Rosary Believers Value Ancient Roman Catholic Ritual As An Important Part Of Their Spiritual Life

The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been around since at least the 13th century, and the ritual of the rosary is familiar to most Roman Catholics.

The rosary itself is arranged in five sets of 10 beads, called “decades.”

According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, “The rosary is a devotion to the mysteries in which 15 decades of the Hail Mary are recited, each decade being preceded by an Our Father and followed by a Glory Be. The mysteries are divided into three groups of five - the Joyful Mysteries, Sorrowful Mysteries and the Glorious Mysteries.”

The rosary’s popularity waxes and wanes through the years. A rosary service used to be an integral part of funeral rituals, recited the evening before the funeral Mass.

Now, vigil services have replaced the rosary service, or it is skipped altogether.

But many people still use the rosary as an important part of prayer practice.

Last Saturday, the International Rosary March was held nationally, including in Spokane. And hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world belong to the Rosary Confraternity. Members agree to say three rosaries a week and include the intentions of all involved in the confraternity.

Rozanne Doran of Spokane recently shared her rosary prayer practice for this column. She wrote: “Every evening before I go to bed, I say the rosary - by meditating on events in the life of Jesus and in the life of his mother, Mary. While reciting from memory the same short prayers over and over, I meditate on special events in their lives called mysteries - joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries.

“I find that saying the rosary calms me down and helps me turn from my problems to the `One’ who runs the universe. After all, He did create it and has been running it ever since. If He can do that, surely He can take care of me.

“In my daily rosary prayers, I ask the Lord to help everybody in the world in any way they need. I also pray for people I know who are having a difficult time or who have been especially kind to me.

“I also ask for help in whatever way I may need it. I can’t say that I always get the assistance I need, but most of the time I do.

“Example: I lost my apartment key a few days ago and then learned that my spare didn’t work. I searched frantically, but no key. Then I accidentally found it when I happened to put my hand in a blouse pocket. I saw the Lord’s doing in that.

“Another example: A friend and I went rafting last week on the Little Spokane. While she ran back to the parking lot to get her car, I had to deflate the raft so we could get it in the car. It was a new raft, and I couldn’t deflate it.

“Just when I was about to give up, two kayakers rowed up and in a couple of minutes showed me how to deflate it. There had been no one on the river until then.

“I get a lot of help in ways that seem small in retrospect but very important at the time.

“I should say, for the benefit of those not acquainted with the rosary, that it is the Lord who answers prayers, but Mary, Jesus’ mother, intercedes on our behalf.

“And apparently it is difficult for him to refuse a mother’s request!”