What is the purpose of the repititious holy rosary of the Catholic faith?

Question

I have always been mystified by this. When I'm flipping through my cable channels, I often see a half-hour show, which I think is called 'The Holy Rosary of Sister Angela." I'm assuming this responsive chant is common in other Catholic religious places and ceremonies, but I just don't understand why it's done (I'm Protestant, non-denominational, but raised in a Baptist church). The same thin is repeated over and over. I haven't been patient enough to count and know if it's done a specified number of times. It sounds so expressionless, and I would think that after a while one would get really tired of doing it and begin to tune out and go on auto-pilot, or fall asleep. Is this a command in the Bible that they do this? If not, what is the origin of it? Why is this done rather than just talking or praying to God in a heart-felt prayer?

Answer 1

The rosary is a meditative prayer, while you are repeating the hail marys your mind is actually meditatin on the particular mistery of that decade. There are 20 misteries divided in 4 sets of 5 decades each. One decade consists of 1 Our father, 10 hail Mary and one Glory Be at the end of the decade.
The misteries are divided as follows:
Joyful misteries.
1.The annuntiation to the Virgin mary from The Angel
2. the visitation of mary to Elizabth
3. The Nativity of Our Lord jesus Christ
4. The presentation at the temple of Jesus
5. The finding of Jesus at the temple by the Virgin mary
Luminous misteries
6. The Baptism of our lord
7. The Wedding at cana
8. The proclamation of the Kingdom
9. the transfiguration
10. The institution of the Eucharist (the last supper)
Sorrowful misteries
11. The agony at the garden
12. The scourging at the pilar
13. The Crowning with thorns
14. The imposition of the cross
15. The crucifiction
The Glorious misteries
16. The resurrection
17. The Ascension into heaven
18. the descent of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost
19. The ascension of Mary to heaven
20. The coronation

The origin of the rosary is actually lost in time but it decends from the 50 psalter prayer beads cords that monks used to count prayers. It is a very popular devption within the catholic tradition, it is however not something required of all catholics to practice, but highly recommended to do because you actually are meditating on passages of the gospel. Each mistery yields one fruit as a result on your meditating on it. I like to pray the rosary a lot, and its power is amazing.

And is supposed to be said devoutedly and from the heart, by the way: heart felt prayer to God is the first kind of prayer one should do, the rosary does not substitute direct prayer to god, with your spirit, mind and heart elevated to HIM. We catholics pray also very deeply from our hearts and are capable of high mystical experiences of communion with God in private and communal prayer, especially at the eucharist, believe it.

Answer 2

Of course one should alway pray to God - that isn't even in question.

The rosary is a meditative exercise, a meditation on the life and death of Jesus. If one says the prayers mindlessly, then it's to no avail.

Is saying the Our Father daily a mindless repetition? You bet, if it's done without reflecting on the prayer and it's meaning.

There is nothing wrong with saying the rosary and reflecting on Jesus' life and death; nothing wrong with being immersed in what His life was like.

The origin of the rosary is most interesting. From its early days the Church urged its faithful to recite the 150 Psalms of David from the Bible. This custom still prevails today. Priests and consecrated religious are obliged to pray the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) each day which consists in a large measure of the Psalms of David.

In former days, before the printing press, it was not easy for anyone to memorize the 150 Psalms and hand inscribed scrolls of Scripture were a rarity. The people who could not learn the 150 Psalms by heart, wanted to do something to make up for it. So they substituted 150 �Hail Mary�s.� They broke up these 150 Hail Mary�s into 15 decades, or series of ten. Each 10 Hail Mary�s were said while meditating on different aspects of the life of Our divine Lord. We call them the mysteries.
To keep each decade separate, each series of 10 began with the Our Father and ended with the doxology or the Glory Be in praise to the Blessed Trinity. They would meditate on some mystery of Jesus Christ for the length of time it took to say 10 Hail Marys, transporting little stones or beads from one pocket or hand to the other.

The Rosary properly prayed is centered on Jesus Christ.

In praying the Holy Rosary, the whole person is employed. The Rosary invites our fingers, our lips, our heart. The body as well as the soul is employed. Pope Benedict XV said that when we have meditated on the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries of the Rosary - we have meditated on all the chief events of our salvation.

Answer 3

To you who are watching it may seem to be a repetitious babbling prayer. But it is not. It is a combination of vocal and meditative prayer. One meditates on various aspects of the Life and Death of Christ as one says the vocal prayers on each bead of the Holy Rosary. So one who says the Rosary occupies the mind, the speech and the fingers and helps you to focus completely on God rather than being distracted. It is not an emotionless prayer but the most heart-felt prayer ever designed by God since you are totally immersed in Christ as you say it.

This is a prayer that has been a long Catholic tradition. All Catholic saints have been devoted to the Holy Rosary. It encompasses the entire New Testament on its beads. It is called the ' Scourge of Satan' since Satan is known to be vanquished by this humble prayer. Even the most illiterate peasant who cannot read his Bible can say this prayer and live the Bible. Each decade (ten beads) of the Rosary represents a different Mystery depending on the day of the week. . For example, if you say the Rosary on a Friday you meditate on the Sorrowful mysteries which are 1) The agony of Our Lord in the garden 2) The scourging at the Pillar 3) The Crowning with thorns 4) The Carrying of the Cross to Mount Calvary 5) The Crucifixion, Death and Burial of Our Lord.

