If you pray the Rosary all the time, doesn\u2019t it just become this kind of robot-thing, like doing the dishes or something?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It certainly can. \u00a0I\u2019m very bad at praying, period, so my chief danger is not that I\u2019ll pray the Rosary (or anything) badly, but that I won\u2019t pray it at all. \u00a0But sometimes I do manage to get my act together and behave like a Christian for a couple minutes, and in those instances, I\u2019ve found some ways to pray the Rosary that prevent the robot-brain problem.<\/p>\n
Trick #1: Cultivate an awareness of the presence of God.<\/h2>\n
I learned to do this from the Irish monks at Sacred Space<\/a>, way back when I was a brand new revert with no children, and therefore more quiet time. \u00a0You might try using that website for a bit, or Loyola Press\u2019s 3-minute retreat<\/a> as a starting point for practicing this skill. \u00a0(Why yes, it\u2019s a skill).<\/p>\n If you have the option of going to Eucharistic Adoration, praying the Rosary before the exposed Blessed Sacrament is another way to make your prayer more conversational.<\/p>\n Alone in silence in an empty church is good. \u00a0Alone in the woods if it\u2019s someplace that\u2019s safe and not buggy is good. \u00a0Alone in the quiet of your room in the evening with a few candles is good.<\/p>\n And then you just pray. \u00a0The exterior quiet helps you with the interior quiet, and as you pray your Rosary just let your one intentional thought be about the presence of God as you are praying.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n I\u2019ll be honest:<\/strong>\u00a0Mostly lately I grab a rosary, head out for a walk, and about twenty minutes in<\/a> I become aware that I\u2019ve been\u00a0talking to God<\/em> all this time and wasn\u2019t even paying attention. \u00a0It\u2019s like thinking you\u2019re singing alone in the shower and then suddenly you realize that you\u2019ve got an auditorium full of spectators sitting in on your performance.<\/p>\n This is basically a variation on Lectio Divina,\u00a0<\/i>but your scripture passage is the mystery of the Rosary you are praying. \u00a0What this means, of course, is that you have to know the mystery already. \u00a0So if it\u2019s Monday and you\u2019re praying about the Annunciation, you need to have read about the Annunciation in the Bible and already gotten the general gist of things into your head.<\/p>\n (Don\u2019t use this as an excuse to put off praying. \u00a0You can start with that snippet passage in your little Rosary booklet, and then over the years as readings and reflections come in front of your brain, flesh it out. \u00a0It\u2019s not like you\u2019re only going to pray the Rosary once ever, right?)<\/p>\n So as you\u2019re praying the decade on the Annunciation, visualize the scene. \u00a0Close your eyes and see Mary at home. \u00a0What\u2019s it look like? What\u2019s it smell like? \u00a0What\u2019s she doing? \u00a0What kind of furniture is there? \u00a0And the angel shows up. \u00a0She\u2019s afraid! \u00a0How does that feel, to be afraid of an angel? \u00a0And the angel tells her not to be afraid . . .<\/p>\n The point of this way of praying isn\u2019t that you\u2019re going to somehow magically visualize the exact furniture that Mary had in her house. \u00a0It\u2019s that you\u2019re pulling yourself into the mystery of the Incarnation \u2014 of that meeting between God and the created world. \u00a0Because you are praying, this practice of looking around inside the mystery will show you things about God\u2019s relationship with you.<\/p>\n Note:<\/strong> You\u2019ll have the best luck with this if you can concentrate entirely on the mystery. \u00a0So don\u2019t try this while you\u2019re driving or anything. \u00a0Let Heaven come to you, don\u2019t hasten your departure towards it.<\/p>\n Often we pray on behalf of a particular person or cause \u2014 that\u2019s intercessory prayer. \u00a0If you\u2019re good at that, you probably don\u2019t read articles like this, you just go pray. \u00a0But if you\u2019re not a skilled pray-er, here\u2019s a thing you can do.<\/p>\n Remember how you spent some time really pondering the different mysteries of the Rosary in trick #2? \u00a0Well, sometimes you are on a long drive and can\u2019t shut your eyes and think about how the donkeys smelled in the cave in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. \u00a0But you can remember that when you were pondering that mystery \u2014 a different time when you could pray with your eyes closed without fear of perishing in a terrible motor vehicle accident \u2014 at that time you realized something or another\u00a0about the mystery.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say, for example, that something that really grabbed your attention was the idea of Jesus coming into the lives of the Holy Family. \u00a0Let\u2019s say that idea just stuck with you. \u00a0(You might have had a different insight. \u00a0We just need an example so we can explain how this trick works.)<\/p>\n So now you\u2019re praying for your friend who has cancer. \u00a0So as you get to each mystery, take an insight from your previous ponderings over that mystery, and apply it to the situation at hand. \u00a0For example, when you get to the birth of Jesus, you might pray that your friend will experience the healing presence of Jesus. \u00a0Or that she can be Jesus to someone else. \u00a0Or that the work of God will be apparent in the hospital through the ministry of the nurses.<\/p>\n Whatever \u2014 let God lead you there. \u00a0The thing that you are doing with your brain is directing your prayer towards connecting your here-and-now concern with the mysteries of the Rosary.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n So that\u2019s what I know. \u00a0I\u2019m not very good at praying, but when I do manage to pray well, those are some of the things I do that have helped me. \u00a0If you keep working at your praying, God will also work at it, and between the two of you (not a real secret Who\u2019s doing the heavy lifting) you\u2019ll experience spiritual growth despite yourself. \u00a0Well worth the effort.<\/p>\n Related:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\nTrick #2: Put yourself into the mysteries and look around a bit.<\/h2>\n
Trick #3: Bring your prayer requests into the mystery.<\/h2>\n
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