The Right Way to Pray the Rosary

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Yesterday we meditated on the fact that Mary has been appearing with a greater frequency and urgency as if the world is moving toward some dramatic moment.

What does any good mother do when she sees her children in danger? She comes to their aid. This is why Our Lady comes. She comes to call us to turn back to God. She comes to call us to conversion. This is the fundamental message of all her apparitions, she says, “Be converted!” “It’s time to change now!”

This conversion happens through daily mental prayer. Why? What do we do in mental prayer?

We commit to spend time in friendship with Jesus and Mary. That alone will bring change.

But then we read or hear what Jesus says in his own words, or through the saints or the Church.

Then we think about it, we try to understand his word, his way of life. We then see that the way of Jesus leads to true happiness and we begin to like his way of life. And we think about how our selfishness and sin have only resulted in emptiness and unhappiness. We begin to dislike our sin more and more.

This double realization leads to a conviction – I want to get rid of my sin and live more like Jesus because I want to be happy.

But for real change to take place I must practice what I have meditated upon – I must make a simple concrete resolution to do what Jesus says and keep doing it until it becomes a good habit, a virtue.

This is the process of conversion: to spend time with Jesus, to think about what he says, then to make the resolution to do what he says.

That is what Mary wants us to do in the Rosary!

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Without the practice of a resolution we will not convert – we will not change

St Francis De Sales writes something striking about the importance of a resolution:

The most important thing of all is that you cling firmly to the resolutions you have taken in meditation so as to practice them carefully.  That is the great fruit of meditation, without which it is often not only useless but harmful.  Why so?  Because the virtues upon which we have meditated but not practiced sometimes puff us up so much in mind and heart that we think we are already what we are resolved to be which no doubt is the case if our resolutions are solid and ardent.  But when, on the contrary, they are not practiced, they are useless and dangerous.  (Introduction to the Devout Life, II Chap 8)

This is amazing, De Sales says that failing to form a resolution is not only a waste but is harmful because if we spend time thinking about a virtue but never practice it – we think we are virtuous when we are not – all we have done is think about it.

Imagine watching YouTube videos on exercise and never exercising. We’re still overweight and out of shape

If we don’t practice a resolution then we never change from being spiritual slobs to spiritual athletes   

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A resolution is to choose some concrete and practical thing flowing from our meditation to put into practice that day.

Examples of a resolution are:

·       Today I will listen more than I speak

·       I will not gossip today

·       I complain too much, therefore, today I will practice thanking God for everything.

·       I become anxious easily, so today I will replace that feeling of Anxiety with an Act of Trust in God. Every time I feel anxious I will say: Jesus I trust in you.

This morning I was meditating on the first reading from the Mass from the book of Proverbs where in chapter 22:15 it says:

Innate in the heart of a child is folly, judicious beating will rid him of it.

Teresa, this would be a good resolution, but to which of my grown children I should apply it?

Seriously – a good resolution would be never to just scroll in You-Tube or the news. Too often we are drawn into bad stuff.

Or today, slow down and try to live in the present moment with Mary for that is how we learn to live under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

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We want to see results and if we don’t, we tend to get discouraged and quit.

The Result of our prayer is that over time we should change. But change does not come about by vague generalities. “I need to be more loving.” Great, so what, that is too vague. What are you going to do concretely to become more loving to your spouse or kids or elderly parents today?

Change comes from the grace of God, honest reflection on the Word of God and your own life and then committing to a resolution, some concrete step that we will put into practice that day.

If we meditate every day and form a resolution that we put into practice, one of two things will happen: we will change and grow in virtue and become a saint; or we will quit doing meditation.

But the fact is, no change can occur without reflection and a resolution.

Do you end every meditation with a concrete resolution?

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The Rosary is the path of Conversion because it is the School of Mary

In the Rosary the Holy Spirit and Mary teach us to become like Jesus.

In his letter to the world on the Rosary St. John Paul II wrote: The Rosary 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 (cf. Gal 4:19). Rosarium 15