what is your view on praying the rosary?

Question

is it wrong for me to not believe in that despite being a catholic?

i was educated in a catholic school where we were taught about how praying the rosary helps save lives and whatnot. i believed in it and prayed it almost everyday. but then when i got to college and had the opportunity to study theology (not in-depth) that by praying the rosary, i'm venerating Mary more than God. come to think of it, when you pray the rosary, you have to say fifty hail mary's and only five our father's. can you enlighten me on this topic?

Answer 1

“Teach Us How to Pray”
The Gospel account of Luke records that one of Jesus’ disciples requested of him: “Lord, teach us how to pray.” In response, Jesus began: “Whenever you pray, say, ‘Father, let your name be sanctified.’” During his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus likewise instructed his followers to pray: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified.”—Luke 11:1, 2; Matthew 6:9.

The first thing we learn, then, is that prayer, or worshipful address, should be directed to Jesus’ Father, who is Jehovah. Nowhere does the Bible authorize us to pray to anyone else. This is appropriate since, as Moses was told when he received the Ten Commandments, Jehovah is “a God exacting exclusive devotion.”—Exodus 20:5.

What About the Rosary?
Many who pray to Mary have been taught that blessings can be gained by the repetition of set formulas—prayers such as the Hail Mary, Our Father, and others. For Catholics, “the most widespread form of Marian devotion [that is, devotion to Mary] is without doubt the rosary,” says the book Symbols of Catholicism. The rosary is a religious exercise in honor of the Virgin Mary. The term also refers to the string of beads used to count prayers. “Five sets of ten beads, separated by an individual bead,” explains the same book, “are an invitation to fifty recitations of ‘Hail Mary’, five of ‘Our Father’, and five of ‘Glory be to the Father.’” Does God listen with favor to the devout recitation of the rosary?

Again, the instructions that Jesus gave to his disciples provide us with an authoritative answer. “When praying, do not say the same things over and over again, just as the people of the nations do,” he said, “for they imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many words.” (Matthew 6:7) So Jesus specifically told his followers to avoid repeating set formulas in their prayers.

‘But didn’t Jesus teach his disciples to repeat the Our Father, which is part of the rosary?’ someone may ask. It is to be acknowledged that Jesus provided a model prayer, which has come to be known as the Our Father, or the Lord’s Prayer. We should note, however, that he did so immediately after giving the above warning against saying “the same things over and over again.” That Jesus did not intend for the model prayer to be repeated by rote is also evident from differences in his expressions in the two recorded instances in which he taught his disciples to pray. (Matthew 6:9-15; Luke 11:2-4) The ideas Jesus expressed on those occasions were similar, but his words were not the same. This leads us to the conclusion that Jesus was simply providing models or examples of how his followers can pray and of what they can appropriately pray for. Most important, his words indicated who should be the recipient of prayer.

Respect for Mary
The fact that the Scriptures do not teach Christians to pray to Mary in no way implies a lack of respect for the role she played in the outworking of God’s purposes. The blessings that come through her Son will be to the eternal benefit of all obedient mankind. “All generations will pronounce me happy,” Mary herself stated. And her cousin Elizabeth said that Mary was “blessed . . . among women.” Indeed, she was. It was a wonderful privilege for Mary to be chosen to bear the Messiah.—Luke 1:42, 48, 49.

However, Mary is not the only woman whom the Scriptures call blessed. Because of the actions that Jael took for the benefit of the ancient nation of Israel, she too was said to have been “most blessed among women.” (Judges 5:24) Faithful Jael, Mary, and many other godly women mentioned in the Bible are certainly worthy of our imitation—but not of our veneration.

Mary was a faithful follower of Jesus. She was present on various occasions during his earthly ministry and also at his death. After Jesus’ resurrection she was “persisting in prayer” with Jesus’ brothers. This gives us reason to believe that along with them she too was anointed with holy spirit at Pentecost 33 C.E. and thus shared the hope of being part of the bride class that will reign in heaven with Christ.—Matthew 19:28; Acts 1:14; 2:1-4; Revelation 21:2, 9.

