One of the most difficult things for a Catholic publisher to do (in terms of pleasing everyone) is to explain how to pray the Rosary!

You would think this would be easy, however, there are so many variations in the ways people pray the Rosary that it can make your head spin!

I was reminded of this last night when we took the kids to church to pray the Rosary. Two weeks earlier, I taught my class how to pray the Rosary as I was taught, which, if compared to cable TV packages, would be the “basic” package: Sign of the Cross, Apostles’ Creed (not all the time, however), Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, Glory Be, and then 5 decades beginning with announcing the Mystery, an Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, and a Glory Be. Amen.

Our experience in church last night was very different and, to go back to the cable TV comparison, would be the “premium” package: all of the above plus the Fatima prayer at the end of each decade, the Hail, Holy Queen at the end as well as The Rosary Prayer (“O God, whose only begotten Son…”) and the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel (all nicely provided on a much-needed and much-appreciated prayer card).

Some people don’t stop there, however, and use what we might call the “Platinum package!” which includes everything in the Premium package as well as some or all of the following:

Beginning with the “Come Holy Spirit” prayer
Beginning with “O God, come to my assistance, O Lord make haste to help me.”
Beginning with the Divine Praises
ending with the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
ending with the Memorare
An additional Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for the intentions of the Holy Father
inserting the Miraculous Medal Prayer
A Prayer for the Unborn after each Fatima Prayer

Suffice it to say, there is no “official” way to pray the Rosary: it is a devotion, not a Rite of the Church. Even Pope John Paul II was criticized by some for not including mention of the Fatima prayer in his Apostolic Letter on the Rosary. In the end, the most important thing about the Rosary is the meditation on the Mysteries, for that is precisely how we pray “to Jesus, through Mary.” My own feeling is that, the Rosary is already a “wordy” prayer so I prefer not to add more words than “required” for each bead (I find it challenging enough to teach kids to learn how to pray the Rosary with the “basic package”). That’s only a personal preference and not a value judgment on the variations practiced by many Catholics, all of which are true expressions of devotion to Mary and faith in Jesus Christ.

I’ll end by providing a link to the USCCB Website on how to pray the Rosary: if you would like to argue that there is an official or “right” way to pray the Rosary, I suggest you take it up with our bishops! 🙂 In the meantime, feel free to share your approach to the Rosary.