The Rosary: A physical, mystical, timeless treasure

By Julia Miller

I think of the rosary in three realms:

The rosary is physical. It’s an arrangement of beads, chain, and a crucifix, with a centerpiece medal most often depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary. Some people think the rosary is jewelry, like I did as a little girl. When ordering rosaries in bulk to include in our FreshRosary.com shipments, I found them listed online as “Rosary Necklace.” My overseas supplier emails me offerings of other types of jewelry – chokers here, bracelets there — amusing, but not enticing. I don’t sell jewelry. I do, however, promote the rosary!

People pray it with their hands, hearts, minds, and voices. They read rosary meditations from books. They kneel in churches, sit in living rooms, walk with a rosary in their pockets, pray while driving, pray at hospital bedsides. Even without beads, a rosary can be prayed on the fingers. Ten fingers equal a decade. Its physical nature, and repetitive prayers, have led some to believe that the rosary is rote, mindless, meaningless, vain. But “misunderstood,” is more like it.

The rosary is mystical. While dying on the cross, “When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’” (John 19:26). With this action, Jesus gave His mother to all of humanity, because Jesus loves all of us.

Every time I pray a “Hail Mary, ” I am literally asking Jesus’ mother – MY mother! – to pray for me, “now and at the hour of our (my) death.”

With a 5-decade rosary, I’m asking her 53 times to remind God of my needs, present, and future. What mother would deny her child this favor if they asked her 53 times?

Imagine the fruitfulness of asking that many times, every day … READ MORE of Julia’s Rosary Reflection.

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