The Significance and Spirit of Praying the Rosary

Let us look into the significance and spirit of this devotion.

It begins by making the sign of the cross, recalling our redemption by Christ's death on the cross. The

The Apostles' Creed is the first prayer. It brings to mind the chief points of the religion established by Christ.

The Creed is followed by one Our Father and three Hail Marys, which symbolize one God in three Persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Then begins the recitation of the fifteen decades, each of one Our Father, ten Hail Marys and the Glory be to the Father, etc.

Each decade commemorates a mystery of the life of Christ, the whole fifteen decades recalling the chief events of our redemption.

While reciting a decade the mystery associated with that decade is meditated upon. It will thus be seen that the right recitation of the Rosary is a brief meditation in the truths of salvation. Of course, there is danger of the Rosary becoming a mechanical repetition -- that is not the fault of the devotion but of the individual. The Lord's Prayer (Our Father) or any prayer may become mere lip-service, but that is not the fault of the prayer. It is because of the danger that constant repetition of the Hail Mary might degenerate into a merely mechanical prayer that meditation on the mysteries of faith is an important feature of the Rosary.

The mysteries of Christ's life are divided into three groups of five each, the Joyful, the Sorrowful, and the Glorious.
The Joyful Mysteries are:
1. The Annunciation. 2. The Visitation. 3. The Nativity. 4. The Presentation. 5. The Finding in the Temple.
The Sorrowful Mysteries are:
1. The Agony in Gethsemane. 2. The Scourging. 3. The Crowning with Thorns. 4. The Carrying of the Cross. 5. The Crucifixion.
The Glorious Mysteries are:
1. The Resurrection. 2. The Ascension. 3. The Descent of the Holy Ghost. 4. The Assumption. 5. The Coronation in Heaven.

It will thus be seen that the Rosary is an epitome, or brief record of the life of Christ. The right recitation of the Rosary recalls the great truths of salvation and implores the powerful aid of God's Mother, while at the same time specially honoring her by repeating in her honor the words of the Angel who, as messenger of the Blessed Trinity, saluted her "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women."