Thru God's grace, I am able to pray the Rosary (non-liturgy) daily, but the Divine Office (liturgy) I couldn't live without:
"Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy the sanctification of the man is signified by signs perceptible to the senses, and is effected in a way which corresponds with each of these signs; in the liturgy the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and His members.
From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree."
Taken from #7 of Sacrosanctum Concilium of Vatican II
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vat...

JR Stoodley,
I also fall asleep praying the Rosary; it helps me fall asleep when I'm worried. I ask Him to keep me awake as long as He wants me to, then pray the Rosary for whatever I'm worried about. Consequently, I can no longer pray the rosary on long stretches of empty highway at night.

I truly love praying the Rosary, but it can be difficult to keep focused. I find if I try to pray meditatively first thing in the morning, I tend to fall asleep. It's better to wait until I've had my coffee and cleared the cobwebs from my brain.
I often do Adoration late at night, and fighting sleep is something I offer up as a sacrifice. There have been a number of times when all I felt I had accomplished was to stay awake. It sometimes really bothered me that I seemed to "get" so little from the experience.
Eventually, I learned that what is really important is to have the right intentions and to follow through on them with action.
Do I intend to offer a sincere prayer? Yes.
Do I assent to the words of the prayer - in other words, do I believe what I am praying? Yes.
And do I then pray? Yes.
Then I have accomplished everything I set out to do.
Do I always remain focused? Do I always have an intense emotional experience? No, but those things aren't necessary. I think sometimes our expectations about prayer are unrealistic.
God knows your intentions, and He sees your sacrifice. Don't let the lack of a strong emotional response keep you from prayer.

+J.M.J+
>>>and repetion still freaks me out.
Here's a short article defending repetition in prayer from Scripture:
Vain Repetition?
http://home.nyc.rr.com/mysticalrose/mt67.html
In Jesu et Maria,

This may sound cheesy, but...
I definitely prefer the Divine Mercy chaplet to the Rosary. However, my favorite way to pray either one is *not* with the beads, but on the computer. For the Rosary in particular, I use a software program that I found at virtualrosary.org; it gives me pictures and Scripture as well.
I started using it because as a prospective convert, I didn't know the Rosary well; the Hail Mary, the Our Father, and the Fatima Prayer are easy enough, but the other prayers, not so much (Hail Holy Queen, Apostles' Creed, St. Michael). Then to remember the mysteries and meditate on them when I pray it alone...very difficult for me.
Furthermore, I have two sweet but mischievous cats who are very enthusiastic about 'helping' me pray the Rosary! ("Ooo, look what you have! That looks like a GREAT toy!" *bat* *bat* *bite* etc.) Praying it in front of the computer does lose something of the beauty and meditative quality of using the beads, but it's better than (a) not saying it at all, and (b) fending off the 'helpers'. It's far more meditative for me to pray in front of a screen than to be continually shoving a 20-lb cat out of the room:
"Hail Mary, full of - Hey, cut that out! - grace, the Lord is - Cat, would you please stop trying to eat the crucifix? - with Thee, blesse - Blessed Heaven, would you stop...OW! No claws! NO CLAWS!...where's the spritz bottle?..."

Hi Michelle,
Thanks very much for the history - it was most interesting. I also read your previous post in February as you explained why the Rosary is not one of your favorite personal devotions.
My dad was really big on the Rosary. I was born in 1962. All through my childhood when I was somewhat involved with "youth groups" such things were "pooh-poohed" as passe. My father never pushed me, but daily he prayed the Rosary.
He died in 1992, and I tried to take it up because I knew that he spent all of those Rosaries praying for us - his family. It gave me a connection to dad, but soon later, I faltered.
I got involved with my career in the automotive engineering field and my faith grew increasingly luke warm. It had descended to the point that I barely showed up for Mass, and wasn't truly "there".
Then, with the death of Pope John Paul II, and the rise of Benedict, something sparked me out of the luke warmness. I began to rethink where I was at, my parish, prayer life the whole nine yards. Several things nearly simultaneously pointed me to Assumption Grotto parish in Detroit - a very Marian parish. It promotes only that which has been approved by the Church in terms of apparitions, like its emphasis on Lourdes and Fatima.
I gave my first ever real good confession while sitting in the office of Fr. Perrone - the pastor. I had never met him before, but read his bulletin article which was on assent to Church teaching and realized I needed to empty my closet and get with the program.
As a penance, Fr. Perrone gave me one Rosary to say. When he gave it to me, he suggested that should I decide to keep praying it, that I set aside 15-20 minutes each day and that I make it a point to give that time to prayer. He said I should not do this for how it makes me feel because that is what causes people to drop it. Rather, regardless of how I feel on a given day, to say it regardless. That 20 minutes then becomes a sacrifice that is very pleasing to God. I could be doing something else, but I'm spending it in that prayer, meditating on the mysteries. I then began to use a scriptural rosary book by Patricia M McCormack, Ed. D which allows you to read one line, for each Hail Mary, straight from scripture. It then provides a few points at the end of each decade to ponder. I used this for a time, then no longer needed it. I never realized the depth of meditation that can be done during a Rosary.
I've done it daily since May 2005 - the day I first met with Fr. Perrone. It is very difficult some days, but I always make sure I remember Fathers last words: People often mistake prayer as a time for asking God for my needs and desires - most of them very good things. But, they fail to recognize that the prayer should be made up first and foremost, of adoration - where we ask God for nothing, but just give God our time, for the love of God. Jesus gave us the gift of his mother as he was dying on the Cross and for this reason, I take not only my petitions to him through her, but I spend time adoring her son as I meditate on the Rosary.
God Bless and nice historical post.

