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The Rosary proper twines, in a garland, the two greatest prayers – the Our Father, the perfect prayer given to us by Jesus, and the lovely and mystic Hail Mary.  Yet the Rosary surpasses both of these prayers together for includes them and adds an original contribution from each person who prays it – an expression of each person’s very nature, belief and devotion.  It is meditative prayer joined with vocal prayer, its soul an emphatic participation in the greatest events in religion.

When the Rosary is prayed with the devotion it demands, and not with mere automatic observance of its outward forms, it can be an intense experience.  We do not concentrate on the words of the prayers – the words and meaning are engraved on our hearts.  But we contemplate the divine drama of the Redemption scene by scene, and the Mysteries of our Faith that are inherent in it, and consider the virtues to be imitated, the lessons to be learned; and the words are like a sacred underscore to the performance, moving our hearts like music, assisting us to elevate our minds.  As we pray, our devotion increases, the scenes become more vivid – they reach out and encircle us and are part of our spiritual experience.  When we pray the Rosary like this, it has a marked effect on our lives.

When we pray the Rosary like this with our family it has a marked effect not only on our individual lives but on our family unit and ultimately on society as a whole. 

The family – parents and children together – are the domestic church and a church without prayer is a museum.  The mind is deep and complex and still far beyond its own comprehension.  But the soul is infinitely deeper; yet infinitely simpler…

“When you look at the Rosary in your hand it appears very simple, that little string of beads, yet how far that short chain reaches, what a cosmos it encircles, how closely it binds us to God and to Mary.  You hold the power to change your lives. You hold the single richest treasure in your hands.”

-  Venerable Patrick Peyton