Rosary Basics

Are you seeking the meaning of life?  Seeking truth, goodness, beauty?  Seeking God?

The good news is that the infinite, transcendent Being who created you and the entire universe and who directs all things to their destiny, actually became a man, Jesus Christ, at a specific point in human history, in order to reveal to us the heart of God.  He gave Himself up to death for love of us and of God the Father, and rose from the dead in order to send us the Holy Spirit to free us from our wounded condition and enable us to share in His own Divine Life—both initially here on this earth, and in utter fullness with God in the life to come.

Praying the Rosary transforms our minds and purifies the eyes of our hearts to see more clearly the path forward to living the ultimate truth, goodness, and beauty.

If you are caught in the darkness and destructiveness of sin, of lust, of evil, of empty searching in the pleasure, popularity, and power of the secular world, PRAY THE ROSARY!  The Rosary is a very powerful spiritual weapon for freedom, truth, goodness, beauty, everything that is pure, honorable, and worthy of true praise.  Even if you seem very far from the light, even if a good part of you still wants to hold on to the sins that have you in their grasp, PRAY THE ROSARY!  Even if you only pray one Hail Mary, or one decade of the Rosary each day, this will be the first beginning of opening yourself up to the light.  By the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the power of God, your full freedom will come.

Maybe you are on the road of a deeper conversion, returning to the practice of the Faith, returning to the Sacraments, and struggling to leave behind the mindset of the secular world.  PRAY THE ROSARY!  By persevering in prayer and begging Our Lady to help you, saying the Rosary and meditating on the mysteries of Christ, you will be “transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom. 12:2) and be more and more freed from the thinking of the world and conformed to Christ.

All followers of Christ are among those mentioned in the Book of Revelation: “Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus” (Rev. 12:17).  In order to stand strong in the spiritual warfare of this world, we must “put on the whole armor of God” and “pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Eph. 6:11, 18).

The Rosary is a powerful, Scriptural way of prayer and supplication in the Spirit.  The events in the life of Christ are drawn from the Bible and the beliefs of the early Christians, and follow the pattern St. Paul tells us to ponder in Philippians:

Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men [Joyful Mysteries].  And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross [Sorrowful Mysteries].  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father [Glorious Mysteries].  (Phil. 2:5-11)

The Lord’s Prayer is straight from the Gospel, and the first part of the Hail Mary is composed of the words addressed to the her by the angel Gabriel and by Elizabeth (see Luke 1:28, 42).  (The original form of the Hail Mary was called the Angelic Salutation and contained only these first two parts.  Feel free to pray this shorter form if you wish.)

Wait, you may be thinking: didn’t Jesus condemn repetitious prayer?  In Matthew 6:7, Jesus instructs his disciples, “In praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words.”  He is not condemning rote prayer, however, for in His very next words He teaches the Our Father (the Lord’s Prayer).  You can think of the Rosary as a repeated word of praise, like the constant refrain of Psalm 136, “For His mercy endures forever!”, or like the continual prayer of the four living creatures in the book of Revelation, who sing day and night, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Rev. 4:8).

By praying the Rosary, we imitate Mary, Jesus’ mother, who “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19).  It also fulfills her own prophecy in Scripture: “All generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48).  The Rosary is like a song of love to Christ.  In the words of St. Paul:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3:16-17)

This goes without saying, right?  If you are practicing your Catholic Faith, attending Mass on Sundays and going to Confession at least once a year, why not pray the Rosary?  Everyone knows the Rosary is Catholic!  Many people, however, are unaware of and have never experienced the riches it can contain.  As one woman said to us recently, a convert of 25 years, “I am praying the Rosary more frequently now, and missing it less, as it becomes more meaningful to me.”

For hundreds of years, many Popes and saints, not to mention apparitions of Our Lady, have urged Catholics to pray the Rosary for the many spiritual blessings it brings and for its great power of intercession for your own needs and the needs of the world.  (See some inspirational quotes about the Rosary here.)  We encourage you: pray the Rosary!

Maybe you are living a more devout life: attending Mass during the week, making time for prayer each day, reading the Scriptures, studying the Faith, doing works of mercy.  In this case, consider making your daily Rosary a priority time of prayer, not simply squeezed in, such as while on the road.  Entering more deeply into the Rosary will amply repay your more focused devotion.

The family Rosary provides an occasion for a lot of creativity in keeping everyone’s attention on the prayer.  Lighting candles, using holy images, assigning different children to read the meditations or lead the decades, all help in uniting everyone for a time of prayer.  If five decades seem too much to attempt, consider praying one decade, or starting during a special preparatory season such as Advent or Lent.

It is also a beautiful practice to teach children how to pray the Rosary on their own, even simply a decade at a time.  Our Lord has special graces for the hearts of children, and personal experiences of knowing Him as a child can dispose the heart to continue to turn or return to Him later on as well.  Our Lady’s help and intercession is also very powerful.