The Rosary

You are invited to join parishioners in this traditional form of devotion:

• 30-50 adults and children gather as the “Tuesdays with Mary” Rosary Group at 3 p.m. on Tuesdays during the school year in our Mary Garden in warmer months and in the community room in the back of church in the colder months. During the summer this group meets in the Mary Garden at 7 p.m. to pray the Rosary.
• Monday through Friday before and after the 7:45 a.m. Masses. Two Mysteries are said before Mass and two Mysteries after Mass in the Mary Chapel.
• On Saturday after 8:00 a.m. Mass in the community room.
• At the end of Eucharistic Adoration on Mondays at 8:45 in the Mary Chapel.

Prayer beads have been used for centuries. Originally, monks would recite the 150 Psalms of the Bible as a part of their worship on beads. Lay people were drawn to this type of devotion but, because many could not read and memorize the Psalms, they were replaced by the Our Father. Over centuries, the Rosary has developed through revelation and teaching into the form we pray today incorporating the Hail Mary, the Our Father, the Glory Be (The Doxology) and the Apostles’ Creed. The 20 mysteries, significant events in the life of Jesus and Mary, are announced on the separated beads as we pray the Rosary.

• Joyful Mysteries: The Annunciation through the Finding of Jesus in the Temple
• Sorrowful Mysteries: The Agony in the Garden through the Crucifixion
• Glorious Mysteries: The Resurrection through the Crowing of Mary as Queen of Heaven.
• Pope John Paul II added the five Luminous Mysteries that teach of the public life and ministry of Jesus.

The Rosary can be a way to teach our faith to our children through family prayer. You can learn about the Rosary by reading encyclicals and letters on the Vatican Web site at www.vatican.va.

Helpful Links:

• How to Pray the Rosary
• The Rosary as Family Prayer

“The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. It has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium.”

-Pope John Paul II

“The Rosary is a school of contemplation and silence. At first glance, it could seem a prayer that accumulates words, therefore difficult to reconcile with the silence that is rightly recommended for meditation and contemplation. In fact, this cadent repetition of the Hail Mary does not disturb inner silence but indeed both demands and nourishes it.”

-Pope Benedict XVI

“When we pray the Rosary, we go to Jesus through the heart of His mother. Through Mary’s pure heart, we meditate on the mysteries in Our Lord’s life (Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, Glorious) and ask our Father to bestow the mysteries’ graces upon us and those for whom we pray. Mary was always at the side of her son. When we pray the Rosary, we, Mary’s children, place our hands in hers and ask her to be at our side during our meditation. Distractions will come, but shouldn’t disturb us because Our Lady is with us and sees our efforts. She takes them into her heart (polishes them up) and presents them to her son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. In our spiritual history, the Rosary has been a powerful prayer for peace and for families.”

-Dottie Durso, Parishioner