WHY SHOULD I PRAY THE ROSARY?

First, what is the rosary?

The word rosary comes from the Latin word rosarium meaning “crown of roses”.

The Rosary is made up of two things: mental prayer and vocal prayer. In the Holy Rosary mental prayer is the meditation of the mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and of His Blessed Mother. Vocal prayer consists in saying twenty decades of the Hail Mary, each decade headed by an Our Father, while at the same time meditating on and contemplating these mysteries.

The Rosary has 3 parts. It consists of an initial prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, followed by the Our Father and 3 Hail Marys and a Glory be to the Father, which are said beginning on the crucifix and continue on the pendant portion of the chain of beads.  There follow 5 decades or groups of ten beads separated by a single bead. Each decade consists of the recitation of the Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and concludes with one Glory be to the Father. The devotion is for private or public use. While saying the prayers of each decade, the person praying is to meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary.

The Rosary is a Christocentric prayer. It has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety. Subsequently, the Rosary is the perfect compliment to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It sustains and echoes our sacramental life. The Rosary is a ‘path to contemplation’. It is a prayer where our soul enacts “The greatest love story ever told”. It is a prayer where the simplicity allows all levels of the uneducated and educated to pray, yet encompasses the most mysterious complex knowledge. It is a prayer where appearance seems harmless, yet the power of the Rosary is beyond description.

Where did the Rosary come from?

“The Rosary”, says the Roman Breviary, “is a certain form of prayer wherein we say fifteen decades or tens of Hail Marys with an Our Father between each ten, while at each of these fifteen decades we recall successively in pious meditation one of the mysteries of our Redemption.” The same lesson for the Feast of the Holy Rosary informs us that when the Albigensian heresy was devastating the country of Toulouse, St. Dominic earnestly besought the help of Our Lady and was instructed by her, “so tradition asserts”, to preach the Rosary among the people as an antidote to heresy and sin. From that time forward this manner of prayer was “most wonderfully published abroad and developed [promulgari augerique coepit] by St. Dominic whom different Supreme Pontiffs have in various passages of their apostolic letters declared to be the institutor and author of the same devotion.” That many popes have so spoken is undoubtedly true, and amongst the rest we have a series of encyclicals, beginning in 1883, issued by Pope Leo XIII, which, while commending this devotion to the faithful in the most earnest terms, assumes the institution of the Rosary by St. Dominic to be a fact historically established. ¹

This detail from the 1539 oil painting “Madonna of the Rosary” by Lorenzo Lotto, portrays the legendary event in which the Virgin Mary gave the Rosary to St. Dominic in A.D. 1208. Lotto’s painting resides today in the Church of San Nicolo in Cingoli, Italy.

Catechism of the Catholic Church states the rosary is:

A prayer in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which repeats the privileged Marian prayer Ave Maria, or Hail Mary, in “decades” of ten prayers, each preceded by the Pater (“Our Father”) and concluded by the Gloria Patri (Glory Be to the Father), accompanied by meditation on the mysteries of Christ’s life. The Rosary was developed by medieval piety in the Latin church as a popular substitute for the liturgical prayer of the Hours. (2678, 2708; cf. 1674)

Why Pray the rosary?

Without meditation or mental prayer Christians lack strength to resist the assaults of the enemies of our soul and to practice the Christian virtues. Meditation affects the soul as fire affects iron. If iron is cold, it is very hard and is very difficult, near impossible, to work with. But put it in the fire, and at once it softens and easily  yields to the efforts of the blacksmith. The Rosary is the prayerful forging process of making sinners saints. In consequence of sin our heart is by nature a hard and obstinate heart, given to pleasures of sense and opposed to the law of the spirit as Paul speaks about in Romans 7:23. But under the influence of grace which we receive in meditation, the heart soon grows soft; the sight of God’s goodness and mercy and the wondrous proofs of His love forge our spirit to be in communion with His Body.

 

Padre Pio said, “The Rosary is the strongest weapon of spiritual warfare”. Why? The rosary requires devotion through meditation on the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. While meditating on the mysteries of Christ, we are calling upon Our Mother to pray with and for us. We read in scripture, Mary will crush the head of Satan. Mary, full of grace, gives us the grace to help conquer our vices and sins.

