FAQ

There is not a requirement for anyone to pray the rosary. Still, many find it to be an invaluable addition to their spiritual life.

For centuries church leaders and mystics have urged believers to pray the rosary claiming that the prayers can change lives, strengthen families, give peace, and convert unbelievers bringing salvation to souls.

It takes time and practice to finish a rosary. Similar to building a new muscle. The 15-20 minutes of an entire rosary is often too much for the new user.

Yet, new users can benefit from praying smaller sections of a solo rosary, such as the opening prayers and the first decade.

After a while, you will feel ready to pray a full rosary and eventually join others in simultaneous community prayers.

Believers from ancient times before Christ would endeavor to recite numerous liturgical prayers. In the ninth century, monks began the habit of praying the 150 psalms using pebbles to count the times they have prayed. They would place the pebbles into a pouch and remove one after each psalm to keep count.

The uneducated laity wanted to mimic this devotion. Because they didn't have access to the expensive printings of psalms, they settled for reciting the famous Our Father prayer 50-150 times. To keep the count, they tied knots on strings and eventually placed beads.

According to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Dominic when praying to her, asking for help because of his lack of success in his preaching against the Albigenses heresy. She told him, "If you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter."

The Psalter refers to the Angelic Prayer and the Hail Mary. The Our Father combined with the Hail Mary provides the bulk of this beautiful devotion, which exploded in popularity soon after.

The ancient Jewish liturgy contains multiple prayers with repetition, which likely was also prayed by Jesus. You will notice that the warning that Jesus gives in Matthew 6:7 was towards gentiles and not towards the Jewish liturgy.

There is no problem with repetition, only with vain repetition. Notice that in Psalm 136, the verse "for his mercy endures forever" occurs 26 times. Vain repetition is the one without any foundation in meaning or purpose.  

Focus on each bead, imagining yourself as an eyewitness to those events within the current mystery. Reflecting as you visualize the pain, joy, sounds, and smells present at those moments.

The two main reasons are found in the gospel of Luke, which reveals blessing and prophecy. Consequently, each time we pray the Hail Mary, we fulfill biblical prophecy.  

Luke 1:42, "Blessed are you [Mary] among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb [Jesus]."

Luke 1:48, "All generations shall call her blessed." 

When Christians pray to the saints, they ask for them to intercede and pray for the individual to God. Similarly to when we ask family members to pray for the trials that we are facing.

This practice replicates the urging found in 1st Timothy, where he asks for the supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving to be offered for everyone. In the book of Revelations, we learn about the Apostle John's vision of heaven. In this vision, he saw the saints in heaven holding our prayers in their hands and letting those prayers rise to God.

It takes time and practice to finish a rosary. Similar to building a new muscle. The 15-20 minutes of an entire rosary is often too much for the new user. Yet, new users can benefit from praying smaller sections of a solo rosary, such as the opening prayers and the first decade. After a while, you will feel ready to pray a full rosary and eventually join others in simultaneous community prayers.