The Month of the Rosary

   Since October is the month of the Rosary, I plan to (Monday through Friday) post reflections on the Mysteries of the Rosary. To catch up, these first posts are cut-and-pastes from my Facebook page.

You will notice I use both Rosary and rosary. By rosary, I mean the set of beads- the physical item called a rosary. By Rosary, I mean the act of prayer called the Rosary.

But first, a little bit about the Rosary.....

If there is any one item associated with Catholics, it is the Rosary. You'll find rosaries hanging from rear-view mirrors, around bedposts, on night stands, tucked into pockets and purses... even around the necks of some people. (an Hispanic custom)

But what IS the Rosary?

As a prayer, the Rosary is a Marian devotion, centered on Christ and the events of salvation history. The next blog post will be about the history of the Rosary.

As a physical item, a rosary is a string of beads that can be anything from a 10-cent item, to one costing over $100 for the fancier ones. It consists of five sets of ten beads ( called the Hail Mary beads, or AVES), these sets are separated by single beads ( called Our Father beads, or PATERS). These are formed into a loop, joined at a medal. Hanging from the medal, like a pendant, are five more beads and a crucifix in this order:

       Medal---Our Father--- 3 Hail Mary--- Our Father--- Crucifix

As you might guess, the name of the bead indicates the prayer recited on it. The beads are 'counters,' if you will.

The sequence for praying the Rosary is as follows...

Make the Sign of the Cross.
Pray the Apostle's Creed ( this is optional, but nice ! :-) )
On the first bead, pray the Our Father (OF).
On each of the next three beads, pray the Hail Mary (HM), once each asking for the virtues of FAITH, HOPE and CHARITY (Christian Love)
Pray the Glory Be ( GB) 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.

There are other prayers one may add at this point, but they are optional.

Announce the first mystery ( more on that in a bit),** then pray the OF, followed by a HM on each of the next ten beads, then the GB.**

Announce the second mystery, and repeat from ** to **, continuing with the third, forth and fifth mysteries. This gets you back to the medal.

Traditional prayers to end the Rosary are the Hail, Holy Queen...then the Invocation...then the St Michael prayer, finally closing with the Sign of the Cross.

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 towards us,
and after this, our exile, show us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, o loving, o sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us, o holy Mother of God, that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.

O God, whose only Begotten Son, by his life, death and resurrection has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant we beseech thee, that by meditating upon these mysteries of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise. Through he same Christ, our Lord, Amen.

St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, o Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.


Now---what are the MYSTERIES???   A Mystery ( in religious sense) is any time we can see the hand of God at work, even if we do not fully understand it this side of heaven.

Based on the description of  'how'  to pray a Rosary, it seems like mindless repetition; nothing could by farther from the truth!!  The mysteries are the key: when praying each mystery, you meditate on the mystery for that decade. The Rosary takes your entire being to pray: while your hands are occupied with the beads, your subconscious prays....and your conscious mind 'sees' the bible story playing out before you, unveiling the mystery, revealing God's message for you in that mystery.

And each of those mysteries- all 20 of them- are rooted in scripture. So the Rosary allows us to journey through the life of Christ, through the eyes of his Mother.

Not a bad investment of 20 minutes of your time!