The Rosary

A Mother’s Heart

Have you ever paused to consider the Virgin’s heart? Our Lady’s Heart loves passionately. Why is this so? Because She is Mother, what love can be compared to a mother’s love? A mother’s love is the love, which is nearest to God’s Love. And so Our Lord says, “Can a mother forget the child from her womb?” (Is 49:15). As our Mother, she loves us for we are her children. At the foot of the cross, Jesus entrusted us to her: “Here is your Mother (John 19:27).”

Leo XIII’s Encyclicals on Rosary:

  1. Supremi apostolatus.(1883) The rosary and Litany of Loreto recited in churches “for the month of October of this year.”
  2. Superiore anno.(1884). The reception of the previous year’s October devotions warranted their continuation.
  3. Quod auctoritate.(1885). Exhortation to a greater spirit of penance and devotion to the rosary during the upcoming extraordinary jubilee year (the pope’s fiftieth anniversary of ordination).
  4. Vi E Ben Noto.(1887). On the Rosary and Public Life.
  5. Octobri mense.(1891). The power of prayer and the efficacy of the Rosary.
  6. Magnae Dei Matris.(1892). The relation of the rosary to faith and morality.
  7. Laetitiae sanctae.(1893). The social benefits of the Rosary.
  8. Lucunda semper.(1984). The Rosary as witness to Mary’s intercession.
  9. Adiutricem populi.(1895). Mary’s universal motherhood; the Rosary as the way to unity.
  10. Fidentem piumque.(1896). The Rosary’s influence on Christian faith and life.
  11. Augustissimae Virginis.(1897). Mary’s association with Christ; the Rosary confraternities, and “living Rosary.”
  12. Diuturni temporis.(1898). A summary of the pope’s teaching on the rosary; notice of the constitution on the rosary sodalities.

Contemplate Jesus with Mary

The Rosary means “crown of roses”, a spiritual bouquet given to the Blessed Mother from her children. To recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary, the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 1).

“The Rosary has accompanied me in moments of joy and in moments of difficulty.To it I have entrusted any number of concerns; in it I have always found comfort.”– St Pope John Paul II

Why pray the Rosary? The 15 Promises of Mary

  1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive powerful graces.

  2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.

  3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.

  4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.

  5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.

  6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.

  7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.

  8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise.

  9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.

  10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.

  11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.

  12. All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.

  13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.

  14. All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ.

  15. Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

“My impression is that the Rosary is of the greatest value not only according to the words of Our Lady at Fatima, but according to the effects of the Rosary one sees throughout history. My impression is that our Lady wanted to give ordinary people, who might not know how to pray, this simple method of getting closer to God.” – Sister Lucia, one of the seers at Fatima

Image Credit: Dummies Guide

Don’t rush through the decades

In The Rosary of Our Lady, Msgr. Romano Guardini offers the following advice:

“It is not necessary to ramble through the whole Rosary; it is better to say only one or two decades, and to say them right.”

Which mysteries to meditate on?

The Joyful Mysteries (Mondays and Saturdays)The Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38)The Visitation (Luke 1:39-56)The Nativity (Luke 2:1-21)The Presentation (Luke 2:22-38)The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52)
Tuesdays and Fridays (The Sorrowful Mysteries)The Agony of Jesus in the Garden (Matthew 26:36-56)The Scourging at the Pillar (Matthew 27:26)The Crowning with Thorns (Matthew 27:27-31)The Carrying of the Cross (Matthew 27:32)The Crucifixion (Matthew 27:33-56)
Wednesdays and Sundays (The Glorious Mysteries)The Resurrection (John 20:1-29)The Ascension (Luke 24:36-53)The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-41)The Assumption of Mary, the Mother of God, into heavenThe Coronation of Mary in heaven
Thursdays (Luminous Mysteries)The Baptism in the River Jordan (Matthew 3:13-16)The Wedding Feast at Cana (John 2:1-11)The Preaching of the coming of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15)The Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8)The Institution of the Holy Eucharist (Matthew 26)

How to Pray?

1. Make the Sign of the Cross

  • In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2. The Apostle’s Creed

  • I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

3. Our Father

  • Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen.

4. Three Hail Marys

  • Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

5. Glory Be

  • Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

6. On the large bead, meditate on the first mystery and pray the Our Father.

  • Proclaim the Mystery to Contemplate on. Mediate on the Mysteries as you pray the Hail Mary.

7. On the Ten Small Beads of Each Decade

Pray the Hail Mary.

8. Repeat for the remaining decades

9. Conclude with the Hail Holy Queen

  • Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

  • Leader: Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.

  • All: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

10. Closing Prayer

  • O God, whose only-begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal salvation; grant we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.