Why to Pray the Rosary?

Why to Pray the Rosary?

The tradition of the church has the rosary officially from 1569 and legend goes that the rosary was given to St. Dominic by Mother Mary as a means to attain spiritual victory. What relevance do we find today in reciting the beads one after another, in a manner which many might find repetitive, superfluous and outdated?

The rosary becomes a recitation only when we have a parrot-like attitude to it. The rosary is not to be merely recited but to be prayed. In praying the rosary we experience the assistance of Mary who called herself the Lady of the Rosary at Fatima in 1917. Yes, we do repeat the prayers ‘Hail Mary’ but what great love is behind this repetition! When in love a person does not need to use a flood of vocabulary to express one’s love. Often a simple ‘I Love You’ embodies everything that ever could be said because love has a few things to utter. We repeat the words of the prayer but the love expressed in them is never repeated but always springs new from our hearts.

United with Mary, the woman of love, we pray in the rosary the words that contain the history of love. In the Joyful mysteries the dawn of salvation is made open to us. The Luminous mysteries are a prayer of companionship in the ministry of Jesus. The Sorrowful mysteries bathe us in the saving blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of Christ. In praying the Glorious mysteries we are assured and given a foretaste of everlasting glory.

The Rosary is one prayer which unites us most with our loved ones. Not only do we make various intentions for them but we pray the prayer which is closest and dearest to them. Have we not often seen our grandparents, parents- specially our mothers, and dear ones with the holy beads in their hands, their eyes directed to heaven and lips moving in prayer? Their legacy proves that the prayer of the rosary can never be outdated. Generations drinking from its spiritual springs have been satisfied; it gives us the same graces today and will continue always.

Finally, in praying the Hail Mary we constantly ask for Mary’s aid both “now and in the hour of our death”. There are only two moments that we are sure of in our lives- now i.e. the present and that being human we will sometime die. Praying the Rosary makes present to us the assistance of the Blessed Virgin at both these moments. Let us pray to Mary, the Mother of the priesthood with the attitude of St. Ignatius- “Jesus, show me your mother. Mary, show me your son”.