Praying the rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Do you pray the rosary?

For some, this ancient prayer stands as a staple of the life of devotion. Essential to prayer, standard for the day, it provides a common, comfortable space for spiritual expression. For others, it remains an opaque, somewhat disquieting, duty.

I think it has to do with the way your mind works. For some, it leads to quiet and contemplation. For others, it provides a space in which the already distracted mind can run wild.

The solution, for those who wish to make use of this kind of prayer and have had little success, is the realization that there are different ways to approach this most popular for of prayer.

Make use of books. I often use scripture when praying the rosary. Being one of those cursed with very active thought and very little imagination, I find reading the scripture while repeating the Hail Mary a good way to focus.

Use the method of inserting phrases. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, who was scourged for my sins. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen." You can find prayer books like that, or make up your own.

Enter into meditation first. If you are one who has the most active of minds, quiet it down with a good dose of meditative prayer first. Then begin the recitation. The repetition then may be a good help to contemplation.

There are myriad ways of praying the rosary. We know that it is powerful, but no one said that we all have to pray it the same way...