Praying the Rosary 3 – The Rosary as a Lenten Devotion

The Christian life may be regarded as a journey of transformation or “conversion” which we are called to travel step by step throughout our life. The annual season of Lent, which is itself a journey towards Easter, reminds us that the Christian journey is never over and done with in this life but requires sustained commitment and constant practice. The Rosary – a prayer which is also based on repetition and constant practice – is a journey in the company of Mary deeper into the mystery of Jesus Christ. The Rosary therefore blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian which we live even more intensely during Lent.

The Rosary is usually recited on a chain of fifty beads which are divided into five decades. Each of these decades represents a particular moment or ‘mystery’ in the life of Christ. As our fingers move through the beads of each decade we recite the Hail Mary prayer ten times while meditating upon a particular event in the life of Christ or His Mother. At the beginning of each mystery we pray the Our Father and at the end of each mystery we say ‘glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end, Amen’. There are in total four sets of mysteries – joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious – covering all the major events in the life of Christ. The Rosaries which Dominican Friars wear on their habits sometimes have enough beads for all twenty mysteries.

Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are the three traditional ascetical practices associated with Lent. During this season we are invited to intensify our life of prayer, that vital activity which sustains and deepens our relation to God. If the Rosary has sometimes been called a “compendium of the Gospel” we might just as easily call it a “compendium of prayer” consisting of praise, petition and contemplation and comprising some of the most important prayers in the Christian tradition. The “sorrowful” mysteries of the Rosary can be considered of particular importance as we journey through Lent towards Holy Week because with these mysteries we contemplate the individual moments of Christ’s Passion – such as His scourging and crowning with thorns, carrying the Cross, and Crucifixion and death – in anticipation of the light of the Resurrection on Easter Day.