Some of my friends and colleagues in ministry will be sure I’ve gone off the deep end! Though I doubt many will notice, fewer will care.
I said my first Rosary today.
Yesterday I ordered from San Antonio a Mexican Rosary, simple wood beads. By the time I paid shipping it was $20.00. Mexican, in honor of my grandmother Dolores Mercado and aunt Margaret Dickson.
I found several sites where you can make your own Rosary. That strikes me as totally cool. I can imagine, if this impulse lasts, that I’ll make a Rosary and put into it all the devotion and love I can. I don’t have any desire for one of the expensive, jeweled pieces of which there are many.
First, what was it like?
I hooked ten paper clips together and added five loose ones, one for each decade. Following a chart, I recited the prayers, and announced the Joyful mysteries, milestones in Jesus’ early life. You’re supposed to focus on these, rather than the words you’re saying. But I did well enough to say the right words in the right order.
I’m amazed the paper clip chain worked fine. I hope to know how to say the Rosary by heart when my Mexican Rosary comes in the mail.
It was a very mechanical process: how to hold the paper clip so I didn’t get mixed up as to which one I was counting, which prayer to say, etc. There are some differences in how different Catholics say their Rosary. I just want the standard version.
I was surprised at the welcome and peace I felt. I instantly understood why Catholics hang on to the veneration of Mary. There is a softness, a sweetness, about her that deeply blesses.
Whoa! You’re a Baptist, a son of the Radical Reformation, not even a protestant. And you’re saying prayers to the BVM Blessed Virgin Mary???
Frankly, I’m intentionally not thinking theologically at the moment, turning off the analytical mind and welcoming God as Catholics do. The Feminine of God my tradition has totally ignored and shut down; I’m interested in exploring Her (whatever).
It’s also time for the walls between our traditions to come down, for us to welcome one another to one table, where one Lord presides.
Interesting nuggets:
- an Old English word for prayer is “bede” related to “bid.” So the beads of the Rosary themselves remind us of prayer.
- the Rosary was probably the response of the poor to the monks’ weekly recitation of the 150 psalms in Latin. The poor didn’t know Latin, so they substituted 150 repetitions of the prayer they knew: “Hail Mary…”
This kind of prayer helps to quiet the “monkey tree,” the mind that chatters right through times of silence. I’m hoping to learn a lot about prayer.
If future experiences with the Rosary turn out to be as helpful as my first, it will become a permanent part of my prayer life.
I welcome hearing about any experience you have with saying the Rosary, or other prayers.
Photo by Mary Fran
I was definitely conditioned to think that repeated prayers were not authentic, or something, and yet I loved the prayers I heard over and over again as a student at an Episcopal day school, especially the Great Confession.
Will you post a picture of the beads when they arrive?
I have a set of Anglican Prayer Beads, a gift from a friend, but I must admit I haven’t used them while praying. You encourage me in that direction.
What Jesus said what (in the original KJV) “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do” Matt 6:7 (KJV). In the NRSV “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do” Matt 6:7. It helped me to realize that he forbade vain repetition, not repetition full of meaning. All the instructions I’ve read also emphasize that your intention counts, not just the number of times you say something. The Anglican beads look beautiful, and the Anglicans do seem to have an “in” with just the right phrase. I love the BCP, and I wonder how many free churchers would grimace to find out their familiar prayers are in it. Please do post about your experience if it’s not to private and you decide to do it. Thanks.
Thanks for the visit. I am going to add you to my blogroll.
I made my own rosary years ago — I used plain beads for a while, but then did an Anglican rosary — I used 5 gold and silver “rose” beads, 4 freshwater pearls and then 24 beads; each one different. I used the 12 gems listed in Exodus 28 for the Breastplate of Judgement and the 12 gemstones listed in Revelation 21 for the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem. (or approximations of these stones.) This makes 33 stones that represent the 33 years of Christ’s life. I put a rose bead, three gemstones, a pearl, three gemstones, a rose bead, three gemstones, a pearl and so forth. There is a rose bead at the beginning and the end. The gold and silver remind me of the song, “Lord, you are more precious than silver… more costly than gold” among other things. The pearls remind me of the “pearl of great price” in the discourse about the kingdom in Matthew (13?).
Since I have a tool that allows me to place a knot between each bead, I made a large “bracelet” out of the beads. I hung three things between the beginning and ending rose beads — a Roman Coin from around the time of Constantine, a crucifix and a Dove (Holy Spirit) medal.
