Stop Adding to the Rosary! w/ Fr. Gregory Pine O.P. 

When my son was 4 he surprised me by wanting to pray the whole rosary with me! “You want to pray the WHOLE rosary?” I asked him looking at him with surprise as he snuggled next to me on the couch. “Um-hm” he smiled! Ok! So we did!

A religious sister visited us for Mass last week and she wanted to say the rosary afterwards. At the end of each decade she would say the Fatima prayer, "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell; lead all souls to heaven especially those who are in most need of. Your mercy" I think I will add it to my daily rosary.

I'm astonished at this discussion. I've just finished saying my daily rosary and found difficulty today with attending to the prayer and the meditation. At the end of the Rosary I said a silent prayer acknowledging my difficulty with attention. I tuned into RU-vid and there's Pints with Aquinas discussing the very thing I had been thinking about.

This is a needed discussion. I used to pray the rosary everyday but I’ve been so guilted into doing it BEST and correctly and slowest, etc that I’ve given it up. I’ve been begging Our Lady to help me find my way back…and here is this video. God heard our prayers. He KNOOOOWS us just as we are-anxious, distracted, lazy. I just love Him and Our Lady MORE for helping me…directing me….leading me.

Now 80 years old, as a child I would pray rather quickly and be done in 15 minutes. My mind was quick, and there was lots to do in a day. Now, I actually enjoy getting a little lost in contemplating the mysteries, learning the lessons that are there to be learned, so that it will be 20- 30 minutes of prayer. I believe prayer is not just time spent, but time well spent. And little children can learn to love prayer if too many conditions aren't imposed on them.

I feel like the Rosary should be prayed slowly, because it truly enters into the meditative nature of it, and I feel like it goes with breathing better too, I feel like I'm trying to keep up with my breath when people pray it fast. It ends up taking me about 50 minutes but it always feels more worthwhile and like I was truly in it.

I open with the Creed on the cross, follow with Our Father, the 3 Hail Mary's, Glory Be, the Fatima prayer and then begin with the first mystery, repeat with the Fatima prayer after each decade and close with the Hail Holy Queen. I do the full rosary in one go and found that it really only takes me about 13 -15 minutes. I do 4 rosaries (all mysteries) each day - well there is the odd day when there is an interruption to my day but it has to be significant. I find on days when I have to work at the office I'll crave some time with the rosary and go down into the underground parking arcade and sit in my car to pray an entire rosary - it's a fantastic break from all the noise and nonsense of work and people.

I know what you're saying. If I'm saying the rosary with my family then it's straight down the line,15 minutes. However when I'm saying the rosary on my own I like to say it as a contemplative prayer. I slow right down and soak it up. When my heart is touched by a mystery i just stop there and meditate on that. So it all depends on when and who you're praying with. If im heading into work ill say it straight as i want to finish it before I'm distracted at work.

Can I just say this would be helpful for those compromised by disassociation (PTSD, ADHD umbrella) who come with an open heart but are limited by these means. Thanks 🙏

When I first converted 20 years ago I had the 'on fire, gonna do it ALL' mentality and that included the rosary - every time I prayed with different groups and heard a new and different prayer that had been tacked on at the beginning, middle, or end I had to learn it and add it to my personal recitation.... And then when I would feel fatigue during prayer I'd end up getting anxiety over even*thinking* of dropping some of those extra prayers to cut down my time..."How can you call yourself pious if you want to shorten prayer time?? How dare you?".... Luckily I realized what I was doing to myself and knew it was not a good, so I cut out all the 'extras' and went back to praying a simple, basic, rosary

I love praying a scriptural Rosary. Definitely a longer version to pray but no wondering mind as each Hail Mary has a Bible scripture that focuses on the mystery being prayed.

Dominicans are always a treat to listen to. They clearly have dedicated their lives to drawing closer to God and understanding His revealed truths, using their intellect and reason.

