The Holy Rosary or Rosary, is a traditional Catholic prayer that had its origin in Marian devotion, in addition, it is a prayer highly promoted by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. In fact, the holy rosary it is like a crown of roses (hence its name: rosarium) offered to the Virgin Mary. However, we must know that Mary is not the object of our prayer, but the one who guides us towards her son, through the meditation of the mysteries (which are the episodes of the life of Jesus). In other words, through this prayer, Catholics contemplate the mystery of Jesus’ life as they entrust his intentions to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“The Rosary is my favorite prayer. A wonderful prayer in its simplicity and in its depth. Reciting the Rosary, in fact, is actually contemplating with Mary the face of Christ”. (Saint John Paul II)
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What is the prayer of the rosary and what does it allow us?
It is a prayer that is prayed meditating on the mysteries about the life of Our Lord Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Previously only three series of mysteries were meditated on: Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious (also known as Psalter of Mary), but in 2002, Pope John Paul II introduced another series of mysteries called the luminous mysteries.
To tell the truth, the rosary allows us to recapitulate major events in the life of Christ (called mysteries) and welcome them into our hearts, as his holy mother Mary did. By allowing ourselves to be penetrated by them, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, we are asking the Lord to allow the fruits of these mysteries to flourish in us. Therefore, this prayer is a mixture of prayer (recitation of prayers) and meditation (contemplation of the mysteries).
In addition to the meditated Rosary, it is possible to include a particular intention to pray the rosary, that is, we can do a rosary for peace, a rosary for the souls in purgatory, a rosary for vocationsetc.
How to pray the Rosary?
Method to pray the Rosary
This prayer is prayed using a “rosary beads”, that is, an instrument (which bears the same name) generally in the form of a necklace, which is made up of a series of beads or pearls. The original rosary has 5 tens (5 series of 10 beads separated by a pearl of different size) and an end composed of 5 beads and a cross. Each bead (or pearl) corresponds to a prayer that must be prayed: it begins with the cross and then goes through the rest of the rosary until it is completed, as follows:
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While holding the cross, make the sign of the cross and pray the Creed.
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As you go through the 5 beads (pearls) at the end, pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and 1 Glory be to the Father.
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In each decade, pray 1 Our father10 Hail Marys and 1 Glory to the Father.
To conclude each decade, in addition to the Glory be to the Father, we can pray the Fatima prayer: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of your mercy.”
How to meditate a mystery?
At the beginning of each decade, it is necessary to announce the mystery on which it meditates, since this allows us to immerse ourselves in it. For this, we can contemplate an image that represents him or read a passage from the Gospel that is related to the mystery that is meditated on, we can also simply imagine Jesus living this event. In fact, while praying the 10 Hail Marys, we immerse ourselves in this mystery; the repetition of the Hail Marys helps us to keep the mind in that state of meditative prayer, if we pray them slowly.
We must take into account setting aside time for meditation. It is better to pray fewer mysteries, but to have had time to meditate on them well in order to reap the fruits.
Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima. Pray the Holy Rosary ❣️
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When to recite the rosary?
Although we can, of course, pray the Rosary whenever we want, we will not always have time to pray it in its entirety, since it is a long prayer, although very beautiful. In fact, there are two ways to pray a Rosary:
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we can pray the full rosary, meditating on the 4 categories of mysteries, that is, 20 mysteries in total (5 Joyful Mysteries, 5 Luminous Mysteries, 5 Sorrowful Mysteries and 5 Glorious Mysteries)
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Otherwise, it is also possible pray only the 5 mysteries of the daythat is, a single category of mysteries.
To be clearer, each category of mysteries corresponds to different days of the week, as follows:
This is a distribution that can help us to enter into a regular practice of the Rosary; the regularity of the meditations on a mystery allows us to nourish ourselves more and more with it. We are never done with a mystery! We can also let the Holy Spirit guide us to choose the mysteries that we are going to meditate on.
The month of October is traditionally the month of the rosary. In fact, we celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7.
offers you a detailed description of the mysteries of the Rosary and its fruits. You can consult this information by clicking here.
Why pray the Rosary?
A prayer to learn to contemplate Christ and walk towards holiness
“The Rosary is the prayer that always accompanies my life, it is also the prayer of the simple and of the saints… it is the prayer of my heart”. (Pope Francisco)
“There he was transfigured in their presence: his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.” (Matthew 17:2)
The evangelical episode of the transfiguration of Christ, in which the three apostles Peter, James and John seem to be enchanted by the beauty of the Redeemer, can be considered an icon of Christian contemplation. It is the duty of every disciple of Christ to fix his eyes on the face of Christ, to recognize the mystery of his face in the ordinary and painful journey of his humanity, until he perceives the divine splendor, which was evidently manifested in the Risen One glorified to the right hand of the Father; therefore, this is also our duty. Contemplating this face, we prepare ourselves to welcome the mystery of the Trinitarian life, to always experience anew the love of the Father and to enjoy the joy of the Holy Spirit. In this way the words of Saint Paul become reality in us: (John Paul II)
“The Rosary allows us to contemplate the life of Christ and the most important moments related to the life of his Mother. It is a wonderful family album that moves from joy to suffering and ends with a dazzling light: the Resurrection.” (Father Guy Gilbert)
A prayer that brings peace
“To say peace in the human and Christian sense means the penetration into the souls of that sense of truth, of justice, of perfect brotherhood among peoples, which dissipates all danger of discord, of confusion, that harmonizes the will of each and every one on the traces of evangelical doctrine, through the contemplation of the mysteries of Jesus and Mary, converted into something familiar to universal devotion; on the effort of each soul, of all souls, towards the perfect practice of the holy law, which, regulating the secrets of the heart, rectify the actions of each towards the fulfillment of Christian peace, the delight of human living, the anticipated pleasure of imperishable and eternal joys.” (John XXIII)
“If you want peace to reign in your families and in your homeland, pray the Rosary every day with everyone at home: the Rosary is the perfect summary of the Gospel and gives peace to all who recite it… Love the Rosary , pray it every day.” (Saint Pius X)
Other prayers of the Rosary
Although it is true that through traditional rosary the mysteries of Christ and the Virgin Mary are meditated, there are also other ways of praying it. In fact, there are prayers of the Rosary that have very specific intentions. Those special forms of Rosary, which are very particular, are known as “coronillas”. The difference between the chaplets and the traditional Rosary lies in the fact that the crowns have a particular devotion or intention. The above, because El Rosario has been very popular for several centuries and this has led to the diversification of its forms. For this reason we can, for example:
Finally, we must know that being a particular form of the Holy Rosary, sometimes, Many people call the crowns Rosario, which are, in simple terms, a type or category of Rosary. This practice has become popular and currently there is almost no difference between one term and the other. In summary, we make the caveat and say that a chaplet is a “special” Rosary that carries a specific devotion or intention.
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