Happy Thanksgiving-Saying the Rosary

I had just finished saying the rosary this morning & I was thinking afterwards how integrating the regular recitation of it in these past two years has changed my life. It's this amazing gift that is hard for me to explain but I want to share with everyone!

So I thought about this entry & how I would attempt to explain how saying the rosary has changed me. But like I usually do, before I start rambling, I like to base it in fact first then add some of my own ideas tossed in...So I did a little homework on "contemplative prayer." I found a website that consists of a collection of articles written on the various aspects of the rosary http://www.rosary-center.org/trll.htm and one article in particular by Fr. Paul K. Raftery written back in 2003. This whole piece is amazing to me & some of the excerpts from it almost knocked me down due to how accurate the description it gave that I'd like to share with you some of them here. At the end I will share the full link for your enjoyment:

Here it explains the "why" we should say the rosary:

"The Rosary, as a gift of prayer from the Mother of God, leads us to Christ in a way unique among the devotions in the Church. Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, focuses with particular attention on the special way she is active on the soul as we ponder or contemplate Jesus through the eyes of His Mother. We put ourselves under her maternal guidance and allow her to direct our hearts. "The Rosary," he says, "mystically transports us to Mary’s side as she is busy watching over the human growth of Christ in the home of Nazareth. This enables her to train us and to mold us with the same care, until Christ is ‘fully formed’ in us" (RVM 16). What is happening through this "contemplation of the face of Christ" in union with Mary is far more than just a dry and abstract exercise of thought. The Rosary brings us, through a devoted pondering of its mysteries, into intimate union with the very Person of Jesus. Below we will discuss this form of prayer called "contemplation," and the place the Holy Father wants it to have in the lives of the faithful through praying the Holy Rosary."

So when other Christians ask you why you think the need to "pray on those beads" here is the clear & perfect reason as to the "why." We are not WORSHIPPING Mary because we pray the rosary. We only worship God & use Mary & the Saints as a vehicle to draw us ever closer to the Trinity.

The rosary is a contemplative pray; we are to focus on the certain aspects of Jesus' life when saying it & in doing so, drawing us closer to God. The article says this:

"Fr. Thomas Dubay. His book Fire Within (available from Ignatius Press) has been recommended in a previous article, and it will be used extensively here. From his experience he writes:

Over the years I have gradually come to the conclusion that one reason so many people assume that contemplation is reserved for a select few is that they imagine it to be what it is not. They presume that this type of prayer could not be for them because in a vague sort of way they consider it to be something other than it is. They equate it with oriental states of consciousness or with extraordinary phenomena such as divine messages and visions. Being active and busy and little inclined to any lingering reflection, natural or supernatural, they do not take seriously, as meant for them personally, the mystical expressions sprinkled freely throughout the Scripture and liturgical worship(Fire Within, 57).

And this next quote from St. Teresa from Avila really knocked me over because how she describes her contemplative prayer is EXACTLY how I wished to described my feelings in the hospital with my son (mentioned in my entries of Suffering at the Window Seat & Signs over the past month) when I felt Mary's presence so strongly, take a look:

"St. Teresa of Avila, one of the greatest mystics of the Church, gives us a thoroughly down to earth explanation of contemplative prayer. As Fr. Dubay describes it:

For her, contemplation is an experienced, mutual presence, "an intimate sharing between friends," a being alone with the God Who loves us. Hence, this prayer is a mutual presence of two in love, and in this case the Beloved dwells within. Actually, it is an interdwelling, a mutually experienced indwelling. She relates about herself how "a feeling of the presence of God would come upon me unexpectedly so that I could in no way doubt He was within me or I totally immersed in Him" (FW, 58)."

Fr. Dubay goes on to say:

"Even though contemplation is utterly divinely given and humanly received, and as a consequence we can do nothing to force God to grant it, yet we can and must prepare ourselves for the gift. God gives only to the extent that we efficaciously desire, that is, not merely wish something to happen but take concrete means to fit ourselves to receive it.

The gift of contemplative prayer, and the wonderful closeness to God present in the soul that takes place, with the indescribable joy this produces, is indeed for everyone as far as God is concerned. But a person must show God that he is ready for and wants this kind of direct intimate contact with Him. And this is demonstrated by living in conformity with His commandments:

Advancing communion with God does not happen in isolation from the rest of life. One’s whole behavior pattern is being transformed as the prayer deepens. So true is this that if humility, patience, temperance, chastity and love for neighbor are not growing, neither is prayer growing. Hence, contemplation is not simply a pious occupation in the chapel or in some other solitude."

Here is the link to entire article that I hope you enjoy & it encourages you to say the rosary as often as you can. http://www.rosary-center.org/ll56n5.htm

I recently re-read the promises given by Mary or those who habitually say the rosary. I can honestly tell you, that when life gets rushed & "I don't have time" to say the rosary as regularly I should...I physically long for it & miss it. If I could GIVE you a Thanksgiving gift it is this... encouragement to say the rosary as often as you can...find 25 mins in your day please...you will NOT be disappointed & if you have forgotten how, or never knew I urge you to try saying along with this website http://www.comepraytherosary.org/. It has the prayers right there for you to read along with and a bunch of other people to pray with!

THE 15 PROMISES of MOTHER MARY

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces.
2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.
6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.
7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise.
9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.
11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.
12. All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
14. All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.