Rosary

[zunshynn]

[quote name='GloriaIesusChristi' post='1099901' date='Oct 24 2006, 09:16 AM']
It seems easier to me to pray the rosary, while in your parish. I always am so spiritually involved when praying it at my parish, the atmosphere seems to illuminate my attitude of prayer. I feel that he is right there with me and all the saints and angels lift the praise with me.
[/quote]

I agree... it always helps me to be doing it with others too... though if they go too fast it can be frustrating because I can't meditate.

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1099972' date='Oct 24 2006, 10:41 AM']
We were like hobbits: "Okay, that was Rosary. Now what about [i]second[/i] Rosary?"
[/quote]

I love that!

[Eia]

I was a "yearly-if ever" girl until recently. I'm trying to pray it more often now, and hopefully it will become an everyday affair soon!

[scardella]

[quote name='TrueImage' post='1099516' date='Oct 23 2006, 09:58 PM']
I put twice a month. I'd love to pray it more, but it takes me so riduculously long (45 min- an hour) when I do it by myself. Isn't only supposed to take like twenty minutes?
[/quote]

It really depends on the person. Most people I know take about 20 minutes, but I'm with you. It takes me about 45-60 minutes. I think it's mostly a matter of how quickly words go through your brain. I tend to speak slowly, and so my rosaries wind up taking more time. I also wonder if it has anything to do w/ me being an introvert rather than an extrovert.

[HeavenlyCalling]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1099972' date='Oct 24 2006, 01:41 PM']
I prefer to pray mine at home in my room - light a candle, and down on the knees! I also do it on the train, and I [i]loved[/i] praying it with my best friend in the visitor's chapel when we were visiting monasteries over summer.

We were like hobbits: "Okay, that was Rosary. Now what about [i]second[/i] Rosary?"
[/quote]
I like the Hobbit comparision, very funny! That's the way I feel too. I dont have very much time in my day to pray the Rosary, so when I get I am like:
[i]one...more...decade...[/i]

[zunshynn]

The Rosary takes me a really long time because I get really distracted.

[MIKolbe]

I have noticed some people challenged by Marian Devotion.

This is from Mark Shea's site, and it really puts everything in perspective. I think it is a great read for everyone. (any emphasis is mine)

[i]How I Changed my Mind About Mary

It once seemed perfectly obvious to me that Catholics honored Mary too much. All those feasts, rosaries, icons, statues and whatnot were ridiculously excessive. Yes, the gospel of Luke said something about her being "blessed" and yes I thought her a good person. But that was that. People who celebrated her or called her "Mother" or did all the million things which Catholic piety encourages bordered on idolatry. It was all too much. Jesus, after all, is our Savior, not Mary.

However, after looking at the gospel of Luke afresh and thinking more and more about the humanity of Jesus Christ, some things dawned on me. For it turns out that Luke said more than "something" about Mary. He reports that God was conceived in her womb and thereby made a son of Adam! This means more than merely saying that Mary was an incubator unit for the Incarnation. It means that the Logos, the Second Person of the Trinity derives his humanity--all of it--from her! Why does this matter? [b]Because the entire reason we are able to call Jesus "savior" at all is because the God who cannot die became a man who could die.[/b] And he chose to do it through Mary's free "yes" to him.[b] No Mary, no human nature for Christ. No human nature for Christ, no death on the cross. No death, no resurrection. No resurrection, no salvation. Without Mary, we are still in our sins.[/b]

This made me see Mary very differently. The Incarnation is vastly more than God zipping on a disposable man-suit. He remains man eternally. Therefore, his joining with the human race through the womb of Mary means (since he is the savior of us all), that [b]she is the mother of us all[/b] (John 19:27). Moreover, it means that her remarkable choice to say "Yes" to the Incarnation was not merely a one-time incident, it was an offering of her own heart to God and us. Her heart was pierced by the sword that opened the fountain of blood and water in Christ's human heart, for it was she who, by the grace of God, gave him that heart (Luke 2:35; John 19:34).

Seeing this, I began to wonder again: If Catholics honor Mary "too much", where did we Evangelicals honor her "just enough." Mary herself said "henceforth, all generations will call me blessed." When was the last time I had heard a contemporary Christian tune on the radio sung in honor of Mary? Or a prayer in church to extol her? How about a teensy weensy bit of verse or a little article in some magazine singling out Mary as blessed among women? Aside from "Silent Night" was there anything in Evangelical piety which dared to praise her for even a moment? I was an Evangelical for seven years and I never saw so much as a dram of it.

So the question became for me, "How could we talk about something being 'excessive' when we had virtually no experience of it ourselves?" What if it was we Evangelicals who were excessive in our horror of Marian piety and Catholics who are normal? Judging from the witness of the early Fathers and even of Martin Luther (who had a very robust Marian devotion and whose tomb is decorated with an illustration of the Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven) it seemed to me that it was we Evangelicals who were excessive in our fear of her rather than Catholics who were excessive in their devotion.

[b]"Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among 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."[/b]

There. That didn't hurt a bit. In fact, I think I heard St. Luke pray it too![/i]


Hope that helped a bit.

