Hello Rosary lovers 🙂 In this post we will ask: how does the Rosary connect you to God?
The most holy Rosary of the blessed Virgin Mary connects us to God effortlessly because it is so filled with the Gospel, meditation, Christ, Mary, prayers which really honour God and even worship.
The Rosary is all of this, rolled into one, mighty spiritual devotion. It truly is a very powerful way to become connected to God.
I have found in my many years of spiritual experience that the holy Rosary is far and away the best spiritual devotion I have ever had. Specifically, praying 4 rosaries a day.
Mary and the Hail Mary prayer
Mary is the living and heavenly Temple of Almighty God. She is the Mother of the eternal God, and his permanent Seat. She is known as the ‘Seat of Wisdom’ (i.e., Jesus).
To recite Mary’s name again and again is to come into the very presence and Throne-room of God. You are standing on holy ground. Mary’s name is said 100 times in every Rosary.
The Hail Mary is one of the most powerful prayers in the world. So many miracles have occurred through this prayer. Well, a Rosary is made up of 50 Hail Marys. So that’s 50 times praying one of the most powerful prayers in the world.
The name of Jesus
Then there is the name of Jesus Christ, which is at the heart of every Hail Mary. Right in the middle of each Hail Mary we say: ‘JESUS’.
The name of Jesus is a sacred name, the very name ‘Jesus’ is sacramental. It is the name above all other names, as the Bible teaches. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow!
This means that Jesus’ name is in and of itself a profound vehicle to God. Well, we say Jesus’ name 50 times in the Rosary.
The Lord’s prayer
Then there is the Our Father prayer, which is said 5 times in the Rosary. The Our Father is the very prayer that Jesus taught us to pray all the time.
It is the most wonderful prayer in the world, and it has the very seal of God’s approval on it. It came from the lips of God incarnate himself. So praying this very prayer 5 times is something extremely pleasing to God.
The Lord’s prayer is said at every Mass in the world. It is said after the holy consecration, when the Body and Blood of Jesus comes on the Altar.
This is when we say the Lord’s prayer, at this extremely sacred and holy time. This is the most proper context for the Lord’s prayer. It is, above all, a Eucharistic prayer.
So praying the Lord’s prayer in the Rosary signals and calls to ourselves the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’
In other words, the Rosary is an extension of the Sacrifice of the Mass. Its obvious connection with the Mass means that the Rosary holds great power to bless us, both the living and the dead.
The Glory Bes
Then there are 5 Glory Bes in the Rosary. So 5 times, we glorify and worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! Worship pleases God immensely, and brings us his peace and love. Again, worship is preeminently carried out at the Mass, and so again the Rosary is connected to the Mass.
Profound Marian Meditation on the Gospel
Finally, there is the fact that the Rosary is the Gospel on a string, it is a reflection on the life of Jesus Christ, through the eyes of his Mother, Mary.
This is a highly specialised way to contemplate Christ and it is a life-changing way to do so. When we pray the Rosary, we are participating in Mary’s own eternal meditation on Jesus her only-begotten Son. And no-one meditates on Christ more deeply than Mary.
The real key with praying the Rosary, I have found, is to find a way to really step into and experience and rest in this living and permanent meditation of Mary on her Son, Jesus, and his incarnate life.
One really good way to do this is to play a prerecording of the Rosary prayers, to make yourself comfortable and to simply listen and imagine the mysteries. Here you can focus on stepping into the mysteries, experiencing them or resting in the arms of Mary as the prayers are recited by someone else.
You can read more about this method here.
So there are many, many ways that the Rosary connects us to God. I would love to hear if you can think of any other ways!
Please get in touch and God bless you 🙂