What is the Rosary?

I can’t wait to talk about what the rosary is. It took me a while to figure out and I have several rosaries that are circling in my purse and pockets. I have found not to be too attached to one rosary because sooner or later someone will cross my path who will want or need a rosary.

The next question in my series of “W” is what is the rosary? Or better yet what is a rosary? It makes perfect sense not to know. I didn’t know most of my life and didn’t care to know quite honestly. Growing up, the rosary to me was a religious necklace with plastic beads that my grandma had in abundance. I noticed she’d hold the necklace and rock in her little rocking chair, back and forth and just thought it was one of her many cute Grandmotherly attributes: folkloric religion with rosaries in abundance, knitting, good soups, and the overall smell of food and Nivea cream when I hugged her. It was part of my idea of my granny. She never told me why she prayed the rosary and I never bothered asking. Little did I know my sweet granny was holding the weapon of prayer in her hand where Mother Mary is taking down serpents and wearing combat boots in spiritual battle…

Eve, mother of the living, tempted by the snake, with the fruit of sin which centers on self. Mother Mary, Mother of God, kills the snake by stepping on it's head, with the fruit of her womb she gives to us: Jesus who gives to us to give to others in selflessness. 

Mother Mary warrior

Granny: talking to Mary, mother, warrior, advocate and friend.

All this time I had no idea... I simply thought she was busy being a cute little granny...

I thought the rosary for was another time of long past when people didn't have internet to distract them.

When I converted to Catholicism in 2008 my conversion was a process over a few years. 

Something like this...

I took my Catechism class in 2009 in Baltimore where they didn’t mention the rosary so it remained a grandmotherly religious tool for me. When are you going to say what the rosary is? I am getting there…but it took me a while, to say: it is normal for it be a process to learn, grow with and love. I wasn't born in a Catholic family or knew how to pray a rosary and I am still learning, one rosary at a time. On a trip to Lourdes, France in 2009 I visited a huge cathedral and noticed many tourist shops selling mountains of rosaries. I found a good solid one and bought it, bathed it in the miraculous water at Lourdes thinking placidly “Might as well” and that  is where my love with the rosary took seed in an arid little garden of my heart. I tucked the rosary in my pocket and used it for the first time on my very turbulent flight home to America where I simply clung onto it in terror of the plane crashing. I didn’t know how to pray a Hail Mary but just thought of Mother Mary with me in my hand as the plane lurched around in the sky.

Over the course of the next few years I learned the basics of what the rosary is, but it remained a general religious archaic tradition for me.

The rosary is as simply as it can be: A chain or thin rope with a cross and 5 beads at the bottom, on the full loop there are five beads that are in between rows of 10 beads. Huh. Well, what’s special about that? Oh, so very much is hidden in those beads that were given to us by Mary herself.

Rosary. This one has a clasp in the middle but most don't.

A little bit of better explanation would be:

The cross is one prayer to open the rosary, the first of the five beads is an Our Father prayer, the next three are prayers for an increase in Faith, Hope and Love, the last of the first five beads is again an Our Father prayer where you announce the first mystery of the New Testament to contemplate and meditate while you pray through the first decade of ten beads till you get to the end and announce the second mystery. There are 4 categories of mysteries with 5 mysteries within each, equaling a total of 20. They are all mediations on the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus = the Gospel in a nutshell. Images to reflect on while you pray and think about them.

The best explanation I have is:

The rosary is a mysterious prayer given to us by the most powerful woman that lives and the Queen of the Universe (including animals and planets) who loves us so very much. She wants us to pray this daily, with a light joyful spirit, and talk to her from our heart as we pray and think about the mysteries. Any distractions that come up she invites us to raise it in prayer. Mary loves it when we pray from our heart but understands that it can be difficult to pray the rosary because of our interest, and especially spiritual distractions. 

The devil hates Mary, hates you and hates the rosary so will throw distractions, discouragement and strange obstacles in your way. Mary knows this and knows that there is no perfect person to pray the rosary and wants us to just try and do our best. Mary is with us when we pray and she is so happy to share with us her joy in each meditation. Furthermore, when we pray the Rosary, things that come up are either distractions or invitations to dive deeper. 

If there are strong sudden distractions, take a moment and look to see why. Fine example: I twisted my ankle as I walked and prayed this morning (obstacle and temptation to quit). Or another example: a thought floats up out of nowhere on my willingness or not to have an open heart. Both good moments to pause and see where this is going and the relation to the mystery you trying to meditate. Mary, is our Mother, and showers us with her sweet and strong maternal love when we pray. 

By the time you are done praying the rosary, if you have meditated on the mysteries and let your distractions bake into your prayer, like cinnamon into a vanilla cake, it all comes out better than plowing through it like an auctioneer. Remember, Mary is a person, and no one likes being talked to without attention or purpose. Let her know what is going on and ask for an increase in virtues. Faith, hope and charity. Pick one, pick something you see while you pray to connect with your prayer. Praying the rosary is saying yes to participate in miracles that you might or might not get to see.

Fast forward to 2016 and my relationship with the Rosary evolved into a daily conversation with Mary. I began to see her maternity for the world and how she truly is the perfect mother and disciple of Christ. Mary, born without original sin, teaches us through her rosary how to love Christ. Well, can’t you just love Him? Absolutely you can! But Mary loved Him perfectly and followed the divine will of God in her life perfectly. She teaches us, through meditating the mysteries in the rosary how to say “Yes” to the will of God the father. She also helps us heal from family wounds by giving us herself and her beloved Son, Jesus and God the Father as our true and eternal family. Childhood wounds, family wounds, trauma and anxiety are all welcome at the open arms of Mother Mary who wants to show us her compassion, comfort and door through Jesus to live fully in Christ without being burdened down or hurt by wounds. The Rosary brings healing and healings are little miracles.