It's December!!

[Nickieb03]

It's December and my Pastor told me today that in December you are supposed to pray the rosary. How many of you do?

 

[ChristoEtEcclesiae]

I pray 15 decades a day every day. All three sets of mysteries.

I agree that December is a good time to get into the habit of praying at least one chaplet of the Rosary (which is not a full Rosary but rather 5 decades, or one set of mysteries) a day, but don't stop when January comes around. For that matter, any day is a good day to start praying a daily chaplet of the Rosary.

I encourage every Catholic to sign up on http://rosaryforthebishop.org to pray one Rosary a week for each their bishop and for Pope Benedict XVI.

 

[Eucharisted]

It's no obligation to pray the Rosary during December unless the Vatican says it is.

By the way, you have my name lol

 

[ChristoEtEcclesiae]

It's no obligation to pray the Rosary during December unless the Vatican says it is.

By the way, you have my name lol

You should still pray the Rosary every day as the Blessed Virgin requested.

 

[Eucharisted]

You should still pray the Rosary every day as the Blessed Virgin requested.

It's no obligation to follow private revelation. Learn more here:
Blogs of a Soul: Verbum Domini and Private Revelation

Don't give a greater honor to devotions and revelations than the Church herself gives them.

 

[ChristoEtEcclesiae]

It's no obligation to follow private revelation. Learn more here:
Blogs of a Soul: Verbum Domini and Private Revelation

Don't give a greater honor to devotions and revelations than the Church herself gives them.

Don't so easily dismiss forms of prayer because they seem tedious to you.

St. Louis de Montfort encouraged Catholics to pray the Rosary long before Fatima. Read his excellent work "The Secret of the Rosary" sometime.

 

[Eucharisted]

Don't so easily dismiss forms of prayer because they seem tedious to you.

St. Louis de Montfort encouraged Catholics to pray the Rosary long before Fatima. Read his excellent work "The Secret of the Rosary" sometime.

Don't accuse people of things just because they correct you on Christian doctrine.

 

[ChristoEtEcclesiae]

Don't accuse people of things just because they correct you on Christian doctrine.

You corrected nothing. Tell St. Louis de Montfort that he was wrong about the value of the Rosary.

http://www.saintsworks.net/books/St. Louis Marie de Montfort - The Secret of the Rosary.pdf

 

[ZooMom]

It's December and my Pastor told me today that in December you are supposed to pray the rosary. How many of you do?

I pray the Rosary every day. It is a beautiful devotion. I recommend it highly. But, it is a devotional practice and it is optional. As Catholic Christians, we should be engaged in prayer every day...the form that prayer takes is up to us. The traditional devotions of the Church are useful in that they provide us with a tool to better focus our thoughts and specific intentions, and they reinforce the Dogmas and Doctrines of our faith. The Mysteries of the Rosary are fundamental truths of the Catholic faith (Dogma/Doctrine)...the act of meditating on those Mysteries through the Rosary is a Devotion. Your belief in the former is essential and required...your participation in the latter is not. Though, again, I will say that it is a beautiful devotion and I believe that everyone would benefit from it's practice.

Peace be with you!

Sandy

 

[Eucharisted]

I pray the Rosary every day. It is a beautiful devotion. I recommend it highly. But, it is a devotional practice and it is optional. As Catholic Christians, we should be engaged in prayer every day...the form that prayer takes is up to us. The traditional devotions of the Church are useful in that they provide us with a tool to better focus our thoughts and specific intentions, and they reinforce the Dogmas and Doctrines of our faith. The Mysteries of the Rosary are fundamental truths of the Catholic faith (Dogma/Doctrine)...the act of meditating on those Mysteries through the Rosary is a Devotion. Your belief in the former is essential and required...your participation in the latter is not. Though, again, I will say that it is a beautiful devotion and I believe that everyone would benefit from it's practice.

Peace be with you!

Sandy

 

[ChristoEtEcclesiae]

The graces and benefits of praying the Rosary make me wonder why more do not pray it.

But do not simply stop with the Rosary, there are other great spiritual exercises as well. Priests are required to pray the Divine Office, and so the laity should certainly consider praying it as well.

You can get the Divine Office here for free:
Divinum Officium
I personally recommend using the 1960 Rubrics.

Pope Leo XIII granted indulgences to those who prayerfully read the Bible for 15 minutes a day. Doing so is a great way to learn the Bible, and in conjunction with other daily spiritual practices you can really get a lot out of it. I recommend the Douay-Rheims Bible, as the New American Bible has some highly questionable translations and omissions. The language of the Douay-Rheims does take a little getting used to, but if you are patient as I was you will have little trouble.

Remember that indulgences do not apply if you have committed mortal sins and not confessed them to a priest.

 

[Nickieb03]

The graces and benefits of praying the Rosary make me wonder why more do not pray it.

But do not simply stop with the Rosary, there are other great spiritual exercises as well. Priests are required to pray the Divine Office, and so the laity should certainly consider praying it as well.

You can get the Divine Office here for free:
Divinum Officium
I personally recommend using the 1960 Rubrics.

Pope Leo XIII granted indulgences to those who prayerfully read the Bible for 15 minutes a day. Doing so is a great way to learn the Bible, and in conjunction with other daily spiritual practices you can really get a lot out of it. I recommend the Douay-Rheims Bible, as the New American Bible has some highly questionable translations and omissions. The language of the Douay-Rheims does take a little getting used to, but if you are patient as I was you will have little trouble.