My priest made the rosary super simple for me because I am new to the rosary. I basically start with a personal prayer at the cross , then every part of the rope with no Bead I do the Jesus prayer , every single bead I do the our father . And every bead that is in group I do the Hail Mary. It’s work very well for me ! It’s easy for me to do since I am new to Catholicism and the rosary and it allows me to get close to God and practice prayer while I learn the official way

Thank you for this! We do have the 1962 Latin Missal and the St. Andrew's Missal and when I read the parts about the Rosary I was relieved to know that all the other stuff is optional. I always felt so guilty that I did not like participating in all the extras and thought that I was just a bad Catholic as opposed to my friends who liked adding in a lot of extra prayers, but now I don't. I love the Rosary now! -Kat

I learned the rosary in Spanish from my Puerto Rican mother. We begin with: "+By the sign of the holy Cross, +deliver us from our enemies, +O Lord our God, In the Name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." (The first three crosses are made on the forehead, lips, and heart; then the full Sign of the Cross). Instead of the Apostles' Creed here, there's a Spanish Act of Contrition, an English version of which I can't find. Next is an Our Father, followed by Three Hail Marys "in honor of the purity of the Most Holy Virgin Mary." Each of these Hail Marys is preceded by: "V/ O Mary, conceived without sin; R/ pray for us who have recourse to you," and the Three Hail Marys themselves are said like this: 1. "Hail, Mary, Daughter of God the Father, full of grace..." 2. "Hail, Mary, Mother of God the Son, full of grace..." 3. "Hail, Mary, Spouse of God the Holy Spirit, full of grace..." After the Glory Be, we announce the Mysteries and the first decade. At the end of each decade, right after the Glory Be, we add: 1. "Mary, Mother of grace, Mother of mercy, in life and in death protect us, great Lady." 2. "We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God. Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin." 3. "Pray for us, O holy Mother of God; that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ." 4. "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy." 5. V/ "Hail, Mary, most pure; R/ conceived without sin." The next decade is announced, and the rest of the decades continue as above. At the conclusion of the five decades is said "Hail, Holy Queen," the collect "O God, whose only-begotten Son...," the Litany of Loreto, and the Apostles' Creed. The rosary ends with a Spanish poem which I also don't think exists in English: "Blessed be thy purity / and may it eternally be so, / for God himself rejoices / in so gracious beauty. / To thee, heavenly Princess, / Holy Virgin Mary, / I offer thee this day / my soul, my life, my heart. / Look upon me with compassion, / do not abandon me, my Mother / pour on me thy blessing / all the hours of the day / and also those of the night, / Holy Virgin Mary. / And if in aught I have offended thee, / forgive me, my Mother.... ... for we have prayed In the Name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." After all of this, the English or "American" rosary just seems so bare and rushed to me. But I agree that this method may not be for everyone. The important thing is just to pray as you can, not as you can't.

I grew up with a very devout and borderline fanatical Catholic mother. I’m still faithful today thanks to her influence, strife, and efforts in raising our family but this was a big problem growing up for us. She would always whenever she got a chance try and force more and more prayer into the family prayer time. We would often go 4 hours praying 8 rosaries or be praying litanies and also devotions on very regular occasions. There was never a moment where my siblings or I would get frustrated and argue with her to cut the prayer time down so that we could enjoy our leisure time or do important responsibilities like studying or homework. She never really understood how less could be more and stuck dogmatically with the whole “pray ceaselessly” idea by misinterpreting it as never-ending continuous verbal prayer. Now regrettably instead of having given us a passion and habit of regular prayer, most of us now dread it because of the relationship we grew up having with prayer.

Thanks for addressing this! As a priest, I have said the same thing to some of my very pious pre-Mass rosary groups. sometimes the added prayers after the rosary are longer than the rosary itself. I have to gently remind them that Mass is about to begin and sometimes it’s ok to just pray the rosary without all the accretions, especially in groups. Add as much as you want in your private prayer at home.

A very good discussion. Prompted me to say a Rosary again after a long time. God bless you all

I struggle to pray the rosary. Please pray for me.

People complain how long it takes to pray whole rosary but yet have time to watch endless 2 hour movies per week! Kind of tells you where their heart really is?

The Rosary prayed correctly is difficult and I think it’s suppose to be, for our own good. It takes devotion, focus and perseverance.

