Why (and how) I (a protestant) Pray the Rosary

 As long as I can remember I've had a fascination with the rosary. It's beauty. It's simplicity. It can be fashioned from any material from plants to plastic, glass or gems and no matter what it's made of everyone knows what it's made for. I remember being drawn to images of praying hands holding a rosary between them. Though my mom's side of the family are all Catholic in name I was never raised with any religious upbringing until a little later in my childhood and it was in a protestant church. No  rosaries between praying hands.  Prayers were said from the heart or from the pulpit not from memory. Even the prewritten prayers such as "now I lay me down to sleep" or "God is great, God is good let us thank Him for our food" were still not counted on beads. As I got older I lost my faith for a long time but never my fascination with the rosary. I kept a plastic rosary that survived a fire at the church my grandparents got married in hanging from my rearview mirror if even just to have an ironic piece to accompany the death metal blaring from my car speakers. When I came back to my faith in God I found it hard to stay focused while praying. I wanted to please God but often times I'd start praying and end up pondering the most random assortment of thoughts. I felt like a failure. I searched the web for any hints as to how to stay focused when praying. I rediscovered the rosary. I bought a small single decade chaplet and learned how to pray the holy rosary. It was an utter failure. I could focus but I wasn't really praying. Being raised protestant I felt wrong praying a prayer to Mary far more times than the prayer Jesus himself taught. I needed to reconfigure things. I put the rosary down for a few years and found myself again yearning for focus on prayer. I had far more reasons to pray struggling with personal issues yet I still couldn't pray. I found a book called " A Bead and a Prayer" and with several articles online and my knowledge of the rosary already attained I had a new way to pray. I finally was able to pray. I learned how to make rosaries by hand and made myself one. I have since made and given away nearly 80. The beads help me focus. Touching something tangible as I speak helps me focus on the moment. I have Asperger's Syndrome, an Autism Spectrum Disorder, so I am very tactile and easilly distracted. In order to make the rosary my personal prayer enhancer I had to tweak it for personal preference as well as theological reasons. My personal formula can also be tweaked to hopefully help someone else as well. In order to explain my process I first need to define some terms and explain the anatomy of a rosary. 

What does a rosary look like?

A Dominican rosary (the most common type) is composed of beads, chain, a centerpiece, and a crucifix. It has 5 sections of 10 small beads called "decades" simply meaning 10 separated by 2 pieces of chain and 4 larger beads called "Our Father" beads this forms a circle meeting at a centerpiece typically a saint or Mary. Mine personally is the face of Christ. At the bottom of the centerpiece attached by chain is a section of 3 smaller beads or  "Hail Mary" beads attatched between 2 "Our Father" beads and a crucifix at the bottom. My description may be terrible but bare with me. Google an image of a rosary and fill in the hard to understand parts. 

How do I use it?

The traditional method of praying the rosary is started holding the cross and going up then counterclockwise reciting the specified prayer for each bead and chain piece. I use this outline as well. I use the crucifix and first "Our Father" bead to invite God into my prayer and I typically thank Him. I use the first 3 beads for the most pressing prayers for others. The first section of the 10 beads I pray for forgiveness of my sins. The next section is for praise and gloifying God for his attributes or work in my life. The 3rd section is for personal prayers for myself and loved ones. The 4th section is for prayers for the government, community, first responders, the church, prominent atheists, and so forth. The 5th section is for thanking God for specific blessings. I then follow the rest down to the crucifix ending the prayer.

What about the mysteries?

Anyone familiar with the traditional rosary will no doubt know it's true purpose is to meditate on certain aspects of Jesus' and, to a lesser extent, Mary's life. Each day of the week one of 4 segments known as mysteries are meditated on when you get to each "Our Father" bead. I do sometimes meditate on these as well changing 2 of them about Mary that I don't believe are biblical. I change them to Paul's conversion on the Damascus Road and the verse in Revelation where the angels cry Holy, Holy, Holy. When I meditate on the mystery I also offer it as a prayer such as when I meditate on the resurrection I pray "God resurrect anything good in me that I have let die." I'll list the mysteries below both the original and the ones I've amended.

The Mysteries of the Rosary:

The Joyful Mysteries:

Mondays and Saturdays; Sundays of Advent and after Epiphany until Lent.

1. The Annunciation: when the Angel Gabriel appears to Mary announcing she will be pregnant with Jesus 

2. The Visitation: Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth and John the Baptist leaps in Elizabeth's womb causing her to say Mary is blessed among women 

3. The Nativity: Jesus is born 

4. The Presentation: Mary and Joseph present the child Jesus in the Temple.

5. The Finding in the Temple: Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the Temple preaching to the Rabbi

The Luminous Mysteries:

Thursdays:

1. The Baptism of Jesus: Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River and God says "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased"

2. The Wedding Feast at Cana: Jesus turns water into wine revealing His glory

3.The Proclamation of the Kingdom: Jesus comes to Galilee proclaiming " The Kingdom is at hand. Repent and believe!"

4. The Transfiguration of Jesus: Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a high mountain. He is transfigured before them with Moses and Elijah

5. The Institution of the Eucharist: while they are at supper, Jesus blesses the bread and wine saying "this is my body" "this is my blood"

The Sorrowful Mysteries:

Tuesdays and Fridays; Sundays in Lent

1. Agony in the Garden: Jesus suffers in the Garden of Gethsemane as he awaits His arrest

2. The Scourging at the Pillar: Jesus is whipped repeatedly until His body could bear no more.

3. Crowning with Thorns: Jesus is mocked and beaten as a crown of thorns is placed on His head and beaten in.

4.Carrying of the Cross: Jesus carries His cross on His shoulder to Calvary 

5. The Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross and dies after 3 hours of agony

The Glorious Mysteries:

1. The Resurrection: Jesus rises immortal and glorious after 3 days in the grave

2. The Ascension: Jesus ascends into Heaven to be at the right hand of The Father 40 days after His resurrection.

3. Descent of The Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit descends on the apostles in the upper room on Pentecost 

4.The Assumption: Mary is assumed into Heaven. I change this one to Paul's Damascus Road experience in Acts.

5. The Coronation: Mary is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. I change this one to the scene in Revelation where the angels cry "Holy, Holy, Holy is The Lord God Almighty!"

In Conclusion:

I hope to have helped at least one person. 

While I may have once looked at the rosary as an ancient symbol of piety, the mark of a truly holy man of God, I simply see it now as a tool in the hands of one trying to approach the Holy One. Whether it's through praying the rosary as it always has been or amending it as I and others have, the purpose is and always will be to grow closer to God through His Son Jesus. I think that's the point. If I've offended anyone who is Catholic by butchering the rosary I sincerely apologize. Catholic or protestant we are all part of the body and bride of Christ and our differences are what makes the bride so beautiful. So full of life. When someone looks at this compilation of people who live and breathe and eat together they may scoff but to the truly seeking heart this mod podge of broken sinners saved by Grace is like a spring where one can see themselves on the surface and quench their thirst for the One who died to save them. If to one man this reads like the scribblings of a heretic I pray to another it looks like words of hope and an answer to their own struggles with prayer.