Remember that indulgences do not apply if you have committed mortal sins and not confessed them to a priest.

I pray the rosary but I don't know the mysteries :o does that mean I'm doing it wrong and I'm not devoting to our Holy Mother?

 

[Eucharisted]

I pray the rosary but I don't know the mysteries :o does that mean I'm doing it wrong and I'm not devoting to our Holy Mother?

No, but you can learn the mysteries here: The Blessed Rosary -

The prayers on this site are literal translations of the Latin.

 

[Colin]

It's December and my Pastor told me today that in December you are supposed to pray the rosary.

Tell your pastor that he is wrong .

No Roman Catholic is obliged to pray the rosary at all .

 

[ChristoEtEcclesiae]

I pray the rosary but I don't know the mysteries :o does that mean I'm doing it wrong and I'm not devoting to our Holy Mother?

Not necessarily.

It is a good idea to meditate on each of the fifteen mysteries as you pray them, but even if you just keep your thoughts on the Blessed Mother and Jesus or while focusing on images of them it's still something.

If you're speeding through the Rosary to get it over with and not trying to meditate on anything or you allow your mind to wander, it's no good. It's not to be merely you rambling off Hail Marys, you have to want to have a deeper spiritual relationship with Jesus and Mary through meditation on the Rosary.

From "The Secret of the Rosary" by St. Louis de Montfort:
"9 The Rosary is made up of two things: mental prayer and vocal prayer. In the Rosary mental prayer is none other than meditation of the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and of his blessed Mother. Vocal prayer consists in saying fifteen decades of the Hail Mary, each decade headed by an Our Father, while at the same time meditating on and contemplating the fifteen principal virtues which Jesus and Mary practised in the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary."

There are three groups of five mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious. The Joyful Mysteries focus on the birth of Jesus and His relationship to Mary; the Sorrowful focus on His Passion and death; the Glorious on His Resurrection and Ascension, the descent of the Holy Spirit, and on the coronation of Mary.

Joyful Mysteries:
1st decade: The Annunciation of Gabriel to Mary
2nd decade: The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth
3rd decade: The Nativity of Jesus
4th decade: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
5th decade: The Finding of Jesus in the Temple

Sorrowful Mysteries:
1st decade: The Agony in the Garden
2nd decade: The Condemnation to Death
3rd decade: The Scourging at the Pillar
4th decade: The Journey to Calvary
5th decade: The Death of Jesus

Glorious Mysteries:
1st decade: The Resurrection of Jesus
2nd decade: The Ascension into Heaven
3rd decade: The Descent of the Holy Spirit
4th decade: The Assumption of Mary
5th decade: The Coronation of Mary

I strongly suggest that anyone interested in the Rosary read "The Secret of the Rosary" by St. Louis de Montfort, found here as a PDF: http://www.saintsworks.net/books/St. Louis Marie de Montfort - The Secret of the Rosary.pdf

"The Secret of the Rosary" and other books by saints can be found, read, and downloaded for free at: Free Catholic Books | SANCTE PATER

Some advice from "The Secret of the Rosary:"

"7 [...] Of course it would be too much to expect you to say the whole fifteen mysteries every day, but do say at least five mysteries, and say them properly with love and devotion. This Rosary will be your little wreath of roses, your crown for Jesus and Mary. [...]"

Note from me: this does not mean that you shouldn't ever pray all fifteen decades a day. I think it's better to start off praying five decades a day until you are comfortable with it, and then increase to fifteen if you can fit them all in your schedule rather than overwhelm yourself only to give it up completely. St. Louis later suggests saying one set of five decades at a time throughout the day if you want to do all fifteen. It takes me about 50 minutes to pray all fifteen decades at once, and I can't imagine doing anything else in that time.

"129 I would like to add that the Rosary ought to be said reverently, that is to say, it ought to be said as much as possible, kneeling, with hands joined, clasping the rosary. However, if you are ill, you can, of course, say it in bed; or if one is travelling it can be said while walking; if, on account of some infirmity, you cannot kneel you can say it standing or sitting. You can even say it while working if your duties do not allow you to leave your job,
for work with one's hands is not always incompatible with vocal prayer."

"148 [...] Why on earth are you wearing it on your belt, fanatic that you are? Why don't you go the whole way and wear it round your neck like the Spaniards? They are great lovers of rosaries; they carry a big rosary in one hand, while in the other they have a dagger to give a treacherous stab. For goodness' sake drop these exterior devotions; true devotion is in the heart. And so on."

 

[ChristoEtEcclesiae]

Tell your pastor that he is wrong .

No Roman Catholic is obliged to pray the rosary at all .

Please don't mislead Catholics by downplaying their devotional practices.

 

[Colin]

Please don't mislead Catholics by downplaying their devotional practices.

How can the simple truth mislead ?

It's a misleading cleric who is doing the misleading .

 

[ChristoEtEcclesiae]

How can the simple truth mislead ?

It's a misleading cleric who is doing the misleading .

You attempted to mislead Catholics by downplaying the value of the Rosary by the way you phrased your post.

You posted that a priest was strictly wrong, and you insisted that no Catholic is obligated to pray the Rosary without conditioning your statements to account for the value in the practice.

A post that you may have submitted without coming off as a troll might have gone something like this:

"Your priest may have suggested beginning a devotional practice of praying the Rosary in the month of December, but while it is a good habit to get into, I think that you are not obligated to do so."

No priest advising a method of increasing one's faith in God or their spiritual life is misleading anyone.