Wow Fr Pine is one of the most intelligent people walking this earth. Praise God for him.

praying the complete rosary with all the mysteries spoken at each Hail Mary in German took me more than 2h. That's how I prayed for a while, until i removed the mysteries and just mediatted in my mind on them, which i did to fit better with my time schedule and don't start to sweat or rush it at the end.

And I thought I was the only one! So glad to learn that there are others out there who dislike all the prayers added to the rosary, especially when it’s prayed in a group setting. To me, it becomes a turn-off and I find myself staying at home a little longer before heading to Mass just so I don’t have to sit through the group recitation of the Rosary before Mass.

I add intentions at every mystery; particularly for our family members in most need of our Lord's mercy, sometimes for the forgiveness of our sins, and our children's vocations, as to make it a strategic prayer class to our children now almost adults. I find it a practical way to break the monotony of a prescribed prayer and refresh my devotion at every mistery.

Fr Gregory is a wonderful man who is so articulate and holy yet down to earth. Along with Matt Fradd, I could listen to these holy gentlemen for endless hours!

St Louis De Montfort gives great advice in The Secret of The Rosary such as breaking up the decades over the day if this makes it easier to be consistent. But also points out that one attentive decade is better than praying the whole rosary unattentively (even gives anecdotal evidence). Obviously distractions will come but we should try to be attentive. He recommends slowing down the Our Father and Hail Mary's (with small pauses) to be more attentive. The first time I tried it I said the best/most attentive Rosary that I ever have. I struggle to do that each time though. I think 15 mins may be appropriate in a family setting though personally I would struggle to reflect on the mysteries when going that fast. I usually take about 30 mins though I could be more efficient. I agree that it is key to adjust to our circumstances - better to stay consistent than to only pray when you can do it perfectly (which is never).

I found a website that actually breaks down each Hail Mary into ten different points of the mysteries. I find that especially helpful for me as a new convert. My college has a prayer room where I'd go to meditate even before I found Christ but the last time I was there I saw that they had two rosaries available for people to use. So I decided to pray the sorrowful mysteries while I waited for someone to pick me up (I was there for a weekly autism support group but I can't drive and my sister had fallen asleep), and I found that by the fifth mystery I was just weeping openly. To the point where I was almost embarrassed because I could hear the janitors vacuum over the lofi I had playing to drown it out and I was worried that they were going to come in and just see this man reading from his phone, clutching these beads, and just subbing!

I love praying my rosary. But truly, there are days lately when I feel so guilty for my wandering mind, or the level of contemplation I have achieved on a particular day, or that I fell asleep trying to meditate on the mysteries devoutly. The Holy Spirit was really refreshing our souls on your channel today. Praise God for this episode, and for both of you. I have such a feeling of peace right now about this beautiful devotion to Our Lady....🙏

I pray the rosary on my daily walk as it is free of distractions and other disruptions and can meditate on each mystery and how it might relate to my life at that moment. That changes depending on what's going on. Never had a problem praying the rosary but you have to ensure this isn't just some checklist you're flying through just to get it done. Not supposed to be a burden.

Gosh, this opened up the rosary to me like never before. Thank you so much. The rosary has always seemed like such a chore to pray. I know it’s good, but I’ve never found much benefit from it. But after watching this, my wife and I prayed the Dominican rosary together (first time.) The quick opening to just orient our hearts and then jumping into the mysteries makes it so much more approachable. In addition, Fr. Pine’s advice to just place ourselves in the presence of the mystery, to call it to mind, and then say the prayers made me able to actually meditate on the mysteries more than ever before. This is truly remarkable. My wife and I are currently on pilgrimage to WYD in Lisbon. In the last week we’ve visited both Lourdes and Fatima, so this opening up of the rosary is so beautiful and timely. Thank you!

I love your comments on the rosary, the elimination of the excessive additions and keeping the prayer simple. Thank you so much.

My daughter calls it prayer stacking. Adding all these prayers. When I was in the Legion of Mary in our handbook it stressed just doing the rosary in a simple way and while people might have lots of devotional prayers they are free to pray in private but doing the rosary as a group keep it simple and uniform. We also opened with come Holy Spirit (etc) instead of the creed, etc

I'm glad that there is room for my brokenness.

