In talking to someone on the Internet about how to pray the Rosary during Lent I was informed when praying only 5 Mysteries daily that, beginning with Ash Wednesday we are to pray only the Sorrowful Mysteries every day for forty days! When I questioned this further and suggested this individual should check out what he was saying I received the following email:

Hi Ed, ...I phoned our Church today regarding the book (Pray the Rosary). I asked about the Lenten season and was it in fact the Sorrowful Mysteries we should be saying during Lent. Father said yes. I explained our concerns, and was told to look in the front of the book for the word IMPRIMATUR:, I said yes it was there. He asked what name was there, I said +Francis Cardinal Spellman, D.D. Archbishop of New York. Father than said well there is your answer. He is the Highest Authority of any Catholic written book. So Ed, it reads this way. The Sorrowful Mysteries, (Said on Tuesdays, Fridays throughout the year: and daily from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday.) Joyful Mysteries; (Said on Mondays, Thursdays, the Sundays of Advent and Sundays from Epiphany until Lent) The Glorious Mysteries; (Said on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and the Sundays from Easter until Advent.) (A Friend)

Can this be so? I am Canadian and not under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of New York, but even if I were I was always taught to pray the Joyful Mysteries on Mondays and Thursdays, the Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the Glorious Mysteries on Wednesdays and Saturdays. On Sundays, during Lent we were taught to pray the Sorrowful Mysteries, during Advent the Joyful Mysteries and all other Sundays in the Church’s liturgical year we were to pray the Glorious Mysteries. We were taught that in the Rosary’s 15 Mysteries we are reminded of the major feasts of the Church’s liturgical year. Each week we were told, we revisit the Church’s liturgical year twice and on most Sundays of the year we would pray the Glorious Mysteries out of reverence for the resurrection as the Church considers regular weekly Sundays as “little” Easter Sundays.

Can anyone settle this argument for me definitively? Could Cardinal Spellman's Imprimatur have been granted in referring to some sort of Lenten devotion wherein the Archdiocese prays the Sorrowful Mysteries throughout Lent?

St. James and Mary, Our Blessed Mother pray for us!

Ed

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), March 06, 2001

Answers

Jmj

Don't worry, Ed. You are free to continue your lifelong practice.

The key factor here is that the Rosary is not a "liturgical prayer," but rather a prayer of pious devotion that can be recited publicly (i.e., led aloud in church), in a family group, or privately. Since it is not a liturgical prayer, there are no restrictive Vatican regulations governing its recital. (Believe it or not, one can even create privately used sets of mysteries -- e.g., based on the miracles of Jesus, Old Testament prophesies of redemption, etc.). The various ways in which mysteries have been associated with days of the week and weeks of the year are based only on ("small t") tradition -- i.e., formed by custom. And customs vary from locale to locale.

Do not be troubled about the Imprimatur of Cardinal Spellman (or any other bishop) on a book or booklet about the Rosary. The presence of an Imprimatur does not mean that the booklet contains regulations. The word "Imprimatur" is usually associated with the words "Nihil obstat" in the front of a book, pamphlet, etc.. The first is Latin for "Let it be printed" and the second is Latin for "Nothing stands in the way." A diocesan official appointed by the bishop checks the text for anything contrary to Catholic doctrine. Finding nothing, he states, "Nihil obstat," and the bishop/archbishop/cardinal replies, "Imprimatur." As you can see, this does not in any way bind the reader to follow local customs, such as days associated with groups of Rosary mysteries, that may be included in the text of the book(let).

In fact, a growing number of people around the world are praying all fifteen decades each day (at least when they have enough time to do so), because the original Dominican Rosary consisted of all 150 Ave Marias (symbolic of the 150 Psalms). Many people are praying the "whole" Rosary as they keep vigil outside of abortion mills. Many people, though, have only enough free time (or ability to concentrate) for five decades.

Ed, I think that you would enjoy reading paragraph numbers 42 through 55, about the Rosary, in "Marialis Cultus" (Marian Devotion), a 1974 Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI found here.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), March 07, 2001.

John:

Thank you so much! You have been very helpful.

Ed

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), March 07, 2001.

Alex, you said,

God wont here this prayer because your praying to a man made object

I've given you the benefit of the doubt until now, but do you REALLY believe that Catholics pray to an object? That to me implies you're either bigotted or just plain foolish.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), March 07, 2001.

Jesus told us "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words." Matthew 6:7

-- sam smith (ssmith@hotmail.com), March 07, 2001.

