Maybe you are like me, Willa, and have much trouble saying a daily Rosary. You want to join in the 54 day Miracle Novena but you have failed often before. Is there any help?
Chari already posted some inspirational thoughts, but I thought perhaps for my own sake and in case it helps any of our readers, I might try to regularly post inspiration or trouble-shooting tips for making the Rosary a bigger part of one's life and for persevering to the end of the Rosary Novena.
Even if you are a failed Rosary sayer, don't be discouraged. As Chari said, we are something like an army when we are saying the Rosary together. If one of us stumbles and falls, our friends and our angels are there to help us up again.
Today I found this quote from St Louis Marie de Montfort's Secret of the Rosary and wanted to share. It talks about why the Rosary is so difficult (for some of us, anyway) and why it is worth it even if it is so difficult. He seems to tell us that it's worth it to persevere, even or especially when it's very hard. What he said made a lot of sense to me and spoke to why the Rosary is so difficult for me!
WHEN THE ROSARY is well said it gives Jesus and Mary more glory and it is more meritorious for the soul than any other prayer. But it is also the hardest prayer to say well and to persevere in, owing especially to the distractions which almost inevitably attend the constant repetition of the same words.
When we say the Little Office of Our Lady, or the Seven Penitential Psalms, or any prayers other than the Rosary, the variety of words and expressions keeps us alert, prevents our imagination from wandering, and so makes it easier for us to say them well. On the contrary, because of the constant repetition of the same Our Father and Hail Mary in the same unvarying form, it is difficult, while saying the Rosary, not to become wearied and inclined to sleep or to turn to other prayers that are more refreshing and less tedious.
This goes to show that one needs much greater devotion to persevere in saying the Holy Rosary than in saying any other prayer, even the Psalms of David. Our imagination, which is hardly still a minute, makes our task harder and then of course there is the devil who never tires of trying to distract us and keep us from praying.
To what ends does not the evil one go against us while we are engaged in saying our Rosary against him. Being human, we easily become tired and slipshod----but the devil makes these difficulties worse when we are saying the Rosary. Before we even begin he makes us feel bored, distracted or exhausted----and when we have started praying he oppresses us from all sides. And when, after much difficulty and many distractions, we have finished, he whispers to us: "What you have just said is worthless. It's useless for you to say the Rosary. You had better get on with other things. It's only a waste of time to pray without paying attention to what you're saying; half an hour's meditation or some spiritual reading would be much better. Tomorrow when you're not feeling so sluggish you'll pray better; don't finish your Rosary until tomorrow." By tricks of this kind the devil gets us to give up the Rosary altogether or else hardly say it at all, and we keep putting it off or else change to some other devotion.
Dear Rosary Confraternity members, do not listen to the devil, but be of good heart even if your imagination has been bothering you throughout your Rosary, filling your mind with all kinds of distracting thoughts----as long as you really tried hard to get rid of them as soon as they came. Always remember that the best Rosary is the one with the most merit, and there is more merit in praying when it is hard than when it is easy.
.... Even if you have to fight distractions all through your whole Rosary be sure to fight well, arms in hand: that is to say, do not stop saying your Rosary even if it is hard to say and you have absolutely no sensible devotion. It is a terrible battle, I know, but one that is profitable to the faithful soul.
Lol that is so me ! and where does the saying come from anyway that it is so easy and the rosary only takes but 15-20min ! on a good non distracted day it will take me on average 45min but reality is it usually takes me 2 1/2 hrs lol
ReplyDeleteit is my imagination , and visual distractions . Oh my to pray a rosary while traveling even in silence within the vehicle .
the saints really helped me accept my human weakness . ST.Therese especially . if she continued to try and did it so can I but not to feel I'm bad just that , that is me who I am .I take a long time it doesn't make me less than another just a different type of prayer person .
It also lessened my guilt to know the rosary is not mandatory ! I am called to other devotions like the ST.Michael chaplet . it does not take from the rosary but we all have our true devotions which we are called to focus on . I pray the Our Lady Guadalupe chaplet for the unborn it is no less valued a prayer than the rosary .
and why do I have the joyful and sorrowful mysteries memorized yet not the glorious or luminous ? whats with that ? I honestly don't know the why .I've prayed all of them for yrs yet without a booklet I forget those two mysteries !
This was a great post Willa , Thanks ♥
Thanks Rox!
ReplyDeleteI have been saying the Divine Mercy chaplet recently since reading that it is especially recommended to say for the sick and dying, and my Mom is quite sick. I will have to check out the St Michael and Guadalupe ones since those do sound good too. I usually say a St Michael prayer especially for our teens and young adults since it is so hard to grow up nowadays in our country. St Michael's been a friend to me so often because of all my boys who love battles and good vs evil struggles!
It's true there are so many valuable devotions that no one could practice them all, and the saints recommend the ones you particularly feel attracted to. I keep trying with the Rosary because I do feel an attraction to it even though it's so difficult for me.
Roxie, whatever you give to Our Lord and His Mother, will bring you great blessing! We just need to keep trying....
ReplyDeleteoh! And I always forget about the Divine Mercy Chaplet! There are so many wonderful devotions.....even as a contemplative, we could never pray all of them!!
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