I pray it in Latin, the Pope Benedict recording and the Monastic tone Salve at the end. It's 20-25 minutes and it's great.

To me, too many additions tend to break the meditative character of the rosary, it changes the focus into 'what's next' rather than on meditation that is built on the repetition, so you can focus more innerly, rather than in external variety. Its a different type of focus. To Fatima prayer I'm very used to and I like it. But some additions or singing is too much.

Just said my Rosary. I felt so desperate by its bad quality, that I was tempted to give up right away. But I didn't. I was compelled to make a leap of faith : tomorrow it will be better. And God supply my crappy prayer. Maybe this misery in praying and my act of faith was exactly what God wanted me to experience.😇

I think it depends on the person. If you don't like that then don't. But if another person wants to add other prayers and it's helping them to contemplate the mysteries of the Rosary, let them. Prayer is personal. It's between them and our Lady and the Lord.

I pray to reach a point in my spiritual journey where I am burning with desire to pray additional prayers in the Rosary.

In the context of a group setting, I think it is important to keep the rosary short to make sure as many people come as possible. Also if the length of the rosary makes you not say it, I would probably shorten it.

For me, I look at the difficulty (if you can even call it that) of sitting through a whole Rosary as a sacrifice. If I'm not willing to devote 15 or 30 minutes to prayer, there's something wrong. Just gotta buck up and offer it up.

I ABSOLUTELY AGREE WITH YOU!!! When praying the rosary in a group stick to the BASIC rosary. I have my extra rosary prayers that I pray when I am praying my rosary privately. Simple. After daily morning Mass at my church and I DO NOT STAY because it is other people’s prayers that they are adding. I think it should be kept as the basic rosary prayer and to add your own extra prayers, even if the regular group agrees, it is still rude.

I don't need to shorten my prayer, I like my rosary the way it is. And now, I am practicing Latin. Jesus Bless us all

I am rather concerned that since V2 changes have occurred that have unbalanced The Holy Rosary. For quite a while I have been trying (worldwide) to get hold of the Latin text for the Holy Rosary. Not just the prayers, but the text itself with original passages. Something we can say, yes, this is the Rosary prayed by medieval monarchs, the martys of England, and so forth.

Sometimes Less is More. I was taught the Rosary as a child in the 1950s. It was simple, basic, and beautiful. All these add-ons dilute the sacred simplicity of the pure Rosary, imo.

When our 5 kids were all little, we prayed just one mystery per day but with related Scripture verses for each Hail Mary that helped explain the meditation. They learned their basic prayers & they learned what the point of the many Hail Marys were BEFORE their brains could be trained to tune the words out because of many meaningless (to them) repetitions. When they were older, we began to do a full Rosary, and over time, they were allowed to add whatever prayers they wanted. Then as life got busy with college, for example, we trimmed things down to the most basic. I believe that's what the Lord wants us to do - be faithful in prayer, yes, but adapt as needed for your God-given circumstances.

I went to a rosary group prayer where each person had to get up, walk across the chapel, light a candle, and state an intention before every Hail Mary. It took hours, was horrifyingly painful and was the least prayerful event ever.

I've definitely experienced what matt said about how he could have psyched himself up, but just wanted it to be done when they began the next mysteries. Glad to feel represented.

Thank you! I often don't start because I'm afraid I won't have time to finish and “worry” about getting all prayers in! This frees me to now pray without worry and be more fruitful🙏🌸♥️

This discussion has been so informative! Thank you!

Thank you, thank you. I have also wondered this.

For myself, whenever I pray my Seven Sorrows Rosary, the "Devotion to the Seven Sorrows" book by TAN Books prescribes a method very similar to the Dominican rosary but with the notable prescription of dropping the Our Father, making it even shorter (as it already is considering one is only praying a total of 49 Hail Marys). A Benedictine monk once told a group of vocation retreat attendees to either focus on the words of the Hail Mary or imagine yourself in the scene of the mystery itself (whether it be with Mary at the Annunciation or Jesus at the foot of the Cross). What also helped was chanting the Rosary.

