Honoring the Rosary - The Prayers

Here is a picture of the Rosary and where the prayers are said. You begin with the Crucifix and follow the arrows up and around to the right.



Remember when praying - really meditate on the words, and the meanings.
Start at the Crucifix with the Sign of the Cross:
"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
In his book "Sign of the Cross: Recovering the Power of the Ancient Prayer" (Loyola Press) Bert Ghezzi describes how the Sign of the Cross means six things: a confession of faith; a renewal of baptism; a mark of discipleship; an acceptance of suffering; a defense against the devil; and a victory over self-indulgence.
This is a small prayer with a powerful punch. I love this prayer because it keeps the Holy Trinity of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit at the beginning and end of everything I do.

Also on the Crucifix we Say the Apostles Creed:
"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day He rose again. He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen"
This is a statement of our beliefs as Catholics. How simple!

On the first large bead above the crucifix we say the Our Father:
"Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen."
Jesus prayed in the garden before his crucifixion. Three times he said that Gods will was to come before any wish of his own. In this prayer we also state that we know that Gods will comes before our wishes. This is a wonderful prayer of honor and praise to Our Father. We say this prayer, not because God needs to hear this but because WE need constant reminding that everything we have comes to us through God.

Next are three smaller beads, We say one Hail Mary for each bead:
"Hail Mary, full of grace, the LORD is with thee, blessed are you among all women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus, Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death."
The Hail Mary is such a beautiful prayer that honors a woman who gave us a shining example of what it means to follow God with all of our hearts. Can you imagine the position it must have put her in to become pregnant out of wedlock back then? She was very much in danger of being killed or such a thing. But she said YES. She is the Mother of God. She is to be revered and respected and this prayer calls to her for help with our own struggles to help us remember that we need to listen to what God is asking of us and then to say YES no matter how hard it might seem it will be.

Our next prayer is the Glory Be:
"Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen."
Once again we have a prayer that is reminding us of the Holy Trinity! And further we are being reminded that Gods Glory is ever present, never changing, and at the heart of everything!

Those prayers (or rather some of them) are then repeated around the beads as shown in the picture above until you get to the end. You can end with the five decades of one Mystery or continue around the circle until you have done all 20 decades (and 4 Mysteries).

The last prayer said on the Rosary is Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina) :
"Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then,most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
Amen."
This prayer puts words to our reverence of Mary, shows that we understand that our lives are a direct result of the disobedience of Eve, and that we are asking - crying, to her to pray for us, to guide us to her Son. We want to use her as an example of how to live our own lives, and in asking for her guidance we open our hearts and minds so that we might hear what God really wants of us. It is the perfect ending to the Rosary!

Next I will explore the Mysteries one by one... Stay tuned.