So while you looked at Mother Angelica and the nuns and thought they were expressionless and monotonous, their minds were at that point engrossed in meditating on the Life of Christ. It is not called the Rosary of Sister Angelica it is just the Rosary said by that group of nuns and is the name of the programme.

Another misconception is that Catholics dont talk or pray to God. We do that too. I talk to God all the time as I work or during my prayer time. But the Rosary is also a special prayer that brings me closer to Christ as I meditate on His Life and Death.

God Bless and thanks for being curious and asking rather than just condemning !

Answer 4

the rationalization why i pray the rosary via fact i grew up in the Catholic faith. returned in would 2010, one month once I made my confirmation/first communion, my mom taught me with regard to the rosary. i did not know the way it became into to artwork yet then i found that's thank you to connect with God and to the Virgin Mary. on the commencing up i theory the rosary became into ineffective repetitious and ineffective yet then i found out that's not. that's totally useful and significant. As a spiritual Catholic, i attempt to inspire others to do it additionally. I keep in mind one Sunday night throughout the time of Lent season, i became into at a Catholic church for Eucharist adoration. and that i pulled out my rosary and commenced praying. And one time on Father's day, i've got been given my dad a pair of rosary beads. Hoping it might him rebuild his Catholic faith. yet not something. I pray for him.

Answer 5

The rosary is a prayer that is pleasing to God. It is a way to lessen the power of the devil in the world. In Fatima, when Mary appeared to the children she asked them to say the rosary. Mary requests us to say the rosary everyday or when we can so that we can obtain world peace. If enough people pray the rosary, World Wars 1, 2 or 3 etc. could have been prevented. This is because this prayer meditates on what Jesus did for us to save us from hell. It meditates and thanks God for dying and suffering for us on the cross. It teaches us the virtues of Jesus and Mary as we meditate on their life in the gospel. We gain the virtues as we think of their virtues. The rosary is a mystifying prayer. We say the hail mary, our Father and glory be to help us in our meditation. It is like when you love someone you can't help repeating the words I love you many many times and meaning it with all your heart. So as the others have said, it is not an emotionless prayer. It is a heartfelt prayer in praise of God, Mary, Jesus and the Trinity. When you say this prayer, you come closer to Jesus through Mary our powerful mother. The rosary is satan's scourge as mentioned. It weakens the power of evil and temptation. If we pray the rosary, temptations are easily defeated because Mary is powerful against satan. Of you have a hard time falling asleep because you have something important to do the next day, satan can keep you awake to lessen your effectivity in saving souls. So saying the rosary can help you sleep. Then you will sleep in the arms of Mary your mother and The Trinity your God. The prayer actually helps you obtain unity with God because with Mary you do more progress to God than if you try to reach God by yourself. She was sinless and wants all of us to reach God more quickly. But the rosary is not a boring prayer. After saying the rosary preachers are more eloquent in their preaching. Peace is restored in the families or societies. Peace in the soul is achieved especially if you are under a lot of stress or problems, this prayer helps you get back your composure and serenity. It is an interesting prayer. It is like you are watching a movie of the life of Jesus and Mary but you can be one of the characters in the movie as one of the saints suggests. Then the characters come alive in your soul and then you are able to live the virtues heroically because you have been thinking about how our Savior loved us until death on the cross. Then you are stronger to endure sufferings because you recall how he endured the scourging at the pillar like He did in the Passion of the Christ. You can keep temptations away especially evil thoughts because you can think of the way Jesus was crowned with thorns, etc. Then also you can obey the will of God because you have meditated on the way our Master obeyed the Father until death on the cross. So it is really a wealth of prayer. The saints become saints because of meditating on the life of Christ and the rosary helps us do this more effectively because we do it with Jesus' mother and our mother too.

Answer 6

So you stumbled upon EWTN and the "Holy Rosary with Mother Angelica."

I have a lot of information on my 360 about the Rosary. to put all of it here would not be very well received. I invite you to read what I have at:

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-sSsvitE8dLQdh.GFEEWGm_xLdhYusNPx2ykW14NEK4NE?p=21

and

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-sSsvitE8dLQdh.GFEEWGm_xLdhYusNPx2ykW14NEK4NE?p=19

and finally

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-sSsvitE8dLQdh.GFEEWGm_xLdhYusNPx2ykW14NEK4NE?p=23

The first one takes a look at the scriptural references for the Rosary, but a quick explanation would be that the Rosary is a meditation on the Gospel of our Lord and his Passion, Death and Resurrection.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me, or comment on the site. I will answer your questions as honestly as I can and will not spam you.

**
and, may I say thank you for forming a well thought out question without the "Catholic bashing". My sister is a non-denominational church member and I don't get this kind of respect from her.
Peace be with you.

Answer 7

None.Vain repetition is condemned in God's Word.But Rome has always relegated it to the backseat.

Answer 8

It's mindless babbling, like the Jews who bang their head on the wall in Israel, just mindless babbling

But apparently it appeases their god

Answer 9

It is to bore someone to death.