All Catholics are at least familiar with the rosary. However, how often it is prayed varies drastically. While some pray the rosary daily, others only do so on special occasions if at all.
If praying the rosary seems excessive to you, consider the following five reasons to make it a part of your process.
- The Rosary is a Powerful Meditative Tool
If you don’t pray the rosary regularly, it’s probably because you find it boring. If you find it boring, it’s probably because you’re praying it wrong.
During the course of a rosary, you say the Hail Mary prayer a potentially mind-numbing 53 times. However, the objective of these repetitions isn’t just to say the same prayer over and over again. The purpose of this repetition is to keep your mind focused on your prayers rather than thinking about work or chores or other mundane things.
- Praying the Rosary Brings You Closer to Jesus
You don’t just rattle off 53 Hail Mary prayers – these prayers are divided into decades separated by mysteries.
These mysteries are stories from the new testament and the goal of the rosary is that while those prayer repetitions keep you focused you’re really thinking about the mystery associated with each decade.
While the rosary itself is a decidedly Marian practice, almost all of the mysteries of the rosary walk you through the life of Jesus.
- Remembering to Pray the Rosary Every Day Helps Shape Your Day
Another reason to say the rosary every day is another reframing of some people’s least favorite thing – it's a time commitment. Planning to keep an open spot for this prayer in your day can help you to keep God at the center of your life.
That’s particularly true if you say the rosary along with a television broadcast at a specific time of day or if you say it with your family or faith community.
- Praying the Rosary Brings You Closer to Others
Praying the rosary with your family or with members of your faith community is also a great way to use the prayer as a way to spend time in Catholic fellowship with others.
Even if you do choose to say your rosaries by yourself, they can still bring you closer to others. While some people use the rosary strictly as a meditative tool as discussed above, many people also say the rosary with an “intention.”
Your intention can be anything that you want to use the rosary to pray for. If you don’t have specific intentions, you can pray for something else, like the souls in Purgatory or the intentions of the Holy Father.
However, offering people who are close to you if they would like you to pray for them can be a very kind gesture, particularly if you know that they are going through something difficult.
- The Rosary is Part of a Larger Prayer Called a “Novena”
Praying for help from God brings us to the final reason on our list: The Rosary can be a part of an even longer prayer called a Novena.
Regarded as one of the most powerful prayers in a lay-person's arsenal, the Novena is a prayer that is said over the course of nine consecutive days.
What Are You Waiting for?
Hopefully this article has helped you to understand why some Catholics pray the rosary every day and the benefits that you can get from joining that number.
We forgot to mention the best part: Praying the rosary is easy. If you don’t already have a rosary, they are widely available and don’t have to be flashy or expensive. If you want to say the rosary now but you can’t get to a shop or the rosary is in the mail, you can count on your fingers. Use one hand to keep track of the decades, and on the other count up to five and then back down for the prayers in each decade.