10 Reverent Ways To Pray the Rosary

How many of you find yourself reciting the rosary but not meditating or truly praying it? Many of us fall into this, but we must be aware that we do not want to pray in vain with many meaningless words, we must focus and pray from the heart, meditating and reflecting on the beautiful mysteries. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

(CCC 2562) Where does prayer come from? Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays. But in naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times). According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain.

I realized I was a false devotee to Mary when I consecrated myself to Jesus through Mary using St. Louis DeMontfort’s, “True Devotion to Mary.” Check out my article where I share what characteristics make you a false devotee.  The rosary can be your mental prayer for the day, if you actually meditate on the mysteries.

10 Ways to Pray the Rosary with Reverence:

• Find a quiet place to pray. Make sure you will be undisturbed, if possible. I had some coaching clients who prayed in the closet, car, or in the bathroom, whatever works for you. We need to imitate Jesus.“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35
• Use Sacramentals to prepare. Blessed Sacramentals are always best – use holy water, oil, salt, crucifix, miraculous medal, etc. Bless yourself and your space with holy water, oil and salt. This helps rid your space of spirits to distract you and protects you as well.
• Find a focal point. Something should be in your space where you can focus and turn toward as a visual reminder of putting yourself in the presence of God. This can be sacramentals as listed above or others such as a picture, bible, statue, or the rosary itself. I find if I am “on the road” my rosary is best, I look at Jesus and Mary often.
• Pray with humility to the Holy Spirit. Let’s face it, we do not know how to pray, we need help. God knows this and tells us He will help us. The Catechism says that prayer is a gift and we need to pray with humility. (CCC 2559):

Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or “out of the depths” of a humble and contrite heart?³ He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not know how to pray as we ought,” are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. “Man is a beggar before God.”

• Reflect on the theme of the mysteries for a few minutes prior to praying. Preparation for prayer is just as important as prayer itself. We need to calm down our minds and put ourselves in the presence of God, reflecting on what we are about to pray will help immensely. It may help to reflect with a book or a guided meditation (try my free meditations on YouTube)
• Offer up the rosary for someone’s reversion. Prayers of petition for someone else is a humbling act of intercession and selflessness. In addition to petitions throughout, we can ask the entire Holy Army to pray along with us.
• Deliver spirits as they come such as distraction, confusion, attention deficit disorder, etc. Satan does not want you to pray, especially the rosary. When we allow ourselves to pray without our heart in it, there will be no fruit. It is better for you to pray one decade with your heart than all five like a Pagan.“But all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.” Mark 4:19
• Do not give up. When we give up and decide not to pray, we sin – we chose not to love God. But if we persevere and dedicate time with God, He is happy with us as His faithful servants.Offer up your small sacrifice of time to Jesus. “Jesus, I offer up my time and unite it to you on the Cross. Please give me Your strength and perseverance. I offer it up for all of the people who do not sit and love you or choose not to give you their time or heart in prayer.”Satan wants you to quit. He doesn’t want you any closer to God so he will really fight your desire to pray.  By offering up the sacrifice for you and for other sinners, it makes the offering even more meritorious.
• Ask for revelation during your prayer, “Lord, what do you want me to do from this meditation today?”
  Mental prayer should result in an outcome of some sort, we need to listen to what God puts on our hearts and act on it, no matter how difficult.“Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3
• Praise God. When we are finished praying, we should always ask the Lord to give us the grace to do what He has asked of us and to thank Him for helping us pray. If you delivered spirits of distraction and felt peace and concentration fall over you, thank Him for that. Thank Him for your faith and all your blessings.

There are 24 hours in a day, and that is plenty of time to find 20-40 minutes to pray the rosary reverently. Remember that love is a choice – we choose to love God – our currency with Him is our time. Let’s stop praying in vain and start giving Him the reverence He deserves. I hope you give my rosary meditations a try, please let me know your thoughts if you do. Have a blessed and inspired day.