Furthermore, the rosary can give us peace. Peace is define as tranquility of order. The meditation of the rosary orders our soul to be fixated on God. It gives us the opportunity to fall into a deeper relationship with Him. The more one loves God, the more one’s soul is ordered towards God and as a result peace starts settling in.

Prayers of the Rosary:

Apostles 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; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall 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.

This prayer began to take form in the early 100’s in Rome. Hippolytus of Rome around 215 used the prayer in a question and answer form, most likely used for the baptismal liturgy. St. Irenaeus and Tertullian insisted in an emphatic why that the this creed, which had assumed the shape we have today, is part of the apostolic tradition. The question and answer format was replaced by the introductory statement “I believe” (Latin credo).

Our Father:

Our Father who art in heaven, allowed 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.

This prayer comes from Matthew 6:9 (also shorter versions found in Luke 11:1-4 and Mark 11:25-26)

“Very early on, liturgical usage concluded the Lord’s Prayer with a doxology. In the Didache, we find, “For yours are the power and the glory for ever.” The Apostolic Constitutions add to the beginning: “the kingdom,” and this is the formula retained to our day in ecumenical prayer. The Byzantine tradition adds after “the glory” the words “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” The Roman Missal develops the last petition in the explicit perspective of “awaiting our blessed hope” and of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then comes the assembly’s acclamation or the repetition of the doxology from the Apostolic Constitutions.” (CCC 2855;2854)

Hail Mary:

The prayer known in Latin as the Ave Maria. The first part of the prayer praises God for the gifts he gave to Mary as Mother of the Redeemer; the second part seeks her maternal intercession for the members of the Body of Christ, the Church, of which she is the Mother (CCC 2676).

The first half of the Hail Mary comes from Luke 1:28. Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.

One of the oldest complete forms of Divine Liturgy’s we have to date is the Liturgy of Saint James, which is believed to be St. James the Just, the “brother” of Jesus and patriarch among the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem.  In the third section of The Divine Liturgy of James, in which St. James is describing the Liturgy of the Mass, right before the Rite of Peace (where the Church entreats peace and unity for herself and for the whole human family, and the faithful express to each other their ecclesial communion and mutual charity before communicating in the Sacrament.²), he writes:

Priest: Hail, Mary, highly favoured: the Lord is with Thee; blessed art thou amoung women, and blessed the fruit of thy womb, for thou didst bear the Saviour of our souls.

Then the Priest says aloud:—Hail in the highest, our all-holy, pure, most blessed, glorious lady, the God-mother and ever-virgin Mary.

The Singers. Verily it is becoming to bless Thee, the God-bearing, the ever-blessed, and all-blameless, and mother of our God, more honourable than the cherubim, and incomparably more glorious than the seraphim: thee, who didst bear with purity God the Word, thee the true God-mother, we magnify.

And again they sing:—In thee, highly favoured, all creation rejoices, the host of angels, and the race of men; hallowed temple, and spiritual paradise, pride of virgins, of whom God was made flesh and our God, who was before eternity, became a little child: for He made Thy womb His throne, and Thy bowels more capacious than the heavens. In thee, O highly favoured one, all creation rejoices: glory unto thee.

A beautiful, strong prayer that was prayed, and is still prayed in some Catholic rite Masses, during their Liturgy that precedes the Rite of Peace. How impeccable to ask for our Mother’s intercession before we come together in mutual communion and charity.

The second half of the Hail Mary is as follows, “Pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death.”. Let’s briefly break these words down.

“Pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death” – Here we are acknowledging we are sinners. No problem here… we are all sinners. And we are requesting Mary to pray for us right now and the hour of our death. We all ask people throughout the day to pray for us here on Earth. The only difference is we are asking someone, and not just anyone but the Blessed Mother of Our Lord, who is infinitely purer and closer to our Lord than ourselves, to pray for us. We are all 1 Body of Christ. There are not 2 bodies of Christ: 1 in Heaven and 1 on Earth. No. We are all 1 body and we all need each other. The Bible states clearly in Romans 12:5 and 1 Corinthians 12:12, “so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” So as 1 body in Christ, we ask for the Body of Christ to pray for us. Specifically, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Saint Pope John Paul II says in his apostolic letter “On the Most Holy Rosary”:

It is the way of the example of the virgin of Nazareth, a woman of faith, of silence, of attentive listening. It is also the way of a Marian devotion inspired by knowledge of the inseparable bond between Christ and his Blessed Mother; the mysteries of Christ are also in some sense the mysteries of his Mother, even when they do not involve her directly, for she lives from him and through him. By making our own the words of the Angel Gabriel and Saint Elizabeth contained in the Hail Mary, we find ourselves constantly drawn to seek out afresh in Mary, in her arms and in her heart, the “blessed fruit of her womb.”