I think I’ll post a picture….
Hi. Found your blog through Rev. Mommy. don’t get hung up about the “right” way to pray the rosary, since it’s a personal devotion. For instance, I tend to leave off the luminous mysteries, because I don’t like that they break the symbolism of rosary as little psalter. (150 hail marys for the 150 psalms.) Fingers work well to keep count, too.
I was raised Catholic, and found the rosary mind numbingly boring… AT THE TIME!!! Then I became an Episcopalian as an adult, and discovered what a comfort and closeness could come for me in engaging in a contemplative style of prayer. I get the embracing the feminine side of God thing you mention! I’ve find most any contemplative type of prayer (of which the rosary is included, done with a certain prayerful stance) draws out my recognition and enjoyment of God’s feminine side! So, you bet, enjoy your rosary, and may it draw you closer to God’s heart!
My practice? Well, I bought a Catholic rosary at the local Catholic bookstore, because I was too cheap to buy the more expensive Anglican rosaries I’ve been able to find online. I usually say Jesus prayers on the Hail Mary beads, and do intercessory prayers on the mystery beads, or freely composed prayers of thanksgiving or confession…depends. And I go in streaks using them – they’re especially nice when the tactile feel of having them “move” along and through my fingers encourages a faltering prayer discipline, like when things feel dry.
I don’t know if it’s just the newness of the thing or what, but I am finding it very meaningful. Don’t ask me to explain exactly. I couldn’t. Thanks, it’s good to know others who say different prayers using the beads. The Jesus prayer is a very good suggestion.
(jlh writes) “Don’t ask me to explain exactly.”
Right on!!! It would be the job of poets, I think. (ha ha!, but also quite serious about that.)
I think a good comparison can be made in trying to explain contemplative prayer with trying to explain a kiss. Difficult if not impossible. And another point of common metaphor… the character of a kiss with your loved one changes over time. And that’s to be expected. Sometimes, when you have a caring, deep, long-term relationship, even though you still love them as much as ever, you feel like you’re just going through the motions. The beads help me to do that.. keep going through the motions. And then when you least expect it the “feeling” can get kindled again. However that feeling feels or works for the pray-er, the feelings fade in time, just as all love relationship do. Enough for tonight!
Thanks, I think you’re right about feelings coming and going. But the routine creates the channel through which the fire flows, if and when God chooses. So God always uses habit that is full of intention and earnestness, not indifferent or hypocritical habit. j
Hey man, I love my rosary. I’ve had a number of them, either losing them or giving them away. My current one I fashioned myself. It’s in a short, straight string. Instead of going in a circle through the decades, I can just go up and down.
cross – 3 little beads – big bead – ten little beads – big bead.
See how it works? You go straight up to the big bead, then back down to the big bead, bouncing back and forth until you do five decades. Then go back to the 3 little and out.
first 3 beads are the three parts of my life. Family, pastor, writer.
big beads are all “Whoever would follow me must take up his cross and….”
Decades are prayers for family, whoever’s face comes to mind, and some lectio divina style slow repeating of various scriptures.
3 beads on the way out are one each for my girls. I end at the cross with prayers for my wife.
I’m rather ADD, so anything that keeps me focused is nice.
It’s amazing to me that people are praying with beads, praying the rosary. Who’d a thunk it! But I’m beginning to understand the power of the thing to get me focused. Also I’m discovering that the Rosary is a vital Mexican tradition, which is much more developed than even the traditional Catholic thing. Anyway, I appreciate your sharing —I don’t feel quite so weird.
I’ll admit that just recently I’ve become somewhat fascinated with the rosary. I think as a protestant kind I thought it was just a bunch of Hail Mary’s, but when (just recently) I discovered that it had to do with the Mysteries of the Life of Christ, I started to think I should know about it. Thanks for the beginning. So, I’ve begun to look for an inexpensive rosary.
Have a free download of the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary along with its history, and some of the thinking of many of the early Protestant Reformers about the rosary and Mary’s place in our lives on our website.
This is an audio file with the prayers, and a song and two meditations for each mystery, along with the scripture reference. It’s 45 minuters long. But, hey, praying for 45 minutes in a row can be fun.
We’ve been screaming in newspapers worldwide that the rosary is not a Catholic prayer. It’s a Christian prayer, and we explain it on our website, www/rosarytapes.com.
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