This post is written by Amy Brooks, author of the blog Prayer, Wine, Chocolate, and founder of Catholics Online.
Confession: I don’t pray the Rosary every day. I am pretty sure if I did, I’d be happy about it, but I am the queen of excuses.
I am busy.
I don’t have a 20 minute chunk of time.
My family needs me.
My husband and I barely spend time together as it is, how could we fit that in?
I need time to relax and socialize.
I think I should pray something other than the Rosary.
I drift off and think of other things when I pray . . . the list could go on.
But I know, the Rosary is good for my soul, is an incredibly powerful prayer and the promises of the Rosary are infinitely abundant.
Any of those excuses sound familiar to you?
One way I have combated the temptation to not pray the Rosary – called upon friends and created a Rosary group. I have found that I am not the only one who faces this battle. It’s easy to think of a reason not to pray.
Here are some situations that might be an excuse not to pray the Rosary, and how to embrace them and pray it anyway!
1. Your family needs your time and attention.
Pray it with your family
Will my kids pay attention for that long? Will we get through the first mystery before my toddler starts screaming? Will my teenager even want to say it with us? How will we ever find the time?
The simple answer is accept God’s grace, have fun, and let go.
Read more: How to Pray a Family Rosary: 7 Tips for Real Life Families
Also check out: 10 Tips for Praying the Rosary with Children
2. You just want to relax and hang out with friends
That’s totally cool, check out 5 Reasons to Start a Rosary Group
3. You don’t have a Rosary
No Rosary? No Problem! 5 Finger Rosary Hack
4. You feel like it is mindless repetition
Read how there is great beauty in the repetition in The Natural Catholic Mom’s post:
5. You need to spend more quality time with your spouse.
Great! Pray the Rosary together!
Rosary Meditations for Catholic Couples
6. You are seriously very busy and don’t have the time
Do you have time to work out or exercise? You can combine that time with praying the rosary:
“A lot . . . struggle with the idea of the rosary the way they struggle with the idea of running. It can be monotonous. It’s time-consuming. And if you didn’t grow up in a home with a devotion to the rosary, it can seem like a strange way of growing closer to Jesus – aren’t we supposed to pray to Him alone? But the beauty of the rosary is its rhythmic quality, carrying you on Mary’s journey like the verses to a song. When you are out on the road or the trail and it’s just your heart and your feet beating, that rosary is music revealing Our Mother’s heart for her son. The synchronicity between your mind, body, and soul help you let go of anxieties and frustrations, and you become more fully with the Lord.”
Do you spend time thinking about a social or political issue that just makes your blood boil?
Make the Rosary your weapon of choice!
I turn to the rosary when I need to fight; when I want to war with the world over abortion or child trafficking or the Syrian refugee situation. I pray that rosary as if it were the sharpest and keenest of weapons because it is. We have seen time and time again in history that this simple string of beads married with the heart of our Blessed Mother can conquer the impossible.
Sterling Jacquith, My Weapon of Choice: The Rosary
Do you ever worry about things or people?
Pray it when you are worried:
How Praying the Rosary Helped Me to Stop Worrying
7. You don’t see the point of praying so many Hail Mary’s . . .
St. John Paul II explains that although the Hail Mary is addressed to Our Lady, “it is to Jesus that the act of love is ultimately directed” (RVM, no. 26). Every time we recite the Hail Mary, we are repeating the words of Gabriel and Elizabeth. In doing so, we enter into the ecstatic joy of “heaven and earth” over the mystery of Christ: heaven, represented by Gabriel, and earth, represented by Elizabeth.
Read more:UNDERSTANDING THE “HAIL MARY”UNDERSTANDING THE “HAIL MARY”
8. You seriously get so bored.
So does Tom, check out his video:
How to Pray the Rosary Without Getting Bored
9. You can’t fall asleep? Pray the Rosary!
Read more ideas that Allison Gingras gives in her article
3 Unexpected Uses for the Rosary
10. You need more motivation, like maybe if God sent a sign.
Catholic-Link has you covered – check out The Ultimate Visual Guide to the Rosary
11. You forget how to pray it . . .
If you check this post out soon enough, you can also enter an awesome giveaway!!!
Meet the Author:
Amy Brooks, Founder
The name Prayer, Wine, Chocolate surfaced from a group of my friends who got together regularly for the Rosary . . . and wine and chocolate. We once were reminiscing about all the intentions we had prayed together for and how many prayers were answered and thought, “we could write a book”. We discussed what the title would be and prayer, wine, chocolate seemed like the perfect fit. We never wrote the book, but I did start this blog!
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