Glory Be to the Father

The Gloria Patri, also known as the Glory be, can be found in the books of Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, 1 Timothy, Hebrews, Peter and Revelations as sources of similar texts (e.g. Glory be to the Father, through the Son, and with the Holy Spirit). St. Paul uses these doxologies in almost every one of his epistles in some variation. A brief hymn of praise, in which all Christians can join. The earliest use of this prayer can be traced back to about the forth century and traditionally has been recited at the end of each psalm in the Divine Office.

“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and every shall be. A world without end. Amen”

Hail Holy Queen

The closing prayer of the rosary is the Salve Regina, or Hail Holy Queen. It is goes like this:

“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.”

Some have made objections to this prayer saying, “Catholics call Mary “their life, their sweetness, and their hope! That isn’t proper!”

Fr. Vincent Serpa, the Catholic Answers chaplain, articulated this much better than I, so I will let him answer this objection.

“How often have we heard people refer to their children as their life? We are not inclined to take this literally. It doesn’t mean that their children have taken the place of God in their lives. It simply expresses how important their children are to them.

So with Mary. She is special but not because she has any super power of her own. She is our life because she is the channel the Father chose to bring us her Son. She is our sweetness and our hope for the same reason. We love her so much because she is God’s Mother. Such consideration of Mary does not diminish the reality of who her Son is; rather, it magnifies it. She is special because of how much more special he is. Or do we think that he doesn’t deserve a mother who could be our life, our sweetness, and our hope? Her soul and everything about her magnifies the Lord.”

NON-CATHOLIC CHRISTIANS COMMON OBJECTIONS WITH THE ROSARY:

FIRST OBJECTION:

WHY ASK MARY TO PRAY FOR YOU? PRAYING TO MARY DETRACTS US FROM PRAYING TO JESUS, FOR HE IS THE ONE MEDIATOR TO GOD THE FATHER!

1 Timothy 2:5

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

This tends to be the biggest rebuttal in the Protestant world.  Let’s take a look at both these claims.

“Why ask Mary to pray for you?” – Better question.. why not? The preceding four verses in 1 Timothy, Paul instructs Christians to pray from each other, meaning that it cannot interfere with Christ’s mediatorship. There are numerous examples in the Bible supporting this claim. Revelation 5:8 reveals that saints in heaven intercede for us by offering our prayers to God. Furthermore, as the Mother of Jesus Christ, the incarnate second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Mary is most certainly a very holy saintly woman. James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” All who have entered into heaven have to be righteous as there aren’t imperfections in heaven.

“Praying to Mary detracts us from praying to Jesus, for Jesus is the one mediator!” – This objection logically doesn’t play out. If one can only go to Jesus when praying, then no one can ever ask anyone to ever pray for them, for that would “detract us from praying to Jesus”.  Yet no one seems to have an issue with prayer groups or asking for prayers when one is sick, has an upcoming job interview, or intentions for a family member. If we can only pray to Jesus, then Christians around the world have been committing grave sin for 2,000 years… including St. Paul himself!

SECOND OBJECTION:

The Rosary is repetitious prayer that the gospel of Luke warns us about!

Luke 11:7-8

“And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

First we must understand when we pray the rosary we are meditating on Christ’s life. When Catholics recite the twelve prayers that form a decade of the rosary, we meditate on the mystery associate with that decade (see below for the decades of the rosary). If we are merely reciting the prayers then we are missing the essence of what the rosary is supposed to be. It isn’t just a recitation of prayers, but a meditation on the grace of God. If we were just reciting the prayers over and over again, the rosary would be a boring and repetitious formula. As Christ forbade meaningless repetition, the Bible itself prescribes some prayers that involve repetition. (See Psalm 136. Also see 1 Kings 18:25-29 for an example of the pagan mentality that mere repetition will force their god to respond.). The Christian is not forbidden to lay his needs before God (though He already knows them) but he should do so in simple, trustful spirit. Needless to say, repetition of such simple prayer as the Rosary is by no means discouraged provided it does not become mechanical. We use repetition not to secure God’s attention, but to sustain our own. If all repetition is wrong, one could say the Our Father only once in their life. That doesn’t seem reasonable. Jesus repeats the same prayer 3 times in the Garden of Gethsemane (See Matthew 26:44). The Bible is unmistakable – prayer repeated with the proper attitude is very pleasing to God. (Also see Luke 18:10-14 and Revelation 4:8)

MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY AND THE BIBLICAL BASIS:

JOYFUL MYSTERIES: PRAYED MONDAYS, SATURDAYS, SUNDAYS OF ADVENT, AND SUNDYS FROM EPIPHANY UNTIL LENT

1. The Annunciation

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. And coming to Mary, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” (Lk 1:26-28)

 

2. The Visitation

Mary set out and traveled to the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” (Lk 1:39-45)

3. The Birth of Our Lord

And Mary gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger . . . And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Lk 2:1-20)

4. The Presentation in the Temple

Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to the Temple to present him to the Lord. At the temple Simeon and Anna came forward, gave thanks to God and spoke about Jesus to all who were present. (Lk 2:22-38)

 

5. The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple

The boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. (Lk 2:41-50)

 

LUMINOUS MYSTERIES: PRAYED THURSDAYS THROUGHT THE YEAR

 

1. The Baptism in the Jordan

And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Mt. 3:17)

 

2. The Wedding at Cana

“Women, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” (Jn 2:1-12)

 

3. The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God

“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mk 1:15)

 

4. The Transfiguration

While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. (Lk9:29)

 

5. The Institution of the Eucharist

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. (Jn 13:1)

 

SORROWFUL MYSTERIES: PRAYED TUESDAYS, FRIDAYS, AND DAILY FROM ASH WEDNESDAY UNTIL EASTER SUNDAY

1. The Agony in the Garden

Jesus went to a place called Gethsemane to pray. “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” (Mt 26:36-46)

 

2. The Scourging at the Pillar

The chief priests with the elders and the scribes held a council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, had Jesus scourged and handed him over to be crucified. (Mk 15:1-16)

 

3. The Crowning with Thorns

They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Mt 27:27-31)

 

4. The Carrying of the Cross

Jesus, weak from being beaten, was unable to carry His cross to Golgotha alone. Simon, a Cyrenian, helped him. (Mk 15:20-22)

 

5. The Crucifixion

When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:33-46)

 

GLORIOUS MYSTERIES: PRAYED WEDNESDAYS, AND SUNDAYS THROUGHT THE YEAR

1. The Resurrection

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. An angel appeared and said, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for He has been raised just as He said.” (Mt 28:1-10)

 

2. The Ascension of Our Lord

As Jesus blessed them He parted from them and was taken up to heaven. (Lk 24:44-53)

 

3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit

Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you. Receive the Holy Spirit.” (Jn 14:15-21)

 

4. The Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven

“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory.” (from Munificentissimus Deus (1950):DS 3903)

5. The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

“We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ.” (from the Solemn Profession of Faith: Credo of the People of God)

Christian’s Devotion to Mary:

What have the Church Fathers, Saints, and Christians throughout history said about our Mother Mary? In the infant stages of Christianity the practice of praying to Mary and the saints was alive and very common. Interestingly, no early Church Father denounced the practice of prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“We never give more honour to Jesus than when we honour his Mother, and we honour her simply and solely to honour him all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek – Jesus, her Son.”

– St. Louis Marie de Montfort

When the Holy Rosary is said well, it gives Jesus and Mary more glory and is more meritorious than any other prayer.

– St. Louis Marie de Montfort

‘Mary having co-operated in our redemption with so much glory to God and so much love for us, Our Lord ordained that no one shall obtain salvation except through her intercession.’

– St. Alphonsus Maris de Liguori

Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.

– St. Maximilian Kolbe

O sinner, be not discouraged, but have recourse to Mary in all you necessities. Call her to your assistance, for such is the divine Will that she should help in every kind of necessity.

– St. Basil the Great

The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary.

– St. Francis de Sales

“Devotion to you, O Blessed Virgin, is a means of salvation which God gives to those whom he wishes to save.”

