Do you find it hard to pray the Rosary?

I’ve always found praying the Rosary to be difficult. Although I love the Blessed Mother and understand the importance of the devotion, it just doesn’t come easy to me. 

Sometimes it feels as if praying the Rosary is just “repeating a bunch of words!” In fact, one of the criticisms of the Rosary is that it is nothing more than “vain repetition.” In his book, The World’s First Love: Mary, Mother of God , Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen addresses those who consider the Rosary to be monotonous. Using the analogy of a husband telling his wife “I love you” or a mother proclaiming “you’re a good boy” to her child, Sheen stresses that the words mean something different at each point in time that they are repeated. In the same way, each time we pray the Rosary, we are saying “I love you” to God, the Trinity, to Jesus and to Mary. With each successive bead (or decade) the meaning shifts as we contemplate a new aspect of Jesus or Mary’s love.

Before beginning the Rosary, we should ask Our Blessed Mother to help us pray devoutly. Although the Rosary follows a simple pattern, it can be a very challenging prayer to master. Rest assured that many of the saints struggled with it too. If you find it difficult to pray the Rosary, try out these tips and see what happens. It might take a little time, but eventually your persistence will pay off. The next time you pick up your rosary beads, imagine that you’re holding Mary’s hand and taking a trip to visit Jesus. For when we pray the Rosary, that’s exactly what happens!

Gary Zima, Catholic speaker, author and radio host – article published on July 9, 2012 (excerpts)

Following the Truth