Praying the Rosary

Q: Why should I pray the rosary?  Didn’t Jesus condemn repetitious prayer when he said “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words” (Mt 6:7).

A: The rosary is a devotion to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary.  We can never go wrong honoring the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The rosary is also a powerful weapon against the devil.  St. Padre Pio called the rosary beads a weapon of extraordinary power against Satan.  Father Gabriel Amorth, the former chief exorcist of the Vatican, once wrote:  “One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism ‘Every Hail Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful the rosary was, it would be my end.’ ”  The rosary is a great way to combat the devil.

Yes, Jesus did say “do not babble like the pagans” but he was not condemning repetitive prayer.  He was condemning those pagans who rambled on in their prayers thinking that they needed to wear down their gods using many words.

When praying the rosary, we should not just repeat the prayers of the rosary (the Our Fathers, the Hail Marys and the Glory Bes).  We should mediate on the mysteries of the rosary (the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious events in the life of Jesus and his mother).  This is easier “said than done.”  Many times, my mind wanders and after completing a decade of the rosary I realize that my meditation fell short.  I tried, but multi-tasking is difficult for me.  However, the Thomas Merton prayer gives me comfort that my rosary was not in vain.  Part of that prayer goes like this: “… the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  But, I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.”  No prayer, no rosary, is ever wasted.      

Deacon Hooper is a deacon assistant at Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs. He can be reached at [email protected].