– St. John Damascene

If you wish to convert anyone to the fullness of the knowledge of Our Lord and of His Mystical Body, then teach him the Rosary. One of two things will happen. Either he will stop saying the Rosary — or he will get the gift of faith.

– Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen

There is no surer means of calling down God’s blessings upon the family… than the daily recitation of the Rosary.

– Pope Pius XII

Luther’s Devotion to Mary:

The first and most famous Protestant Reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) retained a lifelong devotion to Mary. Most of his Marian beliefs are very Catholic, and show how much common ground Protestants and Catholics could have about Mary.

Luther’s Works, Volume 43, 39, Martin Luther writes:

Our prayer should include the Mother of God…. What the Hail Mary says is that all glory should be given to God, using these words: ‘Hail, Mary, full of grace….’ You see that these words are not concerned with prayer but purely with giving praise and honor. … We can use the Hail Mary as a meditation in which we recite what grace God has given her. Second, we should add a wish that everyone may know and respect her….

Sermon, September 1, 1522:

The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart.

Explanation of the Magnificat, 1521

One should honor Mary as she herself wished and as she expressed it in the Magnificat. She praised God for his deeds. How then can we praise her? The true honor of Mary is the honor of God, the praise of God’s grace . . . Mary is nothing for the sake of herself, but for the sake of Christ . . . Mary does not wish that we come to her, but through her to God.

 

PROMISES AND BENEFITS OF PRAYING THE ROSARY:

St. Louis de Montfort gives 7 benefits for praying the rosary in “The Secret of the Rosay”

I should like to give you even more reason for embracing this devotion which so many great souls have practiced; the Rosary recited with meditation on the mysteries brings about the following marvelous results:

1.it gradually gives us a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ;

2.it purifies our souls, washing away sin;

3.it gives us victory over all our enemies;

4.it makes it easy for us to practise virtue;

5.it sets us on fire with love of Our Blessed Lord;

6.it enriches us with graces and merits;

7.it supplies us with what is needed to pay all our debts to God and to our fellow men, and finally, it obtains all kinds of graces for us from Almighty God.

The Blessed Virgin Mary promised to Saint Dominic and to all who follow that “Whatever you ask in the Rosary will be granted.” She left for all Christians Fifteen Promises to those who recite the Holy Rosary.

Imparted to Saint Dominic and Blessed Alan

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal 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. The Rosary will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for 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 becomeworthy 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 plenititude 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 sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of my only Son Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

If everything so far has not been convincing to start praying the rosary, here’s a list of 10 reasons to pray the rosary:

1. It gives us a great guide in meditation and of becoming familiar with the story of Jesus’ life.

2. It’s easy to carry around! It is an easy reminder to pray throughout the day. The rosary fits in a pocket, a purse, a car, by the bed, pretty much anywhere!

3. It’s a personal AND communal prayer. When praying the rosary, it provides a platform to dive into a deeper personal relationship with Jesus. Further, one is joined to millions of other people around the world praying the rosary.

4. It tells the Gospel over and over again. It helps become more familiar with God’s Word on a daily basis.

5. It’s always going to be relevant to individual’s lives because it’s always pointing to Jesus. It is a prayer that is can be used on ANY occasion.

6. It’s simple, but not easy. Anyone can learn it within minutes. It’s something everyone can teach their family and kids. Yet even though it is simple to learn, the depths of meditation within the rosary is not always easy. Sometimes even challenging.

7. It’s grounded in the history of the Church. Reciting scripture, Our Lord’s Prayer, and the Creed ties us to the heritage of the Church and the saints that have gone before us.

8. It’s challenges us – it continues to push the prayer life of the one’s who pray it. It seems the have peaks and valleys of “spiritual highs”. The peaks give the opportunity to love the prayer even more and the valleys allow you to sacrifice time and effort to pray.

9. It was a gift from our Blessed Mother! I mean… come on! How awesome is that?!?

10. It is an easy evangelical tool! Rosaries are easy to share and are extremely inexpensive. We are all called to evangelize. Most of us don’t feel comfortable getting into debates regarding theology. The rosary is a simple and easy we to bring others closer to Christ!

¹ “In The Western Church”; pg 184

² The General Instruction of the Roman Missal; pg 35