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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thedialog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241029T1310-ASCENSION-ROSARY-YEAR-PODCAST-1784256-scaled.jpg\" "\\"VIGIL")
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<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThere is a quote attributed to Heraclitus which can be paraphrased, \u201cNo man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a phrase I recall whenever I hear someone call the rosary a practice of \u201cvain, repetitious prayer\u201d (Mt 6:7). Just as the river is constantly moving and changing, so do our meditations as fingers move to the next bead and the next literally \u201cnew\u201d moment.<\/p>\n
Our prayer then becomes \u201cnew,\u201d too: new breath, new mystery, new errant distractions, new earnest intentions remembered \u2014 they all arise and flow like water at the narrowing banks as we \u201cpray ceaselessly\u201d the entirety of the Gospels before God.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\nNot everyone loves the rosary, and that\u2019s fine; no one is required to. In \u201cThe Story of a Soul,\u201d St. Therese of Lisieux<\/a> writes, \u201cI feel then that the fervor of my Sisters makes up for my lack of fervor; but when alone \u2026 the recitation of the rosary is more difficult for me than the wearing of an instrument of penance.\u201d<\/p>\n Many Catholics can empathize. While I\u2019ve prayed the rosary all my life, it has not always been with patience or a real sense of connection to the mysteries. That has changed thanks to some seemingly minor things that have organically splashed into my little river of prayer, and keep renewing my experience of it.<\/p>\n For instance, after praying the Liturgy of the Hours (LOTH) for decades, it has become habitual to bow while reciting the Doxology. Now, while closing each rosary decade with the \u201cGlory Be,\u201d I will face the East and make a deep bow.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a small thing but adding the physical act of bowing seems to recharge my battery for the next mystery, the next 10-bead meditation.<\/p>\n Again perhaps because of the antiphon-heavy LOTH, I\u2019ve begun prefacing each decade by recalling a brief quote from Scripture. Approaching the Visitation, I might recall Elizabeth\u2019s words, \u201cWhence is this that the mother of my Lord should come unto me?\u201d That minor addition helps my imagination to leap (like John in Elizabeth\u2019s womb) into the heady biblical moment of recognition and wonder before us. I am drawn further into the scene, closer to these two be-graced women; the depth of my prayer follows.<\/p>\n The communion of saints also plays into my daily rosary, in a way that makes the devotion seem both fast and particularly efficacious. In 2010, when St. Philip Neri was my \u201cpatron\u201d for the year, I would ask him to \u201cteach me what you know.\u201d Somehow, that evolved into my inviting him \u2014 within that communion \u2014 to \u201cpray this rosary with me,\u201d particularly if I was feeling a bit dragged.<\/p>\n I confess to wondering whether my summons was inspired or simply fanciful, but the energy of my prayer was undeniably changed \u2014 made lighter yet more devout, in a very Nerian way. Over the years, I have invited many saints and angels and departed holy men and women to pray the rosary with me, to the point where I rarely feel like I am fully alone at prayer.<\/p>\n Sometimes they even urge me on, into reciting another five-decade mystery, all unplanned, for more intentions recalled. Rather than feeling tired, afterward, I am invigorated and spiritually refreshed.<\/p>\n Often, when I am praying a rosary for a specific issue \u2014 for a friend\u2019s health concern, perhaps, or someone who I think has wronged me \u2014 I will invite their Guardian Angel and my own to pray with me. This can never hurt and, in that second instance, it has the surprising effect of reminding me that we don\u2019t know anyone else\u2019s story; that everyone has something going on that should light our compassion.<\/p>\n Lately I have invited saints from countries experiencing violent and frightening unrest to pray with me \u2014 French and German saints, the English martyrs and others.<\/p>\n On the All Souls Day preceding our recent election, I invited all the departed holy men and women through time \u2014 hundreds of millions \u2014 to pray the rosary with me, if they wished to, for the sake of the whole world. Continent by continent (sometimes nation by nation), I prayed for all of us; I felt very much joined in prayer by something huge, faithful and \u2014 dare I say it \u2014 ultimately full of joy.<\/p>\n Seated or kneeling, bowing or erect, alone or with the holy multitudes, it is good (and never repetitious) to pray the rosary.<\/p>\n \u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/a>
Elizabeth Scalia is editor-at-large for OSV. Follow her on X @theanchoress.<\/p>\n