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The Rosary

I began praying the Rosary about 3 years ago. At the time I was attending Mass on Sundays. My prayer life consisted of saying the Our Father and prayers of my own words. I wasn't spending much time at all in prayer. I didn't really know how.

However, it felt like there should be more. I felt like I was cheating God, not giving Him anything more than the bare minimum. But, like I said, I didn't know how to pray more or pray better.

I knew about the Rosary. Or at least I thought I did. The Rosary is a plastic strand of beads that all Catholics have lying in some drawer in their home, right? Wrong. That is a rosary. The Rosary is a prayer. I remember from my youth in Catholic school that in order to pray the Rosary a person said some Hail Marys, some Glory be(s) and some Our Fathers. That is it. That was about the extent of what I knew of the Rosary.

Even though what I knew about this prayer was very limited; Even though what I did know about it made it seem very boring, I felt drawn to begin praying it. However, as I mentioned I wasn't quite sure how to pray it. I did some googling and found instructions. Here is a nice set of instructions that you can print for easy reference while you are first beginning.

I feel like I have been blessed with this prayer. I want to share with you my thoughts about the Rosary, the struggles of this prayer, and the lessons I have learned through praying it. A series of posts will follow, some on the lessons I have learned in the Mysteries, some in general about the prayer and how it works for me. In the end I hope that if you are already praying the Rosary that we can encourage each other in the practice. If you aren't praying the Rosary, that you will consider giving this great prayer a chance to be a part of your life. Finally, if you pray the Rosary from time to time, I hope that you will find inspiration to make it a more regular habit.
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