THE ROSARY PRAYER GUIDE FOR THE REST OF US

1 THE ROSARYPRAYER GUIDEFOR THE RESTOF USMEDITATION IDEAS FORTHE HOLY ROSARYB rent Villalobos1 Copyright 2017 Brent VillalobosAll rights : 1530300371 ISBN-13: 978-1530300372 Scripture texts in this work are taken from the NEW AMERICANBIBLE WITH REVISED NEW TESTAMENT AND REVISEDPSALMS 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine,Washington, and are used by permission of the copyrightowner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Biblemay be reproduced in any form without permission in writingfrom the copyright owner. Images from WikiMedia ( ), ( ),and All images are in thepublic domain in the United States of from Pinterest , ang , Catholic my wife, Barbara, who continuously reminds me of theimportance of PRAYER and being connected to my Catholic to my boys, luke and Peter, in the hope that I am doing mybest guiding them in developing their faith.

2 3 INTRODUCTION Do you like to cook? I'm not much of a chefbesides the occasional pancake brunch or grilled I have seen plenty of Iron Chef and other cookingshows and learned a few basic concepts. Mainly, Ilearned that simple ingredients can combine to formextremely nuanced and complex flavors. For example,a tomato may not seem like much on its own. Butcombine it with the right amount of olive oil, salt,butter, garlic, onion, and broth and you have a tastysoup. In a way, the ROSARY is much like a spiritual recipemade up of parts that are simple by themselves but,when combined, create a spiritually complexexperience.

3 It's the combination of prayers,meditations, and life experiences that make the Rosarysuch a rich and spiritually nutritious meal. The foundation of the ROSARY experience is theprayers themselves. They aren't difficult; a series ofHail Marys and Our Fathers. Most Catholics havebeen praying those since childhood and can say themwithout much effort. Many of us have said them somany times that it is easy to zoom through them andnot give them much thought. But these are the4important building blocks to the ROSARY because theykeep you grounded to something familiar. Unlikesomething dense like the Catechism or an encyclicalwhich takes a lot of time and concentration tounderstand, the prayers of the ROSARY are simple andaccessible.

4 But don't mistake simple for salt, pepper, or oil, they are rather simple innature but important to any recipe. The mysteries are the next ingredient to thisspiritual recipe. When you combine the prayers withthe mysteries you start to create a deeper, meditativeexperience. You are no longer praying the Hail Marysand Our Fathers in a vacuum. You now have structureand direction. Each mystery reflects an aspect of ourChristian faith that requires deeper scrutiny andthought. As you pray the Hail Marys in the ROSARY ,meditate on the current mystery. Ask Mary for helpunderstanding what God wants you to take away fromeach mystery. But there is yet another ingredient to consider.

5 Thefinal ingredient is you and the world you find yourselfin. And this is where the ROSARY takes on acomplexity that makes it such a powerful PRAYER . TheRosary is never static because your life situation isalways changing. You approach the ROSARY withdifferent concerns, sins, thanksgivings, and sorrowseach time you pray it. It is you who brings out the truebeauty and power of the ROSARY . Blending these core ingredients PRAYER , mysteries,and life events, has been the goal of my website, I wanted to show people that theRosary has a connection and a relevance to everythingthat happens in the world, either personally or to oursociety. 5 While and my book, The Rosaryfor the rest of Us, provide commentary on the Rosaryin the form of resources and articles, I felt like Ineeded to write something to aid people through theRosary praying experience itself.

6 All the articles andbooks in the world don't mean much if you just drawblanks when you actually pray the ROSARY . Or worseyet, the lack of meditation ideas discourages you frompraying the ROSARY at all. I wrote this book in hope that providing Bibleverses, intentions, and spiritually motivatingquotations into a single PRAYER GUIDE will provide anabundance of ideas for your ROSARY back to the recipe analogy, think of this book asyour idea cupboard which you can combine in manydifferent ways depending on your circumstances. The ROSARY is grounded in Scripture and that is whyI included Bible verses for each ROSARY bead. Most ofthem are a single chapter taken from a Gospel tellingthe account of the mystery.

7 And while you may haveread or heard these chapters numerous times, I thinkyou will continue to learn new lessons when youintegrate them into ROSARY PRAYER . This goes back tothe idea that you bring different life experiences eachtime you pray the ROSARY and hence, the Bible willreveal different insights each time you read andmeditate on it. I also thought that including quotations from saintsand theologians would provide a needed boost ofmotivation. When our passion for ROSARY PRAYER orpracticing our faith begins to wane, we often need asmall kick to renew our zeal. Like a coach deliveringa motivational speech to his players, we need toperiodically hear why praying the ROSARY with passion6is so important.

8 Personally, I felt more motivated topray the ROSARY every time I found yet anotherquotation touting the ROSARY 's many benefits whilewriting this book. I hope you are similarly motivatedreading and contemplating them. Intentions are also another important aspect toRosary PRAYER . This brings the prayers out a spiritualvacuum and again into our dynamic, always-changinglives. Despite our best intentions, we forget all ofthose who are in need of our prayers and an intention per ROSARY bead reminds us of allthe people who need, not just our prayers, but also ourhelp. There really is no correct way to use this free to read the Scripture verse, intention, andquotation before praying a Hail Mary or mix andmatch however you want.

9 Maybe one day you justread the Bible verses and pray solely a scripturalRosary. Another day you might focus solely onintentions. It's up to you to find whatever patternworks best. The important goal is that you find thepattern that keeps you returning to the ROSARY day , a ROSARY a day keeps the devil away! 7 ROSARY BASICS Most rosaries look like a necklace (but it is not apiece of jewelry!). The first section is outside themain loop and includes the crucifix, one bead, threesmall beads, and another separate bead. On thecrucifix, you pray the Apostles' Creed. On the singlebead next to the crucifix you pray the Lord's PRAYER (commonly known as the Our Father).

10 On each of thethree smaller beads you pray a Hail Mary. These threeHail Mary prayers are for the virtues of increasedfaith, hope, and charity. Finally, you pray the GloryBe. The Glory Be does not have a bead. The last beadon the chain is where you begin praying the first of thefive decades. Physically, each decade is represented on a Rosaryby a separated bead followed by ten joined , the separated bead for the first decade isactually not in the loop but is the last bead on the chainoutside the main loop. On the single, separated beadyou pray the Our Father. On each of the ten joinedbeads, you pray a Hail Mary. At the end of eachdecade, you pray a Glory Be and the Fatima that there is no bead for those last two people choose to either remain holding the tenthbead of the decade or grasp that gap between that tenthbead and the one for the Our Father of the nextdecade.