So true! And I remember a priest saying that the Rosary can take one to the heights of prayer if they cooperate with the Holy Spirit in their meditation of the mysteries.

I've started praying the rosary more regularly and I am benefiting greatly from it. I am curious about one thing I struggle with: how do I focus on the mystery I am meditating while also praying a Hail Mary? I often get hung up doing one at the expense of the other, though I find easier or harder depending on the mystery.

Blame it on ADD. Blame it on the rain. Blame it on the stars that shine at night.
;D

Just wondering if any of you had/understood this difficulty and had any advice. Thanks all!

In various types of prayer one can find difficulty. Rather, it is the struggle we all encounter in prayer.

When praying the Rosary I like to picture myself as though holding Our Blessed Mother's hand as I picture or think of the mystery. She knew Him so well! I can go in and out of pondering the mystery and then back again to being at her side. Every personality is different and there are different ways in which one meditates.

I, personally, very much like the Scriptural Rosary (a line of scripture before each Hail Mary.) It helps me to focus. It can be prayed alone, or in a small community.

I do my best to focus and not to get upset if my mind wanders; I just bring it back to where it should be.

You can use a clause for the mystery in the Hail Mary. For example, consider the second luminous mystery:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus, who revealed Himself in the Cana wedding. Holy Mary, ...

YouCat Prayer books has such clauses. Unfortunately, the English version will be available in March.

I think that becomes more natural with experience. It is hard to explain but it somehow....works. A little Rosary prayer book or pamphlet can help you focus on each mystery.

Prayer is communication with God. The Bible actually speaks against repetitive prayer. God just wants you to talk to Him. He wants to have a daily relationship with you. Prayer can be listening to worship music. Reading the Bible. Asking God questions. Meditating on His word. Listening in Silence. Journaling. There is no right or wrong way to pray. But it seems you are more focused on the "doing" and forgetting why and what praying really is.

The Bible speaks against vain repetitive prayer, not against prayers with repetitions. I would hardly think that the prayers of the Rosary would be in vain when prayed with heartfelt earnest.

How do you feel about praying the Our Father?

If you say there is no right or wrong way to pray, then what is the point of your post?

You're absolutely right, Siggy.

In fact, scientific studies of the human brain supports the "mechanics" (for lack of a better word) of praying the Rosary. The meditation on the mysteries (a right-brain function) is actually aided AND ENHANCED by the recitation (disparagers would include the word "rote") of the Our Fathers, the Hail Marys and the Fatima prayers (a left-brain function). The prayer recitation engages the left side of the brain and keeps it from distracting the right side by overwhelming the brain with distracting thoughts.

In other words, Catholics and secular science understand the effectiveness of praying the Rosary (albeit for completely different reasons). It's just the Protestants who aren't on board.

Actually it doesn't even do that....the words translated 'vain repetition' in the KJV are more accurately translated as 'rambling' or 'babbling'....he is actually speaking against endless, directionless prayers that go on forever and never actually say anything....the 'pagans' he is condemning are the ones who would start a prayer by naming about a zillion different gods in the hopes that maybe one of them would listen...pointless, rambling, not really saying anything, just really wasting God's time with idiocy...that what's he's condemning...and that is what most spontaneous prayer is....

I defer to Doom's much better explanation of vain repetitions.

You do realize that the Scriptures tell us that Christ repeated a prayer on the night he was betrayed don't you? I hope you know your Scripture well enough to know that. Scripture actually says 'VAIN' prayer. Who says that Catholics do not talk to God? Who says we dont' have a realtionship with God? Prayer is not listening to worship music, that's just listening to music, it's passive. Prayer is active. Now, if you said prayer is SINGING worship music, I would agree with you. Reading the Bible is passive. Not prayer. Now if you were to say Praying the Bible, I would agree with you. Asking God questions is the same as talking to God, so I ask again, who says we do not? Meditation on his word...covered in praying the Scriptures, (which we do by the way). Listening in silence, same as praying the Scriptures. Journaling? Nope. Not prayer, sorry. There are no right or wrong ways to pray? I beg to differ, since you know your Scriptures so well, tell me what Christ says about how the Pharisees pray? Who says we are more focused on the 'doing'? Who says we are forgetting why and what praying really is? Tell me what you know about "Lectio Divina"?

