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An Open Letter to the Rosary Leader
Dear Rosary Leader,
First off, let me say thank you for volunteering your time to lead the Rosary before Mass. It is a service that is appreciated. Having said that, I do have some issues that need to be brought to your attention.
- Please keep a constant pace for the prayer. It is “Hail Mary full of grace the Lord…” It is not “halmarfulogratelor…” No one will be able to respond to you if you choose the latter, it’s too fast. We shouldn’t get through the prayer in seven minutes, it should take about 20 minutes. Set the pace so that it is constant and that everyone can understand the words to the prayer.
- Keep track of the mysteries. There are five mysteries; not four, not six. Five mysteries. Don’t repeat any mysteries and don’t cut one off. Don’t add a glorious mystery when we are doing the sorrowful mysteries. This can be avoided by remembering to bring your rosary with you and a prayer book that lists the five mysteries for that day.
- Keep track of the hail Marys. There are 10 for each mystery. Not 9, the goal is to not skip a bead. Not 11. But 10.
And finally, it is our job to make sure that we follow along with the leader. We’ll try our best, but you will make it easier for us if you follow my advice above.
Signed,
A guy that never does this:
Don’t run into this problem in the liturgical services, but in private group prayers there’s always that guy, who, having his turn to say 20 “Lord have Mercy”‘s, bolts through it with “lord’v’mrcy” like it’s a sprint.
During the Hail, Holy Queen at the end it can get pretty jumbled up.
You guys have too many rules.
Not rules, rituals.
Lower-case “t” traditions, not to be confused with upper-case “T” Tradition.
Sounds like someone needs to step forward and volunteer to help lead some of these little get-togethers.
This is an entry in our Group Writing Series under our January theme of “An Open Letter…” It’s all part of our plan to chase away the winter blues. In February, we plan to continue that with the theme of “We Need a Little Summer,” an opportunity to revel in stories of summers past or hectoring heat you have endured. Our sign-up sheet and schedule for February is here. Wouldn’t you like to sign up today and drive the cold winter away?
Whew, I thought for a minute there you were gonna go all Pharisee vs. Publican on me…Remember, this *is* public speaking – and in the Presence – for pity’s sake. In all things charity… :-)
Hmm… we’ve just received this in the Ricochet inbox:
I have led it a few times.
Very funny. I was on a bus to the pro-life march this past Friday and we had a priest lead a rosary. He was awful. He blurred all the words together in one rushed, continuous breath. If you’re going to pray, pray with joy.
My personal pet peeve is when there is no pause at “…and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” There should be a pause between “womb” and “Jesus.”
It’s not even a ritual. It’s a group prayer, and so the gruop needs to be on the same convention to pray in unison.
As the guy who sneaks in the pew mid-decade, I would appreciate if they would give me the mystery number so I can follow along.
Also, that scooby doo meme cracked me up.
When I was a kid I was also an altar boy. Sometimes I would draw a week of the 7am mass (8am mass was easy since the whole school was required to be at 8am mass every weekday anyway). I would have to be there ahead of time, often a half hour, depending. I wasn’t alone though. Before 7am mass a group of old ladies gathered for the rosary. Ours was a traditionally Slovak church and these ladies were Slovak complete with babushkas and that typical eastern European look about them. I admit I hated this 7am mass duty – except for the rosary recited in Slovak. Not recited, but chanted in time and in rhythm. The leader would chant the first part of the Rosary (I assume, anyway, since I’m Polish and since I speak neither Polish nor Slovak). The congregation of 10-15 ladies would respond in kind. Mesmerizing. Couldn’t help stopping to listen. No more than a minute after they would finish, the chant still bouncing around the rafters, we would start processing to the altar to begin mass. The spell broken by the mean priest yelling at me for not pouring the water over his hands properly or for ringing the bell too long or not long enough or for fidgeting while holding the paten under people as they receive Communion. Those ladies and their rosary were swell, though.
That brought a smile to my face. I love old world people. I wissh sometimes I wasn’t so darned modern.
If you wanna get specific about this, btw, there are actually *20* mysteries these days…Get with the program, dude! :-D
If you read more carefully, it seems he is talking about covering five mysteries per day in related groupings.
It’s actually originally a lay-person’s private prayer, in an effort to consecrate the day, as the priest/vowed religious prays the Liturgy of the Hours; its use as public/group prayer prior to the Mass is a much later development. :-)
I loved the “First Rosary” meme. Sent it to my wife. Hope she gets it.
The children of Fatima were known to rush through their Rosary before they met Our Lady…
I also find equally annoying those who slow down the Rosary unreasonably. “Our Fahther, who art. In. Heaven. Hallooooowed be. Thy Naaaame.” As a group prayer it is meant to move forward, neither hurrying forward nor holding back.
But…I also try to remember St. Therese when I am finding myself annoyed by someone else during a recitation of the rosary, and her sacrifices with the annoying sister of Carmel who plagued her during prayers…
Joking, ‘Hant, joking…
And not only that – the rules get changed. First we had to have everything in Latin. Then we could only have a service if it was in English and there was guitar music. (Often a rather secular song was the one chosen.)
I finally gave up. I admire those who stick to things, but in my case, I didn’t see the relevance any more.
One more thing, my cousin, a Christian Brother (Blessed Edmund Rice, pray for us!) gave me a CD with Pope Saint John Paul the Great praying the Rosary, in Latin.
Perfect for the car!
The Lord gives us car trips, long lines, and ten fingers so we could pray the Rosary frequently…
At that point, you might as well sing it.
Does anybody sing it?
I remember a line from a friend who hated much of the silly period. She said that once, while praying in church and pouring out to the Lord her heart filled with troubles over the changes and errors in teaching that were mushrooming in a fungus-like way, “I distinctly heard a voice from the tabernacle saying, ‘If I can put up with it, so can you.'”
He’s the reason, not the foolish priest or terrible music.
Peace to you, CarolJoy!
Not really. It kind of has a chanty sound when it’s said right. Here’s an actual chant one.
And sometimes, we pray a Scriptural Rosary decade (just one mystery, with ten Hail Marys) and plank during the Hail Marys, resting on the scriptural meditations.
Sure, how would you like it? English, Latin, contemporary, chant?
It’s not called the universal church for nuthin’.
Admittedly, the phasing in of development in the Church’s understanding of itself, was purely terrible – and the 1970s-1980s were truly “the silly season”…I’m sure glad it evened out…MT is right: He is the reason! Peace be with you always @caroljoy!
In personal recitation of the Rosary if you slow down your breathing you can create a cadence that allows you to ponder every prayer, to include the mysteries.
When I was taking care of my dad who suffered from Alzheimer’s I would say the Salve Regina on the bad days when I was doing the dishes after dinner.
I would say it as many times I needed to, to bring some peace to some rough days and nights.
Beautiful, Doug! As well, if you start a full half-hour before Mass – not fifteen minutes – you won’t need to hurry in group prayer.