A Better Catholic

What the Rosary Is

The word Rosary means "Crown of Roses". Our Lady has revealed to several people that each time they say a Hail Mary they are giving her a beautiful rose and that each complete Rosary makes her a crown of roses. The rose is the queen of flowers, and so the Rosary is the rose of all devotions and it is therefore the most important one.

The Rosary is made up of two things: mental prayer and vocal prayer.

In the Holy Rosary mental prayer is none other than meditation of the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and of His Blessed Mother. The original fifteen mysteries are divided into Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious. John Paul II added in 2002 the Luminous Mysteries, or Mysteries of Light.

Vocal prayer consists in saying fifteen or five decades of the Hail Mary, each decade headed by an Our Father, while at the same time meditating on and contemplating the fifteen principal virtues which Jesus and Mary practised in the fifteen mysteries of the Holy Rosary.The complete Rosary consists of fifteen decades, but is more commonly said in five decades.

So the Rosary is a blessed blending of mental and vocal prayer by which we honor and learn to imitate the mysteries and the virtues of the life, death, passion and glory of Jesus and Mary.

The Holy Mother Church received the Rosary in its 15 mysteries form in 1214 in a miraculous way, when Our Lady appeared to Saint Dominic and gave it to him as a powerful means of converting the heretics and other sinners. Since then the devotion spread around the world with incredible and miraculous results.

Benefits of the Rosary

1. It gradually gives us a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ.
2. It purifies our souls, washing away sin.
3. It gives us victory over all our enemies.
4. It makes it easy for us to practice virtue.
5. It sets us on fire with love of Our Lord.
6. It enriches us with graces and merits.
7. It supplies us with what is needed to pay all our debts to God and to our fellow men; and finally, it obtains all kinds of graces for us from Almighty God.

Blessings of the Rosary

1. Sinners are forgiven.
2. Souls that thirst are refreshed.
3. Those who are fettered have their bonds broken.
4. Those who weep find happiness.
5. Those who are tempted find peace.
6. The poor find help.
7. Religious are reformed.
8. Those who are ignorant are instructed.
9. The living learn to overcome pride.
10. The dead (the Holy Souls) have their pains eased by suffrages.

Source:  Our Lady Of Guadalupe