Do You Really Understand the Rosary?

Often, I meet people that do not understand the Rosary, which is a prayer that Catholics say. Even Catholics do not say it correctly, which doesn't surprise me. Many people that are my age, in particular, seem to have lost the fine art of reciting it or prayer in general. It is not a prayer that is only for Catholics either; I know quite a few others that recite it.

Rosary means garland of roses and roses are associated with Mother Mary. Tradition has it that it was being said prior to St. Domenic's vision of the Blessed Mother in 1221, but no known date or source has been verified. St. Domenic has been credited with spreading devotion of the prayer, though.

The Rosary is a daily prayer, though you can say it as often as you like. To clear up one of the biggest misconceptions about it, it does not elevate Mary above any one of the Holy Trinity. In fact, if you are meditating on Mary throughout it you are saying the prayer incorrectly. While saying the Rosary you, in fact, meditate on a number of mysteries of Jesus' life. The mysteries are broken up into 4 categories - the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious.

Joyful:
The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Birth of Our Lord, The Presentation in the Temple and The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (Mondays & Saturdays, also Sundays during Advent)

Luminous:
The Baptism in the Jordan, The Miracle at the Cana Wedding, The Proclamation of the Kingdom, The Transfiguration and the Institution of the Eucharist (Thursday)

Sorrowful:
The Agony in the Garden, The Scourging at the Pillar, The Crowning with Thorns, The Carrying of the Cross, The Crucifixion (Tuesday & Friday, also Sundays during Lent)

Glorious:
The Resurrection, The Ascension, The Descending of the Holy Spirit, the Assumption and the Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven (Wednesdays and Sundays in ordinary time)

You meditate on each mystery for each decade of the Rosary being said. You can dedicate the entire rosary to an intention, or each decade to one. Remember, you meditate on each Mystery and not the intention when you are saying it.

Also important during the recitation is the Our Father prayer. After each decade the Glory be is said, "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end. Amen" Hopefully you can now see that the Rosary is a prayer that has the Holy Trinity as the focal points.

Now, about the Hail Mary prayer. The first part:

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,
blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb", Jesus

is text that is taken from the Bible during the Blessed Mother's visit to her cousin Elizabeth. Her own baby leapt in her womb with joy upon meeting Mary. (Luke 1:39-46). It is recognizing Mary as a woman that is incredibly blessed to be carrying God in her womb. Surely you can see the magnitude of this event?

The last half of the prayer is asking Mary, as our Mother, to pray for us" "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death" Amen. Do you not ask your own Mother, Father, family or friends to pray for you? Why not ask our Blessed Mother to pray for us as well? A beautiful example of Mary intervening for someone with Jesus is at the wedding feast in Cana. Remember that? She was like well, son, they are running out of wine and he was like well, woman, my time has not come yet. Yet he listened and responded to her request to intervene. She will take care of us as well. Just ask her to.

I find it fascinating that people can't wrap their head around Mary being born without sin. If God can create creatures such as angels, which are pure spiritual beings, why wouldn't he create a human that is pure? Mary wasn't chosen to be the Mother of God. She was created to be the Mother of God. I can't see why God would put his son into a broken or stained vessel. That makes less sense, to me anyway. We were all created for a specific purpose in this life. That was Mary's. Back to the rosary.

Prayers have been added to the rosary, after Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, in 1858. During the visits she asked Bernadette to spread devotion to the Rosary and taught her additional prayers to be said. These additional ones are prayers to Christ and to St. Michael, the archangel, for protection against evil. To learn more about Bernadette and the messages given to her you can visit this website, which is dedicated to her: http://www.marypages.com/bernadetteEng.htm.

I am attaching how to say the rosary, as well as the prayers. It is my hope that I have shed a little light on this glorious prayer and that more people say it. If you are interested in starting to say the rosary and are in need of beads we have lovely affordable ones on the website. Our rosary rings start at just $1.30 and our beads start at $5.00. You can find them on the Children's, Rosary, and Patron Saint pages. http://www.gloryglorygifts.com.

Have a blessed and peaceful day.

Mare

If you cannot see this well, you can also find it on our Prayer Page on the website at: http://www.gloryglorygifts.com/the-prayer-page.html

WE HAVE A DELIGHTFUL ROSARY STARTER KIT TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS BLOG. $2.00 PLUS SHIPPING. White plastic beads in a clear sleeve, with instructions and prayers.

