Why do I pray the rosary and why you should too? By Lambert Mbom.

On October 7 every year, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. There is a devotion called October devotion, which runs from October 1 through October 31, and during which Catholics are called to pray the rosary daily. And so, it is quite timely to ask: Do you pray the rosary? If yes, why? If not, why not? And so, during this month, it could be worthwhile to ask oneself: why do I pray the rosary? Come up with possibly one or two reason(s) and then seek to learn new reasons. Appropriate this devotion and make it really yours.

One way of learning about the rosary is by reading. A great resource to help is Pope St John Paul II’s Apostolic letter on the rosary. Given that the Church celebrates the feast of Pope John Paul II in October, it might be relevant to return to this fountain of wisdom: 

https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/2002/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20021016_rosarium-virginis-mariae.html.

We shall return to this. I would like to share my own reasons why I pray the rosary. 

I grew up in a very Catholic family, and as a cradle Catholic, the rosary has been a staple in our family's spiritual menu. If you attend mass regularly in many parishes in Africa, you cannot but become familiar with the rosary. Praying the rosary precedes the Mass. As I reflect on why I pray the rosary, and you should, the first thing that comes to my mind is, I pray the rosary because I am Catholic and grew up with the rosary as a primary prayer of choice. The rosary is a familial appropriation. It is kind of part of my family heritage. As I have matured in my faith journey, many things have impacted my engagement with the rosary. This year, I would like to share two things that have helped shape my commitment to the rosary, namely the prayer said at the end of the rosary and Pope St. John Paul II’s Apostolic letter “ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE”. In this first part, I will focus on the prayer, and then later would borrow from the wisdom of the apostolic letter. 

We often conclude the rosary with the beautiful prayer, “Salve Regina”, the “Hail Holy Queen”. There is an optional addendum that reads thus:

O God whose only begotten Son by His life, death and Resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal salvation, grant we beseech thee that MEDITATING upon these mysteries of the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both IMITATE what they contain and OBTAIN what they promise, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. This simple prayer contains the essence of the rosary.

First, it is a prayer offered to the Father. Through the rosary, then, I render praise and worship to God. It is an act of thanksgiving to the Father for the Son through the Blessed Mother. There are six “Our Fathers” with every complete rosary prayed, one at the introduction and one at the beginning of each of the decades. It is to the Father that we entreat as we acknowledge the work of the Son, Jesus Christ. Hence, it is a paternal prayer. It is inherently a prayer to the Father.

Second, the rosary is a meditation on the life, death and Resurrection of Christ. Apart from the fourth and fifth Glorious mysteries, which are, the Assumption and the Coronation respectively, and which relate directly to Mary, all the other 18 mysteries are on the life of Christ. When I pray the rosary, I am celebrating and meditating on the life of Christ – the rosary is a meditation on Christ’s life. Hence, the rosary is not a mindless repetition of formulaic prayers, like some are wont to accuse Catholics of. Some Catholics even say that they do not feel anything when they pray the rosary, as if the rosary is meant to be simply an emotional feel-good moment. Do you want to know Christ? Pray the rosary. 

Third, I pray the rosary because it is a prayer in imitation of Christ. The Sorrowful mysteries, to choose a random example, invite me to center the sorrows of my life on the Cross. There is nothing one is going through in life that Christ did not go through. Praying the rosary thus helps give perspective to the realities of my life. As we shall soon read, the rosary is a compendium of the mysteries of Christ’s life, death and Resurrection. Praying the rosary mimics the famous spiritual classic: Imitation of Christ. Of course, Christ never prayed the rosary, yet through the rosary one walks the stations of the life of Christ. When I pray the rosary, I meditate and imitate what I have meditated on. 

Fourth, when I pray the rosary I obtain what it promises. The Blessed Mother Mary is said to have made 15 promises to those who pray the rosary fervently. A good number of these promises hover around sin. Of all the promises, the one contained in the second part of the Hail Mary namely: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death”, ranks supreme. When I pray the rosary, Mary is praying with me and for me. The miracle at Cana captures this for me. When I pray the rosary, especially when the wine of our life is in short supply and running out, I feel Mary’s presence as she tells her Son: “Lambert has no wine”. When I pray the rosary, Mary is praying with me and for me, now and even more importantly at the hour of my death. The rosary is the prayer of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is Mary's prayer. 

The rosary is a meditation not merely a recitation, it is an imitation not merely an aspiration and a fulfilment that merely a wish. It is such a spiritual wealth and one could rightly talk of the spirituality of the rosary. In my feeble attempts to grow spiritually, the rosary is an indispensable guide.