When Christmas is over and the New Year begins, we have many resolutions and ideas to make the coming year better than ever. We resolve to get in shape and lose weight. Perhaps we think about cleaning up the clutter in our house and fixing things up. We might decide to work on being a better person and self improvement. But what about improving our spiritual life? How do we grow closer to God in the New Year? This is the most important thing we can do!
How Do We Grow Closer to God?
Prayer is probably the best way to grow closer to God (besides Holy Communion)!
You’ve probably heard this before, but a wonderful way to pray is by reciting, The Rosary. The Rosary can help us to grow closer to God. Did you know that the Rosary is the “Prayer of the Gospel”? We don’t just say the words, Hail Mary Full of Grace… We mediate on the life of Christ. The beads help us to keep count and timing while we do this. The Rosary is a very powerful prayer and recommended by our Blessed Mother. Millions of people have prayed the rosary throughout history and many people pray the rosary today on a regular basis. The greatest Saints in history prayed the rosary. If you want to learn to pray the rosary or why you should pray the rosary, a great book to jump start and motivate you is The Secret of the Rosary by Saint Louis De Montfort. This timeless classic not only shows how to pray the rosary, but why you should pray the rosary. St. Louis De Montfort explains the meaning behind the rosary and tells stories about people throughout history who were devoted to the rosary. Every Catholic should read this wonderful and inspirational book.
Did you know that there are different ways to pray the rosary?
A physical rosary is made up of 5 decades of 10 beads each. The 10 beads (Hail Mary Beads) are separated by 5 Our Father Beads. Each time a person prays 5 decades or one physical rosary, they meditate on one of the four mysteries. The mysteries are classified as: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and the Luminous. Saint John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary in 2002. The other three mysteries have been around since somewhere between 1410 and 1439 when Dominic of Prussia introduced them. Some people pray one Mystery a day which includes five decades. Many religious orders pray all of the Mysteries daily, which would be 20 decades (or four physical rosaries). Some people, like Saint Padre Pio, prayed the rosary all day long. There were days when he prayed 36 rosaries a day. This sounds like a lot, right?! You may want to pray the rosary daily but wonder how you can fit it in with your daily tasks.
How do you fit the rosary in with your daily activities as a busy mother?
If you are a busy mom, you can break the decades down and pray a decade several times during the day. For example, you can pray the first decade before you get out of bed in the morning, the second decade after the kids go to school, the third and fourth decades as you are doing your tasks around the house, and the fifth decade while waiting for you kids to come out of the school at pickup time. Some people like to take a decade and meditate on only one decade for a long period of time. Some Saints were known to meditate on only one bead for a long period of time.
There are also helpful methods to keep our attention and minds from wandering while praying the rosary.
Father Richard Rooney in his booklet, Let’s Pray (Not Just Say) the Rosary, gives “prayer pictures” for each bead. In other words, he describes what we should be mediating on. We read the description with each bead and then meditate on it while saying the Hail Mary. Another great booklet that has methods for keeping our attention during prayer is How to Say Your Rosary with St. Louis De Montfort. It has two methods for reciting the rosary that help to keep attention to the devotion. The first method is entitled, “A method of saying the Most Holy Rosary, so as to draw upon our souls the grace of the mysteries of the Life, Passion and Glory of Jesus and Mary”. The second method is called, “A Compendium of the life, Passion and Death of Jesus and Mary”. A few other prayers and exclamations are included in this booklet.
How do I make the most of praying the rosary?
While you are meditating on the beads, you can offer a prayer intention per bead, decade, or the whole rosary. In addition, you can add the following to the O My Jesus Prayer: O My Jesus, Forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy…. and bind my family to your sacred heart and to the immaculate heart of the Blessed Mother. It is perfectly fine to add your own prayers at the end of each decade. Another great prayer to add is the prayer for the Holy Souls or recently deceased: “Eternal rest, grant unto the Holy Souls (or specific name), O Lord, and let Your perpetual light shine upon them (or him/her). May the souls of all the faithful departed, through Your mercy, rest in peace. Amen”. This prayer can be said any time you say your rosary, not just at funerals.
Praying the Rosary, is a great way to grow closer to God. The Blessed Mother always brings us to her son and through the rosary, we are reliving the events that took place in His life. The rosary takes your mind off the daily events and places you in the midst of Jesus and His Blessed Mother. I challenge you to pull out your rosary and find new ways of renewing and praying this beautiful prayer. Refresh your mind and soul with new methods and insights into praying the rosary.
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