Heart of the Rosary

It wasn’t until I began to embrace my Catholic Faith that I started to understand Meditative Prayer. I was raised in an environment that valued Extemporaneous Prayer above all others – prayers from the heart. Words that left our lips as quickly as they entered our brains.

I was taught that Meditative Prayer was rote, ritualistic, and fit the description that Christ admonished the Pharisees for in one of the Gospels. Any prayer that used a formula, or used someone else’s words, was “vain” and “repetitious”.

I remember the first time I prayed the Rosary. We were living in South Dakota at the time and I was at a meeting of Catholic homeschoolers. And “prayed the Rosary” is not what I did! I actually just sat at the table and mumbled the Hail Mary (I knew that part of it) as I observed those around me. These women, sitting in a circle at a dining room table, were actually filled with something that I didn’t understand. They were peaceful. They were pious – heads bowed, eyes closed, fingers busily moving over their beads. I remember feeling decidedly squirmy and at some point praying, “God, if this is wrong, I’m just so sorry!”

I can’t imagine any non-Catholic approaching the Rosary in any other way. It’s foreign, for one thing. And there’s a certain risk involved – after all, we’ve been told all of our lives that repetitive prayer is sinful, goes directly against Scripture and will offend God. Just holding a Rosary felt scandalous, but to actually pray it? What if my Mama was right?

By the time I prayed the Rosary for the first time, I had already adopted several Catholic prayers. One was the blessing before meals:

“Bless us O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, Our Lord, Amen.”

How is this different from the prayer my Grandfather repeated before every meal?

"Our Father, we thank Thee for this rest and refreshment. We ask that you break for us the inward Bread of Life, and that we may partake of Thy Peace, They Strength, and Thy goodness. For Jesus sake, Amen."

Is this vain and repetitious prayer?

As I pondered this, I had to recognize that my own Extemporaneous Prayer wasn’t so extemporaneous. My prayers seemed to follow a pattern or rhythm anyway:

“Dear Lord, thank You for this day. God bless _________ (insert family and friends), Please help __________ (insert those who need prayer). In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

So what was the difference?

My experience with the Rosary and Meditative Prayer has grown over the past several years. I can approach the Rosary with a more open heart because I now know what it really is: a devotion to the Life of Christ. As each Mystery is pondered, the Hail Mary plays like background music, and I try to focus on each specific event in the life of Jesus:

His Divine conception, His birth, His early years (the Joyful Mysteries)

His public ministry, His Miracles, especially that of the Institution of the Eucharist (the Luminous Mysteries)

His Passion, suffering and death (the Sorrowful Mysteries)

His glorious Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven as well as the birth of the early Church and the events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the Glorious Mysteries)

Focusing on the life of my Lord and Savior is a good thing – it’s pondering the Gospel.

Prayer can be vain and repetitious whether it’s extemporaneous or meditative. The bottom line of prayer is relationship. Isn’t it really all about the heart and how you approach God?

Those whom I know to pray the Rosary often have humble hearts. The Rosary has helped them internalize the Gospel. They now have certain “pegs” of Christ’s life on which to hang new understanding.

On the Sonlight Forum recently, someone commented that he had watched Mother Angelica and the Sisters on EWTN pray the Rosary and that it most definitely looked like vain and repetitious prayer. Since learning the Rosary myself, I know that those Sisters have the ability to go deep into the Life of Christ. Their blank looks don’t represent mindless, robotic action, but rather deep contemplation of the Mysteries of Jesus.

I’m envious. I’m not there yet.