I grew up in the church and left it for a long time, but I don't even remember doing the mysteries. I remember the Our Fathers, Hail Marys and the Glory Be and that was it. Now I am back doing the rosary and it seems like a whole slew of other additions are there that I don't remember.

I agree - the Rosary is so SIMPLy beautiful as it is and I don’t know why we have to add more prayers……..as though it makes us “more heard”.

Great discussion!!!!!! Thank you, Fr. Pine! and Matt😊

it's like intention sprawl when a group wants to have ten or twelve intentions and solve all the world problems with one rosary. I think one for Mary's intentions is best. I think I heard Fr. Pine say that one time.

IPieta has the Rosary prayers. They are a bit longer than 20 minutes and I find the additional prayers welcome sometimes when I am not strained for time balancing family and work. Lately though I have been praying with Hallow.

This was the absolute best video ever done on PWA! I am going to show this to my CRE class and discuss.

This was amazingly helpful. It answered many questions I have had. I pray the Rosary in so many different ways and in different situations and am now more comfortable about how I have tailored it to these different situations. Thank you for the topic.

30 to 40 min devout Mexican Catholic traditional rosary....I start day dreaming. I always wondered about all the added prayers. Thank you for explaining and breaking it down for me. Can't wait to let my devout Aunt know... LoL

I'm with you on this, I can't be doing with all the 'add ons' that people come up with. St. Benedict said to keep our prayers minimal. When it comes to the Rosary I'd agree.

This video just came up in my RU-vid feed today. Very helpful, because I've always worried about not concentrating on the Mysteries as I say the Prayers. I've never liked the added prayers etc. and don't use them privately. I just learned about the Anglican 'Rosary' this week - the Jesus Prayer repeated. This seems like a something to add to my Prayer Life, since the focus is different and more concentrated.

Great one. Fr. Pine was a very clear instructor, I look forward to hearing more from him.

I think that whatever version of the rosary you pray, if you have a prayerful intention, you can't go wrong and I think that includes making it "efficient" as Fr says (!). I say mine fairly quickly most weekdays, to fit it into my 20 minute break, but at the weekend I can spend longer in meditation on the mysteries.

Thank you. I have guilty for not singing Ave Maria & adding extra prayers between decades. I pray St. Louis deMontefort’s short version Rosary prayer. I’m frequently troubled with distractions, some against Our Lord & Our Lady which causes so much pain & horror. I believe that’s why I wait till right before bed to pray, then I have to fight from falling asleep.

So happy I came across this discussion, I avoid going to church early before Mass due to the rosary being said with all the extra prayers. Thank you for introducing me to the Dominican rosary.

Great video. Thanks.

Excellent conversation. I have been a longtime fan of both Pints and Godsplaining, and these kinds of “crossover” episodes are some of my favorites. Thank you both, and may God bless you and keep you!

The Rosary is like a meal, some people like a lot of trimmings and a lot of courses.. For me it is all a prayer. The Rosary stands on its own with the fatima prayer between each decade and the St Michael prayer at the end. . I would see that as just a three course meal..! In the presence of Mary, the Angels, Martyrs and Saints I pray the Rosary before the Holy Trinity. Ave Maria 🙏

I would like to share my personal opinion on this and say that, as everything in life, there is a time and place for the whatever kind of rosary you want/ can/ need to pray. If you are beginning your rosary journey, you probably would like to start with a quick version of it. Even just one mystery out of the five first thing in the morning, then the second one in the middle of your morning, then the third one before or after lunch and so on… On the other hand if you like things straight you want a 20 min. rosary at some designated time in your routine. I live in El Salvador, and grow up in a very conservative catholic Latino family, and in my experience when the hole family gather to pray the rosary for a novena or something we would start with the creed, then first mystery, then Fatima prayers (and some other prayers that I wouldn’t know how to translate since I just know them in Spanish 😂) then a song to Mary and the second mystery… so you can have picture of the whole thing! And you have no idea HOW TEDIOUS it was for me as kid or teenage. But then I grow older and when my grandma passed and we were praying rosaries every night I came to realize that praying WAS NOT FOR ME but for her and you have no idea how much I looooove to pray for her, so the longer the better ❤❤❤ Now I’m in this point learning how to pray the rosary in English and found this podcast that has help me with it and it has THE MOST ENLIGHTENING meditations. It is Daily Rosary with Dr. Mike Scherschlight I really recommend it’s a 20 to 30 min. conversation ❤ So I just want to finish saying that it doesn’t matter what version of the rosary you are into right now, whatever kind of rosary you feel like praying DO IT WITH LOVE, AND DO IT WITH PURPOSE. Always with a purpose, put it n your heart, give it Mary so she can present your heart to the Lord with her beautiful hands. ❤❤❤