Good and Evil

Resurrection Chapel, Staten Island, NY

Do you know that old saying when someone says well I do not believe in God and someone responds well you may not believe in God but He believes in you?  It often makes me wonder just how many truly believe in God at all. If this week is any indication we live in a horrific world and oftentimes it feels like there just is no God. Personally I do not believe that though.

Just a few hours ago I happened to take a short trip in the car just to get out, get some air, and take a quick walk on the beach to clear my head. In that short 40 minute timespan (actually it was within the first 5 minutes after I pulled out of my driveway) I saw something that took my breath away. I was sitting at a light waiting to make a right-hand turn and there was one car ahead of me. On the street that we were going to turn onto there was a man in a motorized wheelchair and a woman who appeared to be his caretaker, given her colorful scrub outfit, waiting to cross. Well the light turned green, the wheelchair man started to rev up to cross the street, he had the right of way, and the car in front of me sped up to cut him off and almost hit the health aid. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? The idiot in front of me could not wait 2 minutes for an old, wheelchair bound man to cross a very busy intersection? Of course, I let the man continue across the street and he gave me a mighty wave and a big smile, which had a much greater value to me that he made it across the street safely than 2 minutes of my time. BTW, the idiot driver was waiting at the next light when I pulled up behind him so what exactly did his action do for him anyway? Nothing if you ask me.

The highlight of my day today was watching my little 4 year old neighbor learn to ride his bike without the trainers on. While Tom and I were driving up our street the little guy took a spill right in front of our driveway (on the sidewalk). Then took another shortly after that. But when I got out of the car I stood and watched for a moment while his dad ran behind the bike, that anxious look that all parents have written all over his face and then he let the little guy go. Boy did he go! Straight down the street with his dad running and huffing and a puffing right behind him. The little guy stopped safely at the end of the block. Both turned to look at me with such big smiles and such accomplishment while I yelled YAY!!! along with them.

Those are the things you have to hold onto in life; a smile and a wave from a grateful person. Watching a dad who works 15 and 16 hour days be the one to teach his only little boy how to ride a bike and being able to join in the sheer glee of that perfect ride. Sometimes you have to look for the good in life.

Saturday I went to the chapel at Resurrection Cemetery. I like to go there and pray because it is just a beautiful, quiet chapel and they have this magnificent stained glass window behind a beautiful wire sculpture of Jesus on the cross. The altar was still dressed in lace and had the remnants of a mass that had taken place earlier. I sat in the front row and in the rear were two men on opposite sides of the aisle; probably praying for their deceased loved ones. Well, in came 5 people - a woman in her 80*s, one in her 60*s, 2 young women in their 20*s and a young man in his 30*s. You would think they were at a ballgame because they were talking so loudly. They were so loud that the 2 men left and not being able to concentrate I will admit I slammed the prayer book onto the pew beside me and gave them a look (not my finest moment). What struck  me when I got into my car was how funny it was how things evolved in the chapel. I dug through my pocketbook but could only find my Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows. Instead of saying the rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet I instead said the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows and then decided to open the prayer book in front of me. Incredibly, Saturday WAS the Feast day of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. If this is the type of adoration that her son receives, I can truly understand why many times she weeps when appearing to visionaries (Kibeho, Lourdes, Fatima to name a few). I found those people to be incredibly disrespectful not only because they were in the Lord*s house but there were grieving people there too. How do you ignore them?

Evil seems to be the prevalent thing in the world though lately. (I am not saying those people in the chapel were evil, nor the driver in front of me, just rude and thoughtless.)  Hate messages on Youtube, bombings of embassies, the anniversary of 9/11, greed, lust, porn, hatred, I could go on and on and on. I do not agree with Christians that burn the Koran, nor others that burn the Bible.  I do not agree with Christians that bomb abortion clinics nor do I agree with Muslims that bomb anything for both are supposedly doing so in the name of God. That is NOT the God that I know, regardless of what anyone calls Him. It is a very sad world that we live in when we are afraid to go to work or to a movie theater because there just might be someone there with a vendetta against you for whatever reason or someone sitting next to you. To that I only have one thing to say - you may not believe in Satan, but he believes in you. He is just hoping that you use that free will that God gave you to see things his way and not even think twice about WWJD. According to the Bible good triumphs over evil in the end, but my friends I think we have a long, powerful fight ahead of us. 

If you are able to kneel on the floor tonight in a safe place say a prayer for those affected by tragedy this week and in prior weeks. Above all, thank God for all the good blessings in your life be they great or small.

Have a great week.

Peace!

Mare