None of this, though, authorizes us to pray to Mary. Heartfelt prayer is an essential part of worship, and Christians are encouraged to “persevere in prayer.” (Romans 12:12) However, all such worshipful devotion should be directed to Jehovah alone, through Jesus Christ.—Matthew 4:10; 1 Timothy 2:5.

Answer 2

Keep in mind that throughout the rosary, you recall the stages of Jesus' passion. The rosary is not meant to be prayed as a means of worship. It's almost like a state of meditation when you pray. The hail mary's just give you something holy to say as your mind relaxes and you get in touch with the idea of God- after all, meditation is the highest form of prayer.

I was told not to concentrate on the words, and just to think about who or what I was praying for. I'm still not sure if the rosary works, but I know I haven't said it for years. I think it's time I started again. Thank you.

Answer 3

Not in depth is right. The rosary is just a method of prayer; it it doesn't work for you, then don't do it. You also have not been taught correctly to pray the rosary. During the prayers, you are suppossed to reflect on the Mysteries of Jesus. I, although not a devout Catholic, prefer the rosary to all other prayer methods since, to me, it is a form of meditation.

Answer 4

I was once a Catholic. I learned as I got into the Bible and became another type of Christian, as stated in many answers above, not to say repetitious prayers. The best way to pray, and the way God wants us to pray, is to talk to God and Jesus from our inner being...our heart. God doesn't want those repetitive "prayers" ...altho, if a person knows no other way, I'm sure God is listening to their hearts. But, when you really know how to pray, and talk to Jesus, you'll know that prayers with your own words and thoughts are how we should be praying. Don't forget to Thank God too!

Answer 5

i've never had a single hail-mary or our father redeem of guiltiness of my sins...........a sin is a sin, you either live with it in your mind or you don't.

Believe I've attended 100's of stations of the cross said probably a million hail mary's and I get nothing.

Prayer is no good.
We can't face problems in the world such as:
(global warming, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, sting-rays being defensive, etc etc)
by using prayer, science proves this.

Instead of wasting your time preparing for
an afterlife, spend this entire life preparing your future generations for their lives and so on.

The one's who didn't evactuate New Orleans
just sat back and prayed that the hurricane
wouldnt flood New Orleans. Wow!!! Their prayers
were answered huh? They didnt leave b/c they were
lazy and thought prayer could help divert the
hurricane. WRONG! We as a human race have to take onproblems in the world Face-to-Face, not Face-to-Thought.

Answer 6

Saying words for know reason is vain and no point to it the rosary is meant for meditation on the life of Jesus/mary not for the benefit of saying the hail marys... the point of the hail marys is that its a marian psalter and it's in honor of mary but it's not meant to pray to her it's not meant to be a prayer tool at all not the way your thinking. when praying the hail marys your not suppose to even concentrate on those words but on the gospel verse, like i said it is a marian devotion and you can ask for marys prayers to the Lord in honor of saying the rosary but its not meant to please anyone by saying the words... I dont know if you get me because im real tired and not really sure if im even speaking gramtically but ye.

Answer 7

Dear Johann,

i'm not sure where in the Bible you even find Rosaries. The Lord's prayer gives us a wonderful example of how we should pray. Timothy tells us that there is only one mediator between man and God- Christ Jesus! And Jesus Himself said no one comes to the Father except through Him.

Pray to the Father, through Jesus, by the Power of the Holy Spirit.

Hope that helps,

Nickster

Answer 8

It ranks up there with reading tea leaves and examining entrails.
My mother was a catholic and she would say how the confessional priest would assign so many hail Mary's or whatever and everyone would just rattle them off and get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. It seems to me that if you just said your own prayer, and actually thought about what you were saying, it would have more benefit.

Answer 9

nicely i'm Roman Catholic yet i do no longer pray the rosary. yet i do see some postives from praying the rosary yet i do no longer see any negatives. and specific i do say the Apostles Creed

Answer 10

Pray the rosaries, but keep them off my ovaries.