but a flowing conversation from you to Mary and her to you.

3.      If a big thought or something comes to mind, stop and spend time with it then keep praying.

The Mysteries!

These are the mysteries meditated in the rosary. They are prayed at the beginning of each decade. You can pray your way through them all or pray one section per day. 

They are the middle beads separated by groups of 10 beads.

Joyful Mysteries (prayed on Monday and Saturday)

1.      Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive

2.      Mary, pregnant with baby Jesus, visits her pregnant cousin Elizabeth

3.      Mary gives birth to baby Jesus in a manger

4.      Mary and St. Joseph present baby Jesus at the temple to God

5.      Jesus get’s lost. Mary and St. Joseph look for him and find him in the temple.

Luminous Mysteries (prayed on Thursday)

1.      Jesus is baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan River.

2.      Jesus attend the Wedding at Cana and turns water into wine.

3.      Jesus calls for us all to be converted.

4.      Jesus is transfigured and shines like the sun

5.      Jesus performs the miracle of the Eucharist that continues at each mass today

Sorrowful Mysteries (prayed on Tuesday and Friday)

1.      Jesus suffers agony in the garden before being handed over to the Romans.

2.      Jesus is whipped and beaten

3.      Jesus has a crown of thorns pushed violently into His head

4.      Jesus carries His cross amidst people who jeer at Him on His way to die

5.      Jesus is nailed to the cross and dies

Glorious Mysteries (prayed on Sunday and Wednesday)

1.      A blinding beautiful light turns on in a tomb! Jesus arises from the dead! Boom! Roman soldiers fall down unconscious.

2.      Jesus Ascends into heaven

3.      The Holy Spirit comes down to stay with us.

4.      Mary is assumed into heaven

5.      Mary is crowned Queen of heaven

Newbies: If you are brand spanking new to the Rosary I recommend learning by listening to it online, printing the prayers to read them, and also looking at printed images of the mysteries. Pick your favorite mystery. This can change over time. At the moment, my favorite mystery is the baptism of Jesus. I like to think the water glistened in the sunshine as it poured over His head. I am also currently loving the Resurrection of Jesus and thinking of the light just pouring out of the tomb. Death is beat!

Dominican nuns:

Gregorian Chant (my favorite to listen to):

Latin with Pope Benedict XVI. M y cup of tea listening and praying with him. The devil hates Latin prayers so double wammy:

Praying through the senses:

1.      With your eyes: visualize the mysteries of the Rosary as you pray. Go for a walk if you can or sit facing a window. Think about each mystery and where Mary was, where Jesus was and where you are in it.

2.      With your ears: what do you think were the sounds in that mystery? People talking? About what? How do people talk or how is there this noise when you encounter this mystery in your daily life? Wedding at Cana: what did people say when the couple ran out of wine? How did the servants listen to Mary?

3.      Nose: what did it smell like? Cold and ferns in the Garden suffering with Jesus? Warm sunshine when Mary met Elizabeth? Hay and cold night air when baby Jesus was born?

4.      Taste: think of the taste in the moment. They are all very real moments. What did Jesus taste when they put the crown of thorns on Him? Blood. He did it loving us. Do some of our thoughts feel so overwhelming we feel our  blood pressure go up, or feel weak and alone?

5.      Touch: Thinking of what was felt during a mystery is also a way to meditate with it and participate in it.

Lastly, pray the Rosary frequently, daily if you can. Mother Mary asked the children at Fatima to pray it every day. Time in a way stands still when we do. All the busyness that absorbs our attention goes into a balance where the Rosary outweighs it and makes it lighter when we come out of the door of prayer. Pray the Rosary seeing how very normal and how very divine it is. Jesus life as man was incredibly normal and divine, that is what He wants to give us through contemplating His life through the blessed prayer of the Rosary.