There is no hard and fast rule. One set once a day is a fine way to grow spiritually.

I know people who rarely say it. Nor are they any less devout for it.

That would depend on the person and what their other prayer activities are. Let the Holy Spirit lead you.

Yeah... I agree with you knowing God is not a fast as you think.. which is the spiritual growth... You need to take one step at a time to make sure that you are in the right path

St. Louis de Montfort would exhort every single person to devoutly pray 15 decades every day (I don't know what he would say with the extra 5 decades that we have). I highly suggest his book "The Secret of the Rosary." http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Rosary-Lou ... 502&sr=8-1

I want to share this different meditative method in praying the rosary that I learned.

One of the most common (and productive) ways to pray the rosary is to meditate on the virtues displayed by our Lord or our Blessed Mother in each of the mysteries (Humility for the Annunciation, Charity towards neighbor for the Visitation, etc.). I am sure that most people are aware of this and hopefully utilize it. However, a similar method but essentially different is to meditate on your sins of the opposing vice or failure of the specific virtue in each mystery. Meditating on one's sinfullness and being sorrowful is definately recommended by every saint that I have ever read. I think it is even more effacacious when doing in the midst of the Holy Rosary when you are praying the Our Father and Angelic Salutation. I will give a few examples for each mystery but let the Holy Spirit guide you.

Joyful Mysteries
1. Incarnation - Our pride in general, specific acts of vanity, the vanity of everything in the world
2. Visitation - Our lack of charity towards our neighbor
3. Nativity - Our attachment to wordly things, Our love of riches and material goods, Our attachment to spiritual consolations and aversion to dryness in prayer
4. Presentation - Our disobedience to God and lawful superiors, Our lack of purity in mind, body, and soul, Our refusal to allow the sword of love to pierce our soul
5. Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple - Our lack of wisdom, Our lack of joy in God, Our laziness in prayer and spiritual exercises (seeking God)

Luminous Mysteries
1. Baptism of the Lord - Our unfaithfulness to our baptismal promises, Our lack of gratitude for being baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
2. Wedding at Cana - Our lack of trust in the Mother of God, Our unwillingness to do "whatever he [Jesus] teels us to do."
3. Proclamation of the Kingdom - Our refusal to repent of our venial sins and imperfections (possibly mortal sins), Our distaste and lukewarmness in doing penance
4. Transfiguration - Our nothingness, Our refusal to "listen to Him [Christ]," Our negligence in doing everything for the glory of God
5. Institution of the Eucharist - Our lack of attention at Mass and during prayer, Our negligence in disposing ourselves to receive Holy Communion to the best of our ability, Our unwillingness to die to ourselves when we receive the Lord

Sorrowful Mysteries
1. Agony in the Garden - Our lack of contrition for our sins, Our unwillingess to suffer for others, Our constant betryals of Christ
2. Scourging at the Pillar - Our unwillingness to mortify our senses, Our avoidance of suffering physical pain for God
3. Crowning with Thorns - Our unwillingess to wear the crown of thorns in this life, Our lack of courage, Our lack on contempt for the world
4. Carrying of the Cross - Our refusal to carry our daily cross, Our despair when we fall down
5. Crucifixtion - Our unwillingness to forgive our enemies, Our neglect of Mary as our Mother, Our constant abandoning of Christ on the cross, Our lack of perservernce in virtue

Glorious Mysteries
1. Resurrection - Our lack of faith in God, Our lack of faith in God's messangers and ministers, our fears
2. Ascension - Our lack of hope, Our times of despair, Our lack of missionary zeal, Our lack preparedness for the Glorious Second Coming
3. Descent of the Holy Spirit - Our rejection of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Our lack of praying, Our fearfullness in proclaiming the gospel
4. Assumption of Mary - Our pending physical death
5. Coronation - Our negligence in imitating the virtues of the Queen of Heaven

The Fatima Prayer is presumably originally in Portuguese, not Latin (indeed, when I looked, I found multiple Latin versions), so I think lbt is onto something.

I don't normally see people making the sign of the cross at the Glory Be. I, too, did this at first, then noticed nobody else was. In the Divine Office, one bows (at the waist) at the Glory Be. At my parish, during the rosary in honor of OL of Fatima, people stand up and bow for the Glory Be.

