The Loveliness of Rosaries

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Sarah at Catholic Pondering is having a Loveliness of Rosaries Fair. I can't think of any lovelier topic than time spent with Our Lord Jesus through His Blessed Mother. Pope John Paul II said of praying the rosary, in Rosarium Virginis Mariae, "Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to 'set out into the deep' (duc in altum!) in order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, 'the way, and the truth and the life.'"

I mentioned in my Fatima post on Tuesday that I have begun using a scriptural rosary book during prayer each night. I only pray one decade each night, but by the end of the week, I have prayed the entire rosary. I know that many people can pray the entire rosary every day, and sometimes I do -- if I spend enough time in the car -- but most days find me scrambling from sunup to sundown taking care of my family.

So, I am happy to spend the very end of each day with Our Blessed Mother in prayer. The scriptural rosary, if you've never prayed it, combines the traditional prayers of the rosary, with short scripture passages tied to each particular mystery. The scripture is a great aid for meditating on each mystery.

The book I've been using is The Mysteries of Christ, A Scriptural Rosary (you can find many online, too -- here is one). With the use of a scriptural rosary book, you don't actually need beads (well, you never actually need beads). But, for me, the beads are a significant part of praying the rosary. Many people will say that the prayers are the crucial part, and I don't disagree. The rosary is all about the prayers and meditation. But, for me, the beads are important, too.

I am partial to beads. After all, I make rosaries. But, I recently read in The Mysteries of Christ that the use of the beads actually serve a purpose -- greater than keeping count -- when you pray the rosary. This passage really spoke to me:

Soul and Body and the Rosary. In its most basic form, the rosary is a series of prayers to be recited in an established pattern. We know these prayers by heart, and the words come quickly to our memories. We usually don't have to think about them very much. However, if we were to pray the rosary on this level only, we might be keeping our bodies busy -- our lips forming the words and our hands fingering the beads -- but not really engaging our souls in the fullest way possible (1Corinthians 14:14).

But it's precisely because it involves our bodies in this way that the rosary can be an effective way to pray. Remember, we are physical as well as spiritual beings. We are not unattached souls who can successfully direct our thoughts without any help from our bodies. We've all had the experience of trying to relax in prayer, hoping that the distractions of life will fade away -- only to find ourselves either nodding off to sleep or filled with yet another set of distractions.

We've also had the experience of coming upon important insights while we were driving somewhere, or shopping, or exercising or even watching television. Haven't there been times where your body has been occupied and active, making it easier for your soul to focus on higher questions? It is sometimes when our bodies absorb some of the "fringe energy" of our hectic lives that our souls are freed up to focus on higher things (Colossians 3:1-2).

This is part of the reason why gestures like kneeling, standing, singing, and even dance are such an ancient part of our tradition. In a very real way, our bodies need to become engaged in prayer just as our minds do -- and this is precisely how the rosary works. Outwardly we may be kneeling and reciting prayers. But, inwardly, we have a great opportunity to ponder the mysteries of the gospel and to know intimacy with Jesus. So, when we are praying the rosary, we are allowing our bodies to become occupied with the rhythm of the prayers so we can free our souls to draw closer to Jesus and treasure His love and His presence.

So, grab those rosary beads, my friend, say a quick personal prayer to your Blessed Mother, and pray the rosary.

And if you need a reason -- I leave you with 50: