The Rosary

The Rosary is actually very simple to pray- just keep it simple and allow it to lead you. Sometimes, you will find your focus is on the words—sometimes the mystery—and sometimes just moving your fingers over the beads, arriving at the end of a decade without being able to remember saying any the prayers along the way.

If you are praying the Rosary with a child, then just saying each of the three prayers once is a good idea for short ,focussed praying

The Rosary can be prayed on your own or in a group. If you are praying in a group, one person will lead the first half of each of the prayers and everyone else will say the second half. This gives a dialogue feel to the prayer—and helps to keep you focussed.

One beauty of the Rosary is that it is portable so it is also possible to pray it outside either alone or with a group.

The words of the main Prayers for the Rosary are:

The Lord’s Prayer

The prayer that Jesus himself taught his disciples

and which continues to be the prayer of the Christian family.

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 sin against us.

And lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from evil.

The Hail Mary

The first part is based on the words the Angel Gabriel and Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth used to Mary. The second part is a later addition and can be replace by a sentence or phrase from the passage that is associated with the Mystery you are praying.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now

and at the hour of our death.

Amen

The Glory be…

This is prayed at the end of each decade as a concluding prayer in praise of God.

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.