Matt, kudos for your family rosary time, but much kudos to those who can take the time honoring the scriptures throughout each decade. Sincerity matters.

I have the routine of doing a scriptural rosary, but with the uniqueness of making my way through the Bible with the rosary. I read 1 verse before each Hail Mary, and I stick with one book of the Bible at a time, and pick up where I left off the day before. Some may think it's weird because the part of the Bible that is being read (I'm in Samuel right now and today just read of the Bathsheba incident while on the 4th/5th joyful mysteries) may seem so unrelated to the theme of the mystery, but I think all of scripture is interconnected and all bound up in God's revelation with Christ from Genesis through Revelation, and sometimes it can be surprising how things seemingly unrelated are, indeed, related. Another thing I like about doing this is that it makes reading scripture better, and it makes praying the rosary better. My rosary becomes 30 minutes instead of 20, but I find it to be a far more enjoyable 30 minutes that just praying the rosary by itself for 20 minutes and having my mind wander everywhere, and I find it better than just reading scripture for 20 minutes and falling into the trap of reading it as one would read the newspaper. The rosary forces me to slow down and meditate upon each verse, and the scripture forces me to remain focused as those Hail Mary's provide the backing harmony of the chorus that becomes the prayer, combining both reflective contemplation with this well-dispositioned habit of invoking our Blessed Mother for her aide. Fulton Sheen has spoken of the utterance of Hail Mary's as the orchestra playing for a movie. I think this effect becomes somewhat true. Sometimes I take my mind a bit off the scriptures and look at Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Other times I will maybe think more of the mystery itself. Other times I am so engrossed in the scripture passages, an engrossment oft only made possible to me because of the accompanying rosary.

Before watching this video, I thought it was about the Luminous Mysteries.

Thank you! This video has already helped me to return to the very heart of the rosary and take my time actually meditating on the saving mysteries, after months of machine gunning through the vocal prayers. For too long my attention had tilted towards the outer performance of this great prayer and I'm now again shifting to its inner beauty 🙂 God bless!

Super good stuff!!! Love it!

This is so true. I very often say the rosary with my catholic girl friend, and due to our respective families' own added prayers, our rosary starts with the Nicean creed + between each decade, we say the Oh my Jesus prayer + My God, I believe prayer + 3 times Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us wo have recourse to thee. We also add an intention of prayer for each decade. Makes it very long

This is my very struggle in praying the rosary. I get burned out, I go days without saying it. But I very seldom miss the Divine Mercy Chaplet because it is shorter.

I'm so emotional doing the Rosary that I have to do it alone. I will do it at church but I'm emotional. It usually takes 30min. I am surprised you just do it to do it. Dose that work? I do my first at 3am, again at 6am, again by 9am, after work/dinner, again before bed. Thats an average of 5-6 full Rosary's a day and every time I'm crying or engaged. Mind you, every day I see God work in my life and say more prayers of thanks. I look at it as spiritual warfare and dedicate each 10 to a specific subject, or for Mary to use as she sees fit. The key is LOVE, Feel Gods infinite love. If done with Love and desire, I find I'm changing and growing every day. It's a life lesson for the afterlife. How to live and feel. Please don't take God the Father and our Lord Jesus out of the prayer. That was never Queen Mary's intention to outshine them.

YESSSSSS! My Parish adds so many more prayers onto the back of the Rosary. Just keep the Rosary in its simplicity. I know all the Rosary prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Fatima, Apostle's Creed, Hail Holy Queen, and the Final prayer). I show up to pray the Rosary before Mass and I'm lost, 'cause I don't know all these additional prayers.