JMJ,

MIKolbe

[Nunsense]

Praying the Rosary is what helped me to become Catholic! When I was young, our neighbors used to pray the Rosary every night at 6pm together as a family. My own family was non-religious (declared agnostics) so I would sneak out and go next door to pray the Rosary with our neighbors. It was so beautiful and it made me feel so good inside. Years later, when I was an adult, I converted to Catholicism and now I still say the Rosary every day, usually before I go to sleep, but sometimes if I am waiting in the car (I carry one in the car) or in the Adoration chapel. It still gives a feeling of peace, and because the words are so familiar, I am released from thought to simply "be" with God while I am praying to his earthly Mother.

Mary was a very special woman and deserves love and devotion. True, she is not God, but she made it possible, through her obedience to God, for him to become man and to save us.

For people who feel uncomfortable about offering devotion to Mary, think about it as a way to honor God's choice of her as his mother.

++

[Nunsense]

Maybe this could help some people enjoy the Rosary! It is Elvis singing the Rosary...


[url="http://www.anelvisfan2001.com/miracleoftherosary.html"]The Miracle of the Rosary[/url]

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1099972' date='Oct 24 2006, 11:41 AM']
I prefer to pray mine at home in my room - light a candle, and down on the knees! I also do it on the train, and I [i]loved[/i] praying it with my best friend in the visitor's chapel when we were visiting monasteries over summer.

We were like hobbits: "Okay, that was Rosary. Now what about [i]second[/i] Rosary?"
[/quote]

Did you have luncheon Rosary, afternoon Rosary, 11-sies Rosary??

I guess when it comes to the Rosary, being hobit-like is the best way to go.

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='Totus Tuus' post='1164366' date='Jan 14 2007, 08:54 PM']
Did you have luncheon Rosary, afternoon Rosary, 11-sies Rosary??

I guess when it comes to the Rosary, being hobit-like is the best way to go.
[/quote]

One of the Little Old Ladies in my church was quite happy with Pope John Paul II because thanks to him she had a reason to do four rosaries a day. Which she still does. Every day. And not like hailmaryfullfgracethlord... :

[Starets]

I came to the same conclusions as did Mark Shea and for similar reasons. The way I looked at it, she was a 14 year old girl who said yes to God. I have no filial piety for her as my own mother died when I was 2. You cannot love someone you kever knew. So I love the Blessed Virgin as a simple peasant would love his Queen Mother. I don't say the Rosary very much though.

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1164579' date='Jan 14 2007, 06:08 PM']
One of the Little Old Ladies in my church was quite happy with Pope John Paul II because thanks to him she had a reason to do four rosaries a day. Which she still does. Every day. And not like hailmaryfullfgracethlord... :
[/quote]

Good for her! I know a lot of people who think it's the "Little Old Ladies" that account for a lot of the graces in parish churches... we never seem to notice much, though

[raymondgassmann]

Anyone who wants to read something by a person who is totally devoted to Marian devotion, read anything by [u]St. Louis de Monfort[/u]. He explains things in quite a dramatic way.

By the way, I try to pray a rosary every day.

LL&P
Ray

[Knight of the Holy Rosary]

Once a day. Sometimes every other day.

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='Totus Tuus' post='1164820' date='Jan 15 2007, 03:29 AM']
Good for her! I know a lot of people who think it's the "Little Old Ladies" that account for a lot of the graces in parish churches... we never seem to notice much, though
[/quote]

They rock, really they do. If you -truly- need something done... go to them.

When I was younger I used to be upset that I, with my 38" inseam, would never be a "little" old lady...

Now I've found out that my rosary seems to work very well, too, thankyouEVERs'much

Oh, by the way, I'm totally addicted to reflections on the mysteries... if anyone has a good link I'd be very much obliged!

[Guest jerhomie]

An awesome book about the rosary for those who struggle with understanding it, or even for those looking for a deeper understanding to it would be "Secrets of the Rosary" by St. Louis de Montfort

Read it and I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

As far as marian devotion, it shouldn't take a lot of getting used to simply because marian devotion focuses our eyes on Christ again... the primary message of Mary is what she says in the Wedding at Cana to the servants "Do whatever He(Jesus) tells you."

In the heart of the Hail Mary is Jesus, literally and figuratively.

God Bless

Jerome

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1166168' date='Jan 15 2007, 05:35 PM']
Oh, by the way, I'm totally addicted to reflections on the mysteries... if anyone has a good link I'd be very much obliged!
[/quote]

I like Mother Teresa's reflections. They come in a blue book. I'm really into everything she has to say, and her Rosary meditations are definitely awesome.

Also it's nice to just pray it with the Bible, and open up to each corresponding passage as you are praying the decades.

The above poster suggested "The Secret of the Rosary". That's a great one Anything De Montfort is Rosary-savvy

The Sorrowful Mysteries are my favorite, so a crucifix, and even the book of pictures from "The Passion" are good for meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries.

Anyway... I'm sure lots of other people have good suggestions