Are you fed up finding yourself on the third decade of the Rosary and wondering how you got there? Are you often amazed at how you began each Mystery with total focus and found yourself meandering all over your life before the end of the decade? You recall how St Teresa of Avila told her sisters: “I hope you will never be guilty of this my dear daughters.” So lets have a look at 5 ways to help focus on praying the Rosary.
We know from experience that we can safely drive a car, we can speak the Mysteries and keep track of our Rosary on our fingers, at the same time as having an imaginary conversation in our heads. But this multi-tasking is not what we want, is it? We want to dwell lovingly on the life of our Divine Lord.
No: 1 For this we need to free our mind from worry. The best way is to make written “to-do” lists every day. When a task jumps into your head while saying the Rosary, you quickly speak directly to the distraction and say one of these three things:
a It’s on the list
b. Not relevant, go away.
c. That can wait.
Say the phrases with determination so that the thoughts know you mean business. Without stopping to give them prominence in your mind continue with your Rosary.
No: 2 If you suddenly realise that having holy thoughts about one of the Mysteries you are saying have lead you naturally into secular concerns, then acknowledge to Our Blessed Lady what you have been thinking about and discuss it with her. Apply thanks or praise or entreaty to the subject coming as a distraction. Then continue saying the Rosary.
No: 3. Sometimes we are half a decade along and realise our prayer offering is so abysmal that we must go back and begin again. Should the second attempt render the same result we realise that our mind is muzzy and unfocused. Years ago I use to do mental arithmetic before praying the Rosary to get my mind in gear. However there is a better way.
Recall how Our Lady asked us, as part of the “Five First Saturdays”, to spend a quarter of an hour meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary. She can not have meant us to say the whole Rosary during so short a time. She asks us to meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary.
And so the following is both acceptable to Our Lady as prayer and a valid way to awaken the lackadaisical mind. List the titles of the five Mysteries you are going to say. Then discuss each Mystery with Our Blessed Lady, perhaps just recalling the focal point of each. In this way you will be emphasising each subject of prayer and your mind will become more alert. Your thoughts will penetrate through the fogged blur and begin contemplating clearly the Divine Mysteries. As you begin the Rosary proper you’ll find your mind is warmed up and focused.
No. 4. A public Rosary is a great chant of Glory to God and of course there is no room for innovation. As a private prayer we can tailor each Rosary to fit what we are praying for. For instance if we are praying for a person called John. We might say “..pray for us sinners especially John, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.” Or to force us to attend to each and every “Hail Mary,” in say … the First Sorrowful Mystery we might pray: “…. And blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus, who ….. Suffered so much anguish for us. Holy Mary Mother of God…” If every “Hail Mary” is said in this way with a different sentence about Jesus pertaining to that Mystery it will be much, much easier to stay focused.
No: 5. The following way of concentrating on the Rosary only works for me when I am kneeling to pray. I hold my Rosary beads still, in my right hand. I use my left hand to count the beads but backwards! Yes you read correctly. I begin counting with bead ten (in that decade) and move back towards the Our Father bead. It gives me a feeling of being committed to saying that decade, after all my fingers are already at the end before I start! As I move back up the decade I feel I am gathering up the prayers like roses – totally emotional I know, but it definitely works.
The Rosary is an invitation to an intimate conversation with God. Have you noticed; not everyone is invited
