rosary part 1

The Rosary is perhaps one of the most identifiable parts of Catholicism. It is also something that is often attacked because of it's emphasis on the Blessed Virgin Mary. Over the next few days I am going to discuss the rosary, the prayers involved in the rosary, and some of the basic catholic beliefs about the Blessed Virgin.

The name Rosary comes from the Latin word rosarium which means "Crown of Roses". The Rosary has been around for about 1000 years and has been practiced by Catholics for quite some time. The item of the rosary is a set of beads that each denote a certain prayer. The beads are organized into decades(sets of 10) of "Hail Mary" with beads before each decade where an "Our Father" is said. During each decade the person praying the rosary is to meditate on various sets of mysteries. These Mysteries revolve around the Gospels, and are wonderful in helping one think deeply about various aspects of the Christian Story. At the end of the decade one recites the "Glory Be", and sometimes the Fatima Prayer. Finally the final prayer is a "Hail Holy Queen". All these prayers will be examined later.

I was always interested in what exactly the rosary was when I was a protestant, and right before i converted I got a rosary as a gift, i did not know what i was supposed to do with it, so i decided to try something experimental and simply pray a prayer request on each bead. I don't think i actually made it through the whole thing because i was struggling to come up with 50 some prayer requests off the top of my head. I eventually printed off some instructions that included the prayers and the mysteries, i tried it a few times, but i never really started practicing it on a consistent basis. It has not been until recently that I have actually made it a regular part of my prayer life, and i must say it is a wonderful prayer tool. It has often been called a weapon against the devil, and i would agree. My only problem is staying focused on meditating on the mysteries, I think my mind is trained to not focus on things for too long, so i hope eventually i get better at it.

I am excited for this blog series, tommorow i will most likely post on the prayers of the rosary. Hope to get some feedback!