My husband and I pray the rosary together after dinner. We keep a prayer journal and write down all the intentions we have for the day and also record answered prayers. We offer each decade specifically for one of our five children and their families and the entire rosary in general for all the intentions in our journal.

A priest once told us, "If you pray one rosary you get the graces of that one rosary, but if you belong to the Legion of Mary you get the graces of all the rosaries prayed by Legionaries all over the world." That was enough to encourage my husband and me to join the Legion as auxiliaries. We pray the prayers of the Tessera (the legion pamphlet with special prayers) as we say our rosary. It might add three minutes to the rosary and includes the Magnificat and other specific Legion prayers. It's a great way to end the day.

Mary Ann

Mostly the Rosary is used as a petitionary prayer, offered up for certain intentions.

Would it be a good idea to pray a Thanksgiving Rosary occasionally?

Certainly a thanksgiving Rosary is appropriate.

The Rosary is a very versatile prayer. When one becomes more advanced in the meditation on the mysteries it enhances one's prayer life and opens the spirit to many graces.

The Rosary has the potential of bringing one from the beginnings of prayer to the heights of contemplation.

Depending on what you mean by "petitionary," I don't think that is correct. Praise and thanksgiving are also apart of the devotion for certain. Everytime you pray the Angelic Salutation you are in essence praising the Virgin Mary for the grace that God bestowed upon her. Also, thanksgiving for the grace to pray should always be apart of our prayers.

'Petitionary' in the sense of 'offered up for certain intentions'.

is there anything wrong with cutting down the 10 Hail Mary's in each decade to, say, 3 or 4?

No, but it wouldn't be praying the Dominican Rosary, so you can't get the indulgences connected with it.

That's a really great idea, CCB, and very helpful. Since I'm new to the rosary and don't pray it too often (which I think I'm going to change), I sometimes have trouble keeping track of the rosary prayers while trying to remember and then think about the various mysteries. This way of doing it is especially useful for getting the hang of it while I'm still learning. Thanks a lot.

I have trouble keeping track sometimes, too. If I'm losing count of how many prayers/decades I've prayed, it's often because I'm anxious, stressed out, or otherwise distracted. An audio CD of the rosary, or praying it out loud with someone else, helps immensely. As does a quick prayer to my guardian angel (who, if I unintentionally miss a few prayers or fall asleep while praying, will finish the rosary for me... or so I've been told).

If it's the mysteries I'm having trouble remembering, I use a pamphlet with pictures to remind me what I should be focused on each step of the way.

Although the pamphlet might not be such a good idea while you're riding a bike...

God bless,
--Amy

I still need the little booklet because I can't seem to remember the prayers either.

Sometimes I don't have the booklet handy so I'll just say the three prayers I know... Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be and I just skip the others because I can't remember them. Is doing that still considered praying the rosary or do the other prayers need to be said as well?

When I say I don't have the booklet handy, I mean when I'm in a position where I'm unable to read the booklet like if I'm in the dentist chair or while driving in the car.

Lisa

All of you who are dedicated to the rosary, I'd love to enlist you all into the Rosary Patrol, we have seen conversion, healing, growth, it's a prayer from heaven for our benfit. I also believe that all forms of devotion are good.

What's the Rosary Patrol? I pray the rosary every day.

Thank you for that link. I just downloaded it.
I also enjoyed reading about your experience with the Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine.



Thanks for the links- I bookmarked them.


I was going to ask about the rosary and then saw this thread. It answered some of my questions. I have trouble thinking of the mysteries. I love to repeat the Hail Mary's the most. But I want to start praying it meditating on the proper mystery of that day of the week. I downloaded the one in the link above and that seems like it will be a very good teaching tool until I am able to do it on my own. Seems kind of weird to sit in front of the computer to do the rosary, but it really seems helpful. Do you think Mary will understand the added technology of the computer being incorporated into the rosary while we are learning? What are some good books for learning the rosary?

The rosary is on tv right now. I sometimes leave EWTN on in the background when I am doing things like the computer, reading a magazine, or whatever. I am not saying it myself right now, but I like hearing it in the background.

You might try taking a particular piece of the mystery and dwelling upon that as you say the prayers. For instance in the Visitation, I always see Elizabeth come flying out of the house, arms outstretched ready to envelop Mary, a look of such joy on her face at the sight of her cousin.

Some day I want to put together my own rosary book, with particular verses and pictures and insights.

But you might find this helpful:

http://www.montfort.org.uk/Writings/MSR.html