Praying the Rosary

The other day I told you all I would share how to pray the rosary for those who were interested and didn’t know how. It can be a lot to take in at first but I am going to break it down for you. First why we pray the rosary. The purpose of the Rosary is to help remember certain principal events or mysteries in the history of our salvation, and to thank and praise God for them.

There are twenty mysteries reflected upon in the Rosary, and these are divided into four groups of five:

Joyful Mysteries (on Monday and Saturday)

• The Annunciation: The Archangel Gabriel “announces” to Mary that she shall conceive the Son of God.
• The Visitation: Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist.
• The Nativity: Jesus is born.
• The Presentation: Mary and Joseph “present” Jesus in the Temple where they meet Simeon.
• The Finding in the Temple: After losing Him, Mary and Joseph find young Jesus teaching the Rabbis in the Temple.

Luminous Mysteries (on Thursday)

• The Baptism in the Jordan: The voice of the Father declares Jesus the beloved Son.
• The Wedding at Cana: Christ changes water into wine, his first public miracle.
• The Proclamation of the Kingdom: Jesus calls to conversion (cf. Mk 1:15) and forgives the sins of all who draw near to him.
• The Transfiguration: The glory of the Godhead shines forth from the face of Christ.
• The Institution of the Eucharist: Jesus offers the first Mass at the Last Supper with his apostles, establishing the sacramental foundation for all Christian living.

Sorrowful Mysteries (on Tuesday and Friday)

• The Agony in the Garden: Jesus sweats water and blood while praying the night before his passion.
• The Scourging at the Pillar: Pilate has Jesus whipped.
• The Crowning with Thorns: Roman soldiers crown Jesus’ head with thorns.
• The Carrying of the Cross: Jesus meets His mother and falls three times on the way up Calvary.
• The Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross and dies before His mother and His apostle John.

Glorious Mysteries (on Wednesday and Sunday)

• The Resurrection: Jesus rises from the dead.
• The Ascension: Jesus leaves the Apostles and bodily “ascends” to heaven.
• The Descent of the Holy Spirit: The Apostles receive the Holy Spirit in tongues of fire in the upper room with Mary.
• The Assumption: Mary is taken bodily–assumed–into heaven by God at the end of her life here on earth.
• The Coronation: Mary is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth.

 

A “full Rosary” consists of saying all twenty decades, that is, all four sets of five Mysteries. A “Rosary” consists of praying five decades of one set of Mysteries. I pray a full Rosary by praying four separate Rosaries in the morning, midday, afternoon, and evening rather than all twenty Mysteries at one time which is perfectly acceptable.

You start at the crucifix and then work your way around. I simply lead each bed flow through my fingers as I say my rosary. I have been doing it so long that I can do it while the kids are watching television. You learn to concentrate and focus.  There are particular prayers that you say and I will share them with you as we go through the series.