Sam,

Please look into what praying the rosary means. While reciting prayers, we meditate on 15 mysteries in the life/ actions of Jesus, five per day. This is FAR different from mindlessly saying, "boboboboboboboobobobobobobobobobobobobobobo" (or something) over and over again without thought which is what I believe Matthew was *really* referring to in that passage.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), March 07, 2001.

Jmj

Frank is right, Sam.
You quoted Jesus as saying, "do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words."

But we Catholics do not "think that [we] will be heard for [our] many words." We know that we are heard by God in our mere intention to pray, without having yet opened our mouths, because our Father knows and cares about our needs. We don't pray to twist the arm of an unwilling God, but to express and remind ourselves of our total dependence on His loving providence.

When we pray the Gospel prayers of the Rosary repeatedly (Hail, full of grace, etc.), do you really think that is "VAIN?" Certainly not. If you can say that simply reciting the words of the Gospels more than once is "vain," then you apparently prayed the "Lord's Prayer" just once in your life -- and then never again. After all, to pray the "Our Father" more than once is "repeating" it, right? Just as you can see that praying the Lord's Prayer daily or weekly consists of "repetition" -- but not "vain repetition" -- so we would let you know that praying the "Ave Maria" in the Rosary consists of "repetition" -- but not "vain repetition."

We don't pray ten "Aves" per decade for the SAKE of repetition, but as a timing device, as "divinely-inspired background music" for our meditation on the Christ-centered "mysteries" (e.g., Agony in the Garden, Scourging, Crowning with Thorns, Carrying of the Cross, Crucifixion).

Sam [Samantha, right?], I thought that you were a Catholic. Was I mistaken? I can't remember hearing of a Catholic who criticized the Rosary as you did. I'm curious to know how this happened. Please understand that I am not angry or wishing to attack you, but I'm worried that you may be reading some misleading literature or listening/watching some unhealthy programs, where you may have picked up this objection to the Rosary.

St. James, pray for us. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), March 09, 2001.

John Gecik,

I am neither a Catholic nor a Protestant I am just a Christian. With your reference to the Lord's prayer, I can't see repetition in it at all. The Lord was referring to repeittion in a single prayer was he not? Such an example would be 'please forgive me' said repeatedly in the same prayer. A friend of mine who is a devout Catholic explained exactly what he prays in the rosary and it would certainly appear to come under the heading of repetition. Now whether you could call it 'vain repetition' is a different matter.

-- sam smith (ssmith@hotmail.com), March 16, 2001.

Jmj

Thanks, Sam, for your reply.

The last thing you said was the most important of all ("Now whether you could call [the Rosary] 'vain repetition' is a different matter.") I'm happy that I was able to persuade you that we don't regard it as "vain." In fact, many Catholics would be able to tell you how the Rosary was not only helpful (rather than "vain") to their growth in faith in Jesus, that it is a prayer that has been requested of Christians in private revelations (e.g., apparitions of saints) -- and that it has even been a form of prayer that God has answered with great miracles (e.g., the defeat of an overwhelmingly large, non-Christian naval force that would have led to the Islamization of all Europe several centuries ago).

You wrote, "With your reference to the Lord's prayer, I can't see repetition in it at all. The Lord was referring to repetition in a single prayer was he not?"
I did not mean to tell you that the Lord's Prayer itself contains repetitious language, but rather that you (and all Christians) do repeat it many times in life -- realizing that such is not vain repetition, but reasonable and fruitful repetition. In like manner, Catholics regard the repetition of the Lord's Prayer (and other prayers) within the format of the Rosary as reasonable and fruitful. Just as the Lord's prayer does not contain internal repetitions, neither does the Hail Mary (Ave Maria) nor the "Glory Be," all three of which prayers are said more than once within the Rosary.

I want to show you a good scriptural example -- one involving Jesus himself -- to prove that repetition that is not "vain" is indeed permitted in our prayer. Indeed, some non-Catholic Christians in the world are praying the Rosary while you are reading this (and as I hope you will one day), because they have grasped the lessons and example given in the following passage:
[Mark 14: 35-39] And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt." And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. [Matthew 26: 43-44] And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words.

St. James, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), March 17, 2001.

John,

Thanks for your reply, you explain things well.

-- sam smith (ssmith@hotmail.com), March 17, 2001.

Jmj

It's so very kind of you to say that, Sam. You made my day!
JFG

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), March 17, 2001.

Wow. I can't believe I missed that passage about Jesus using the same words over and over before his arrest. Thank you for your posts, John. I was wondering myself about what Mysteries to meditate upon while praying the Rosary during Lent.

-- Glenn Ortiz (GPOrtiz99@yahoo.com), February 11, 2002.

You're welcome, Glenn. Good timing to reactivate this year-old thread.

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), February 12, 2002.