🏆🌟 THE APOSTLES CREED MUST BE SAID🌟🏆

Catholic priest and poet, John O'Brien, who grew up in Colonial Australia, wrote a poem on this called the Trimmin's on the Rosary

Loved this little clip!

Very informative and I learned something new🙏✝️🙏

As a new Catholic, I had a surprisingly difficult time finding a guide to the rosary. They often had misleading subtitles like "complete" or "shortened," prayers I wasn't familiar with like the Fatima Invocation or the St. Michael Chaplet, and no guide was ever the same. I ultimately ended up with a Seven Sorrows Rosary. That devotion is unpopular enough where there's only one way to do it!

Hmmm.... Well, I absolutely love the variety in the rosary depending on the church I am visiting. It makes me smile that Mary's adopted children want to add a personal touch to their prayers. I also treasure the times I have a 30+ min drive because it gives me time to be more intentional about each prayer. This rebuke I am hearing feels kinda odd like looking a gift horse in the mouth and just sneezing. But peace, I love your intent which feels like trying to protect the rosary from perceived ornamentation for ornamentation's sake.

100% in agreement! The possibility of contemplation of the Mysteries easily becomes obscured.

THANK YOU!

Just follow St. Louis De Montfort's method on praying the rosary. Pray the Rosary and pray it well. Private devotions should not become public devotions. Deus benedicat

After thinking it about, so many people think that the Rosary is just a vocal prayer but the true purpose of the rosary is bringing one to meditation and if so blessed to contemplative prayer. When saying the rosary in a group there is little time for meditation. If by the grace of God you do achieve contemplation, they get all upset because you leave vocal prayer for meditation or contemplation. Great saints like Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila will tell you it is a grave error to forgo the gift of meditation or contemplation for vocal prayer. If there is time you return to vocal prayer if not so be it.

What a wonderful, thoughtful video. So much to reflect on. One thing I will add is that it is possible to say the prayers of the Rosary and contemplate the mysteries at the same time. Maybe not at first, but there came a point for me when those prayers actually prevented my mind from wondering. While Mr. Fradd says you can't do two things at once, your brain wants to anyway. I think of the mysteries as a movie and the prayers as the soundtrack playing while I watch. Together they get 100% of my attention. Watch a movie with the sound off and see how far you get.

This is a good clip. Love it

This is so on-point. I, too, dislike lumping extra prayers on the rosary. Vocal prayer should not dominate. The meditation is key. Many pray the entire rosary daily because that is how it was intended. In the book The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis de Montfort states that 5 decades was for children. Adults prayed ALL the mysteries daily, and broke them up throughout the day.

Regardless how long or short it is... Just pray it everyday with all your heart and soon you will really fall in Love with our Holy Mother and than you will find that it really does not matter. You really love her and you know that praying it really pleases her. In the end that's what matters!

I just follow the Hallow app daily rosary. 18 mins. Love it.

Matt, it is definitely possible to pray the prayers reverently while also contemplating the Mysteries. We do it all the time, like when we are driving, doing the dishes, or what have you while also thinking about something else. The Aves are like a lovely lyrical rhythmic heartbeat, a steady engine that fuels the imagination to contemplate the life of Christ. A good deep breath in and out at the start of prayer to quiet the mind and come into His presence really helps me to set my mind to pray. May God bless you more and more. +

12 minutes! 😂😂😂😂 Matt you sprint! 😂😂😂😂 Totally agree... sometimes I correct people when they say they dont like it bec is complicated and when I explain they are 😮 wait what?!

Amen! One thing I cannot wrap my head around is the Flame of Love unity prayer. I wish someone would speak on this. Fr. James Blount endorses it. I am NOT a fan of this prayer or movement. Could you please do a segment on this or have Fr. James on your show! RU-vid is constantly recommending it.

Great discussion.

Very helpful!

I don't worry too much about getting lost in thought during the Rosary. Sometimes I drift off of the mystery and just focus on the prayers themselves. And I think that's okay. One should put forth effort, but not scrupulously. Have some mercy toward yourself. Incremental progress.