I make rosaries too (when my hands permit it). I make them out of knotted #36 nylon twine which is available in many colors. I learned how to do it at the Rosary Army website.
http://www.rosaryarmy.com
There are a lot of fun and quirky people over there!
I love the rosary, but I don't look forward to praying it because I'm not naturally very good at it. (Does that make any sense?) I've never really been able to figure out how you're supposed to pray and meditate at the same time.
I find that using a scriptural rosary helps a bit -- sort of like using training wheels on a bike.

I am a rosary maker, and I find both making and praying the rosary are a great stress relievers. Saying the rosary offers the opportunity to give everything up to God. We aren't alone here, and Jesus has told us on many occasions to ask for help. When I pray repetetive prayers, I find that I am able to open myself up to the root of the problem instead of asking for a cure for the symptoms.

I'm a mom with little tots keeping me busy all day and most nights, too. Once I told my confessor that I felt guilty about not "getting my rosary said." I knew that the rosary was a form of meditation, but I rarely had any uninterrupted time during the day to actually meditate on the mysteries. [If there is time, then my favorite way to pray it is with a scripture verse before each Hail Mary.] Anyway, what the priest told me has always stuck with me: as a lay woman, it may not always be possible to meditate at length. Try for a decade each day instead of an entire rosary; it's better than nothing.
I also sing a lot of hymns throughout the day while I'm doing housework. One day my 3-year-old said the entire Hail Mary by himself, and I had never taught him that prayer - he just picked it up from hearing me sing "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman."
The most essential prayer for me is a morning offering of my entire day to Our Lord!

JustMe,
I prefer the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, except Jesus offered Himself up, once for all, and repetion still freaks me out. At least when not sung. Explanations?
Jesus indeed offered himself up once for all. Yet that offering of himself to the father is not an event limited to a single time and place. It is in a some sence an eternal event. To get real detailed would require going into things that are legitimately debated in the Catholic Church, but the important part is that this offering of Christ to the Father is immediate in all times and in particular made present in the Sacrifice of the Mass.
In the Chaplet of Divine Mercy we actually do more than just accepting that sacrifice, we actually spiritually offer up "the body and blood, soul and divinity" of Christ to the Father. With the holy priesthood held by all believers we unite ourselves to Christ's offering up of himself to the Father and asking for mercy for the world "for the sake of his sorrowful passion." Quite a beautiful and powerful thing, as I hope you can recognize, in no way taking away from the singularity and sufficiency of the Crucifixion.
As for repetition, these are certainly not the vain repetitions that Jesus warned about, which has led to a rejection or at least discomfort towards all repetition by some Protestants. Jesus refered to pagan incantations that were thought to make the prayer heared by the deity they were trying to influence. God knows what we want before we ask him.
The purpose of repetition in Christian prayer is to affect ourselves, not God. It is difficult for the human mind to stay concentrated on one thing. Try casually thinking about, say, the passion of Christ, and you will soon start going through individual events, theological points about it, what happend before and after, what you have to do tomorrow [shoot!], what it must have been like for his Mother there, etc.
This kind of medetation is fine, but if you want to keep your mind one thought, repetition is a great way to do that. The Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics are fond of saying over and over again, in some cases perpetually for their whole lives, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." We western Catholics use repetitive prayers like the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy as an aid to concentration and meditation on certain mysteries.
I hope this helps a little. No doubt many could explain it better. I will say though that the fear of deep, unsuperficial prayer is a disturbing modern trend within and outside the Catholic Church. Repetitive, mental, and contemplative prayer was not something that the great Saints and monks and nuns had any problem with. Quite the contrary, they were largely the inventors of such spiritual exercises.

I say my Rosary (also not my all time favorate devotion) lying in bed, trying to sleep. Half the time I do not finish it. If you want to pray it well and definitely finish it then that is a bad idea, but I like to end the day like that.

Well said. More specifically, Never say your prayers while lying in bed.

Oh yes. It is HIGHLY advisable not to say the majority of your prayers at night.
Even the Apostoles fell asleep.
I don't got that problem.
See I never really wake up. Not on school days.

I also admit I'm not a big fan of the Rosary. I tried to pray it when I went to bed one night, but fell asleep while doing so. I just wish that Our Lady would grant me a 'Spiritual Coffee' to help me keep awake while praying this.

