“Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.” – Blessed Pope Pius IX
A daily rosary.
Dang. That is a BIG COMMITMENT.
I mean, really, think about it. 18 whole minutes a day. I could spend that time scrolling on social media or watching Gilmore Girls (some kids get named after saints, I got named after Rory Gilmore lol.)
Here is the deal.
I think devotion to the rosary is an extremely underestimated and beautiful practice of the Catholic Church.
And I think people can throw out a lot of excuses as to why this is an impossible ask.
While I’m not saying it’s for everyone, I do want to give you a greater understanding of why the rosary is so important, how to pray it well, and strategies to use to pray the rosary daily.
Because I’ve been shown time and time again, it’s never about ‘I don’t have enough time’ but truly ‘this is not a priority in my life.’
This is not meant to be a guilt trip. Everything can’t be your priority. But it can be a fully formed decision. And even if you decide this is not for you, at least you will have a fuller understanding of it, and maybe even consider just adding a decade a day into your life.
This will most definitely need to be a two-part series, though. So today will be all you ever need to know on the rosary, and then later it will be the practicals on how to apply this to your life!
Also… while we are talking about the rosary… I did just launch a Marian-themed stationery set!!! So in honor of May, GO CHECK IT OUT😊
Why is the rosary important? It feels repetitive and boring
I’m so glad you asked. It is repetitive and boring, moving on….
I’m KIDDING… well, partially.
The repetitiveness is part of the beauty in it. The plea for Mother Mary to intercede on our behalf. I’ve heard two analogies that I love for this.
First, think of yourself as a baby bird. I know, absolutely gorgeous, feathers and everything.
Just as a helpless baby bird squeaks and chirps, calling out to its mom for food, so too is the rosary. Every Hail Mary we cry out with is a little bird chirping, “Mama! Mama!”
I know, very aesthetic.
This one’s a bit better. Picture yourself walking with Mary in a beautiful garden. And as you walk, you pick the roses you see, handing them to Mary with love. Each Hail Mary is like a beautiful rose. A little gift for our Mother.
Afterall, in the bible it does say,
“And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.”
Luke 11: 5-8
The rosary is a prayer of persistence. And yes, persistence can mean repetitive. And repetitive can mean boring. But that doesn’t translate to fruitless or bad. The bible literally tells us that repetition is a great way to get our wishes answered
The other beautiful thing is that it doesn’t take an incredible amount of thought. I would love to pray all day, but mental prayer can be hard and takes a fair amount of mental power at times. Having a tool like the rosary will never replace mental prayer, but it does give us an opportunity for prayer in times when we are mentally exhausted but want to cry out to God all the more.
The Ultimate Repetition
Of late, I’ve been hooked on the 54 Day rosary novena. I’m currently praying it for the conversion of one of my dear friends, and it has been a beautiful experience. It’s not for the light of heart, so I highly recommend doing it with someone (I’m praying mine with my fiancé.)
This tradition started when the Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl, Fortuna Agrelli in 1884. She had an incurable illness and asked for Mary’s intercession in her healing. Mary asked her to pray three novenas asking for a specific prayer intention, and then another three novenas in thanksgiving, regardless of if she saw the petition answered. When you do the math, this makes 54 days. So, if you’re really looking for a challenge or have a prayer intention very near and dear to your heart, 10/10 recommend. Hallow has a version of it; otherwise, here is a PDF version I use.
A basket of intentions
I liked to think of my daily rosary as my basket of intentions, I place in front of Mary. Before each rosary, I bring forward the intentions to all the people in my life I care about, and other places in my life that particularly need prayer.
I cover it all. People. Virtues. My Vocation. World events. They all need prayers. The rosary is the perfect way for me to feel as though I’m doing my part in giving these things more than a brief mention in my morning prayers.
I used to pick a different intention for each decade, which isn’t necessarily a bad way to go about things. I just have too many intentions now to fit in five decades lol.
I could pray a rosary… or I could just chat with Jesus himself…
True… you could.
Or you could honor His mother as He asked of us. As He told in John 19,
“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”
It is believed that when Jesus calls John, Mary’s son, He is giving her as a spiritual mother to all of us.
What really gets me is the concept of the Queen Mother.
Why do we call Mary the Queen of Heaven? She’s not married to Jesus, that’s weird.
In biblical times, kings had many wives. Solution? Have the king’s mother be the Queen. And as the Queen and his mother, she had the most influence over him.
We find this in the bible, particularly through the contrast of two chapters in 1 Kings.
In 1 Kings 1, David’s wife Bathsheba requests that her son Solomon become King after David dies. She lies prostrate on the ground as she asks and pays him homage like any other subject.
We compare that to 1 Kings 2, where Bathsheba again makes a request, this time of her son Solomon. She doesn’t bow down, but King Solomon actually stands up and bows to her, saying, “Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you” (1 Kings 2:20).
Edward Siri does an excellent job explaining this in his article Is Mary’s Queenship Biblical?, so definitely check that out as well.
So yeah… the rosary isn’t dumb and fruitless
It’s actually pretty dang awesome, and I would love for you all to fall in love with the rosary the same way I did. So take it to prayer and give it a try. Don’t let Jesus’s gift of His mother be a wasted one. Check out the challenge of the month for help in getting started!
Love you all and praying for you always,
Rory😊
What are your thoughts?