The Rosary

[missionarybelle]

I like to pray the rosary while I drive especially if I'm having a stressful drive. but when I drive, I can't concentrate very much because obviously I'm driving. My friend told me that I shouldn't pray the rosary when I drive unless I can fully meditate on the mysteries and if I pray the rosary without the meditation, it becomes babling like the pagans. I think that I have to think about something while I drive, I may as well be filling my mind with good, pure, and holy things instead of idle, useless things.

so should I pray the rosary even if I can't fully meditate on the mysteries?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

I'm open to correction from one of our more qualified Church Scholars, but here's what I think.

There are many saints who, going through dry periods, could not concentrate very well. There are many others who simply cannot concentrate on anything, let alone prayer. While it is commendable to pray the rosary as meditatively as possible (and, if possible, such prayer should be preferred over praying the rosary while driving), I don't see any harm in praying while driving. The Church teaches us that there are different forms of prayer, one of which is vocal. We should try to go beyond that, but just because we can doesn't make vocal prayer wrong.

I would try to pay some attention to the prayer, of course, but when you're driving, God would rather you pay more attention to driving safely. We should consider ourselves blessed that God gave most of us the ability to multitask at least a little.

As for vain babbling, I don't think that's what Jesus meant. The pagans were known for heaping up empty words and phrases in a superstitious way (I say what the gods want to hear, they give me what I want to get). I don't think it's vain babbling if you are praying without putting any heart into it...I think it's just babbling.

If it helps, try to get a rosary CD...one that's a little slower and includes Scriptural meditations before the decades. That might allow you to get a clear mental image of what's going on and take some of the burden off of your multitasking abilities. Make sure you also take time to pray when you can fully devote yourself to meditation.

God bless,

Raphael