Oops, I defer to Doom on the "VAIN" prayer.

Also, doesn't anyone recognize the irony in Jesus (allegedly) condemning repetitive prayer, even while GIVING the disciples a repetitive prayer to recite? Obviously, it can't be repetition that is the issue.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2

What is prayer? Prayer is simply our way of communicating with God. It is difficult to have a strong relationship with Him if we do not communicate with Him. Communication Builds Relationships.  We can’t have a relationship with people in our lives if we do not take the time to talk and listen to them. The same goes for our God; we must talk and listen to Him as well. You might be thinking, “How can I talk and listen to someone who is not physically here?” The truth is God is here, and He does speak and listen. We just need to take the time to pray and listen. He speaks through The Word (the Bible). He also speaks through the soft voice in your head, the Holy Spirit.  A lot of us hear Him speak, but fail to GOdotDO. This is the challenge of the Christian life. It is so easy for us to listen to our own voice and ignore His. This is the reason prayer is such an important part of our everyday lives. It invites God to speak into our heart and mind. So let’s talk about how to pray.

Do you ever wonder if you are “praying right?” There is not a such thing as a right or wrong prayer. Listen to this…

“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” Isaiah 65:24

How awesome is that! God knows what you are praying before you are even finished praying it. Before you are done, He has already started working. There really is not a right or wrong way to pray, but there are more effective ways than others. If the point is to communicate with our Father who knows what we are about to say, how should we go about praying? Jesus actually tells us how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13, The Lord’s Prayer…

“This, then, is how you should pray:  “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Most likely you have heard and recited this prayer before. But do you actually know what it means? Jesus just didn’t share this prayer for us to recite it. With this prayer, He actually laid out an outline for us to follow with all of our prayers. If you breakdown the Lord’s Prayer, you are left with three basic actions:

DECLARE God’S GREATNESS. Putting yourself in perspective to Him.  Humbling yourself before Him. Realizing you are part of His story, not the other way around. He is Big, you are small.

SURRENDER YOUR WILL. Ask God for His will to be done in your life. This is saying no matter what you want, you are TRUSTING Him to do what He wants, when He wants.

ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR DEPENDENCE. This is where you need to ask for forgives for your sins and your failures. This is where you admit you can’t live the Christian life without His help. This is where you need Him to help you flee from the temptations in your life.

It does not have to be pretty. It does not have to be long. He just wants you to invite Him into your life and your decisions. Regardless of His answers, isn’t it amazing that He always hears you and goes to work before you are  even finished praying? If we want our relationship to grow stronger with God, we must pray more. Take a few minutes and talk to God and listen to what He has to say.

GO.DO.

Heavenly Father, We would like to thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your story. Thank you for sending your Son down to earth so He could show us the pathway to you. Father, we ask that you place us on your path and that your will is done. Our way never works out Lord. We ask that you forgive us for our sins and all the people we have hurt in the process. Please help keep us free from temptation and show us the way out. Father, allow our hands and feet to be yours today. We love You. Amen

Evidently you know better than any theologian or Church father who has ever lived. Your ego preceeds you. Congratulations.

I don't think anyone here would argue that you have not said some wonderful things in your post.

However, your post shows to me that you have not read or just didn't care about what everyone else has written.

That is because it is not a post written in reply to anything in this thread. It is spam.

http://www.godotdo.org/2012/12/09/praye ... the-point/

and if you go to the home page of the site, you can be treated to cee lo green's version of one of our favorite songs "Mary did you know"

Pope Paul VI in his apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus has pointed out the importance that the Rosary should not be a body without a soul if the Rosary is without contemplation. He mentioned the danger of a mechanical repetition:

47. There has also been felt with greater urgency the need to point out once more the importance of a further essential element in the Rosary, in addition to the value of the elements of praise and petition, namely the element of contemplation. Without this the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation is in danger of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas and of going counter to the warning of Christ: "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words" (Mt. 6:7). By its nature the recitation of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord. In this way the unfathomable riches of these mysteries are unfolded.

Pope John Paul II also pointed out the same in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, paragraph 12.

Not spam. As I wrote that.