| Author | |
CrunchyMom
Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 03 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6385
|
| Posted: Sept 26 2009 at 11:31am | IP Logged
|
 |
|
I am a convert and only lately began to seriously consider the rosary a staple in my prayer life. I must admit, I get confused sometimes with references to how one prays "parts" of the rosary.
So, for instance, if someone says, "I pray the rosary daily" does that mean they pray the ENTIRE rosary, all 3/4 *sets* of mysteries, or does it mean they complete the "set" for that day?
In this thread Angie referenced "building up to a full mystery." Does that mean a full "set" (eg., The Joyful Mysteries) or one individual decade (eg., The Fourth Joyful Mystery)?
I'm sure Angie will clarify what she meant, but I feel like I'm missing some basic definitions since I'm often not clear on just what people are referring to.
I must admit, I'm a bit excited to learn that people might actually just pray "one mystery" and it "counts." I know that sounds completely lazy (at least to my own ear), but in my perfectionism, I would have considered that "cheating" if I'd thought of it on my own. And yet, I also will go without saying it at all because it seems overwhelming. Surely, the commitment to pray one single decade done faithfully is better than failing to say the full five decades, right?
So, if you divide up the joyful mysteries to one mystery/decade in a day, do you still say the full Apostles Creed, First Our Father, Three Hail Marys, and close with the Hail Holy Queen for the one decade?
I'd be interested in the variations (with explicit directions, please, lol) others have found as baby steps leading up to a full rosary (whatever that might mean
 ).
__________________
Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Angie Mc
Board Moderator
Joined: Jan 31 2005
Location: Arizona
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 11400
|
| Posted: Sept 26 2009 at 12:00pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
CrunchyMom wrote:
I
In this thread Angie referenced "building up to a full mystery." Does that mean a full "set" (eg., The Joyful Mysteries) or one individual decade (eg., The Fourth Joyful Mystery)?
I'm sure Angie will clarify what she meant, but I feel like I'm missing some basic definitions since I'm often not clear on just what people are referring to.
] ). |
|
|
Well, that makes two of us! I'll hope that others more experienced and clear with their words will chime in. Thanks for asking for clarification, Lindsay. You are right, I needed to clarify (and I did go back and edit in the other topic) that I built up to doing a "whole" rosary...fingers use all the beads...to pray one full set of Mysteries - either Glorious, Joyful, Sorrowful, Luminous - daily. Yes, I started praying the rosary by praying one "decade" at a time...with my young children. We would focus on one Mystery a week. So, to start the week, on Sunday night wee would say the first mystery (The Resurrection) of the Glorious Mysteries. We would do this five nights a week. The other nights we said another family prayer. So, one week would be Glorious, the next week would Joyful, etc. Yes, each night we would start with the Apostles Creed, Our Father, 3 hail Marys, and close with Hail Holy Queen.
Random thoughts....
If I somehow missed saying the rosary, I will at least start it while going to bed and will ask my Guardian Angel to finish it if I fall asleep.
Now, because my children are older, I say a rosary each day privately and we say a rosary as a family 4 nights a week together (my older children say a private rosary daily as well.)
Here's an earlier topic that helped me. (Funny, since then I have added the "Oh God Whose" prayer after the rosary, and I still don't know if it has a formal name  .
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
About Me
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
ekbell
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 22 2009
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 747
|
| Posted: Sept 26 2009 at 2:58pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
So, for instance, if someone says, "I pray the rosary daily" does that mean they pray the ENTIRE rosary, all 3/4 *sets* of mysteries, or does it mean they complete the "set" for that day?
It is reasonable to assume that the person is talking about praying one set of Mysteries (normally the set for the day) rather then all 20 decades. Five decades at a time is the normal 'default' for most Catholics.
It is well worth remembering that the Rosary is not something that is fixed-in-stone that must be done in one particular way or not at all. It has developed over the ages to our present practice and there still exist local and regional differences particularly in the opening and closing prayers.
In JPII's apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae section 37 Opening and closinghe discusses a couple of different openings and states that they are all equally legitimate.
My copy of The Rosary of Pope John Paul II published by the Vatican, does not give the our customary opening and closing prayers but states that there are many ways to introduce the Rosary and gives the following suggested opening
The Sign of the Cross followed by
O God come to my aid;
O Lord make haste to help me.
Glory be....
and finishing with the Loreto Litany or other suitable Marion Prayer.
When praying a decade it may be easier to start with
the opening words of Psalm 70: “O God, come to my aid; O Lord, make haste to help me” which is one such customary starting prayer, rather then the creed but as I've stated you are free to use the opening and closing prayers most suitable to your situation.
{One regional custom considered particularly praise worthy by pope JPII and Paul VI is adding a phrase appropriate to the mystery after the word Jesus as part of every Hail Mary -this beautiful booklet The Rosary with Fra Angelico and Giotto gives appropriate short phrases for all 200 Hail Mary's.}
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Rosary Vocabulary and Variations