Hi JustMe,
Everytime we turn away from sin, ask God for mercy, etc... we're tapping into all the graces Christ won for us at Calvary with his precious body and blood. We can go that holy well repeatedly (as we do with some of the sacraments). That's how I look at it anyway.
Great advice Some Day. Spiritual exercise is similar to musical, physical, or intellectual exercise - discipline and regimen (which I admittedly need working on) is key.

I recomend to those who have the time or can make it to:
1. Most importantly, daily Communion, with anadequate preparation and afterwords an Act of Thanksgiving no less then 10 min. (on knees) because Our Lord is present for about 10 min. in our bod .
2.Pray the Rosary (complete if possible, all four mysteries, Joyful, Lum...0
3.Pray the Divine Office, or some Hour.
4.30 min of either 1)Adoration
2) Religious reading
3) meditation on something
4.weekly Confession
5. Before going to bed, make an Examination of Conscience
6. If you can, do some type of well-spirited, physical exercise, esspecially if you are young.
(or at least still feel young.)
7. Pray at night, meals, etc.

Here is an an antique rosary museum which I found very interesting.
http://theworldimho.blogspot.com/2006/07/antique-r...

I prefer the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, except Jesus offered Himself up, once for all, and repetion still freaks me out. At least when not sung. Explanations?

Back when I was feeling my way back to the Church, I came across Mr Johnson's book in a Barnes and Noble bookstore. Out of curiosity, I opened it up and the scent of roses almost took my breath away. I looked around, certain I was smelling someone's perfume but no one else was around. I put the book back and moved to a different section of the store but I ended up going back, opening it up again to be greeted w/ the same scent. I put the book back and took it off the shelf again, several times, walked away and finally purchased it. That was at least 10 years ago. The scent is still in the book. I don't know if that was part of the manufacturing or if it was our Lady reaching out to me. Not long after that, I made my return confession. The book is very good.

As a recent convert, I was enrolled in the brown scapular. I now feel guilty if I miss a rosary for a day and then make it up.

I'm not a big fan of the rosary either, although I have prayed it for years. When it comes to devotions and prayers my own favorites have been
the Divine Office, the Stations of the Cross and the Seven Penitenial Psalms. And I love Benediction!

I absolutely LOVE to pray the rosary--which I do daily. I also try to pray some parts of the Liturgy of the Hours (usually the Office of Readings, and morning and/or evening or night prayer). I highly encourage everyone to try to pray the rosary every day, if not, then perhaps several times a week, because of the great graces (and indulgences) attached to this prayer. During many Marian apparitions, our Blessed Mother strongly urged, and requested this prayer, and I have found the rosary devotion to be a STRONG DEFENSE against all sorts of sin--especially sins against purity. My faith in our Lord has greatly deepened and grown--due to the rosary, but as in any prayer, perseverance is the key. Also, the Liturgy of the Hours--the Divine Office is a wonderful prayer, one that is deep in the history and tradition of the Catholic Church, and I would strongly encourage all lay people to consider learning it--which takes a bit of time, patience, and work.

For a long stretch of time, I strongly disliked praying the rosary. It's only since my grandfather's death that I returned to his favourite devotion. He died while praying the Rosary with my mother. When Pope John Paul II introduced the Luminous Mysteries later that year, I decided it was time to take up this particular cross of mine. :)

Whenever my wife and I do a rosary, we always end it with the Sacred Heart of Jesus prayer, the Saint Micheal prayer and the guardian angel prayer.

If you search for Dr. Alexander Roman, you will find many references for the rosary, especially the "Eastern Rosary." He is a veritable treasure trove of Catholic trivia and history.
My personal favorite devotions are the "Eastern Rosary" or chotki a set of 50, 100, or 300 "Jesus Prayers" (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner;) the Akathist Hymns (especially to St. Luke;) Daily Bible reading; the 7 Penitential Psalms; and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

"Out of curiousity, Michelle, what are your favorite personal devotions?"
My prayers are usually pretty informal, but my favorite formal devotional is the Divine Mercy chaplet.

Before relegating the rosary because it's not our "favorite", let's remember that sometimes things are hard for a reason. The saints went through periods of "dryness" in prayer, make sure that you don't avoid the rosary because it leaves you "dry".

Out of curiousity, Michelle, what are your favorite personal devotions? Perhaps we can start a thread about our own personal devotions?
I usually pray the rosary first thing in the morning, then follow it up with MACTS.
Marian prayer
Adoration
Contrition
Thanksgiving
Supplication
I then do a daily reading from 'Praying in the Presence of Our Lord - with Padre Pio' The nearest church is only about three blocks away from my house, so I don't feel as distant from the Real Presence. Ha!

"While the rosary is not one of my favorite personal devotions"
I can relate. While other Catholics seemed to gravitate towards the rosary as a devotional, it was not my favorite prayer. In fact it bothered me a little that I couldn't seem to make it part of my prayer life. I sometimes wondered if maybe I somehow inherited a few "Protestant" genes from my mother, who is a convert to Catholicism. ;)
Then, while reading "The Story of a Soul", by St. Therese (my patron saint), I discovered that the rosary was not her favorite devotional either. So now, everytime that I do say the rosary, I ask St. Therese to pray for me!