Hello there Rosary lovers! Praying the most holy Rosary is a very common devotion amongst Catholics. In this post we will ask: why pray the Rosary everyday?
The Rosary is always recommended by Mary
Mary has made many appearances to the human race. She appeared to St Dominic. She appeared at Fatima. She appeared at Lourdes. And many believe that she has appeared at Medjugorje, though the Church is still examining this.
Whenever Mary appears to people, she usually commends one spiritual devotion more than others: recitation daily of the Rosary.
If Mary encourages us to give ourselves to her Rosary, then this tells us it is an extremely important spiritual discipline.
Testimony of the saints
Many of the saints give unending praise to the power of the Rosary. Some saints say that the Rosary is the greatest prayer in the Church (other than the Mass, of course).
The following saints were devoted to the Rosary (this list is NOT exhaustive):
- St Faustina
- St Padre Pio
- St Mother Theresa
- St Dominic
- St Pope John Paul II
- St Frances de Sales (Doctor of the Church)
- St Pope Pius X
- St Josemaria
- St Louis de Montfort
- St Bernadette
- St Therese of the Child Jesus (Doctor of the Church)
- Sts Francisco and Jacinta Marto (seers of Fatima)
- St Anthony Mary Claret
- St Alphonsus Ligouri (Doctor of the Church)
- St Pope John XXIII
This is just a small list, but as you can see, all of these amazing people were devoted to the Rosary. It was at least partially BECAUSE of their devotion to the Rosary that they became saints.
If we discover a method of spiritual devotion that has been used by God to turn countless people into saints, then we would do well to follow this devotion ourselves.
The Rosary is such a devotion.
Testimonies of Popes
Many Popes have been very devoted to the Rosary. This excellent link shows just how much the Popes have been devoted to it.
In particular, there is Pope Leo XIII (19th century Pope), known as the Pope of the Rosary. He constantly encouraged Catholics to give themselves to the Rosary, and published 12 Encyclicals and 5 Apostolic Letters on the Rosary throughout his Papacy! These had a wonderful impact on the Catholic world.
Quite how Pope Leo XIII is not a canonised saint is beyond my ability to understand. One would have thought he’d be an obvious choice for a canonised Pope.
Indulgences Attached to the Rosary
The Rosary is a devotion which is jam-packed with indulgences and spiritual blessings. It is one of the most indulgence-rich devotions that a Catholic can undertake.
For instance, you get a partial indulgence everytime you recite the Rosary, even if you pray it without any rosary beads.
But you also get a partial indulgence for using a devotional object, like a set of blessed rosary beads. So that’s another partial indulgence.
You also get a partial indulgence for doing the sign of the cross, which is done twice in the Rosary. So that’s two more partial indulgences.
Also, the Our Father prayer remits venial sin, and the Our Father is prayed 15 (or 20) times in the entire Rosary!
We also get an indulgence when we spend some time in mental prayer, and the Rosary is designed to make us do this. So that’s another indulgence.
Then there are all the Hail Marys. One would presume that each Hail Mary carries with it a partial indulgence, since the Hail Mary is a very similar prayer to many others which do give a partial indulgence.
In any case, simply to pray the word ‘Mary’ gives a partial indulgence. And ‘Mary’ is said twice in each Hail Mary.
So … that’s a lot of partial indulgences, even if you just pray 1 Rosary daily.
It’s little surprise that St Pope Pius X said: ‘Amidst all prayers, the Rosary is the most beautiful, the richest in graces, and the one that most pleases the Most Holy Virgin.’
That’s high praise from a Pope and a Saint.
The Rosary is really accessible
The last reason I’ll give, for now, is that the Rosary is really accessible. All you need to do to pray the Rosary is to know the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be, and the 15 mysteries of the Rosary. The mysteries of the Rosary can be found here.
Having memorised the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be and the 15 mysteries, you now have an extremely powerful and indulgence-filled spiritual devotion to last you 10 life-times.
And you can pray it wherever you happen to be. You don’t need a prayer book. You don’t need to be kneeling, or in church. You can pray it anywhere, even during work and chores.
There are surely loads of other reasons why it is a great idea to pray the Rosary everyday.
For instance, we could mention that a number of saints and priests have said that praying the Rosary stunts the development of sin in our lives, that it is impossible to have a devotion to the Rosary and to carry on sinning.
Or we could say that devotion to the Rosary more or less guarantees entrance to heaven, as Pope Leo XIII said and as Mary says in her 15 promises attached to the Rosary.
I would encourage you to give yourself to praying even just 1 decade of the Rosary a day: 1 mystery, 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys and 1 Glory Be. This in and of itself could do wonders.
If you can think of any other reasons for why we should pray the Rosary daily, please share!
God bless you, through Mary, Queen of the most holy Rosary!