Catechism Corner | How to Pray the Rosary

Motivation is the key to carrying out any worthy enterprise. They know what they want and they have a clear plan before their eyes. CEO's in successful companies know what they want, have goals, deadlines, and concrete steps to attain those goals. Professional athletes have a determined determination to win. They study their opponents' weak points, capitalize on their own strengths and play for victory. Therefore, to attain to any goal there must be a clear plan and strong motivations.

Spiritual Goals and Objectives

Even more important for the human person created in the image and likeness of God should be the goal and the motivation to attain that goal. Our goal is very clear—to get to heaven. One of the most efficacious means to attain eternal salvation with God in heaven is through prayer. Prayer is the key to salvation. What oxygen is to our lungs so is prayer to the life of our soul. For that reason, Saint Augustine asserted: "He who prays well lives well; he who lives well dies well; and he who dies well, all is well."

Still there is a powerful means and intercessor before the throne of God who can help us to get to heaven and to help us in our prayer life and motivate us to focus our energies on God and God alone—the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Way Pray Rosary

Saying the Hail Mary's is like background music to the meditation. Everybody always knows that a beautiful scene is always better and more beautiful when there is music. It is certainly possible to meditate without praying vocal prayers. However, in the Rosary we are asking Our Lady to teach us about Jesus. This is why many popes have called the Rosary the school of Mary. Praying the vocal prayer of the Hail Mary while meditating on the mysteries of the rosary is comparable to listening to the Psalms of the Old Testament while taking a walk and contemplating the beauty of nature.

Even saints struggled with praying the rosary. Yet, it is important to remember that those who love Jesus and Mary never give up! Even though some saints struggled with praying the rosary, none of them ever gave up. For example, St. Thérèse of Lisieux often mentioned how difficult it was for her to pray the rosary and meditate on the mysteries, but she also noted that she gave it her best effort and knew that since Mary was her spiritual mother Our Lady knew Thérèse's heart and accepted whatever she gave her.

Personally, I think everyone gets distracted and experiences their mind wandering during the rosary. We are not angels or robots, and do not have the ability to ponder one thing for long periods of time without other thoughts coming to our mind. No one should panic over this or give up praying the rosary because of it. To help with this, we have the blessing today of having beautiful little pamphlets that have images for each mystery on them. Many people have found that if they gaze upon a visual image of each mystery, they get less distracted and are able to meditate easier.

Pray Rosary in the Family

How to instill a deeper prayer life at home. But what are some tips or strategies to make it fruitful, especially for families with small children?

The family rosary is very powerful and there have been many popes and saints who have promoted it. However, popes and saints also know that young children can become rambunctious during a twenty-minute prayer commitment. This is why many holy people have recommended that a good method to follow when young children are involved is to pray a decade as a family every evening, but save the praying the entire rosary (one set of mysteries) for Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.

I would also suggest that in order to instill in young children an understanding of what they are doing when they pray the rosary, it can help to describe each mystery to them and then have them draw the mystery and color it in with crayons. This is a creative way of helping young children understand the rosary in a deeper and more childlike way.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.