Praying The Rosary

I've been praying the rosary ever since I was young. The rosary was a staple of my family's spiritual life, especially during the month of October when the devotion was set anew.

Mama had a story about the rosary, one that involved her father, my late Lolo Lino. She was complaining about praying the rosary, claiming that it was boring and repetitive. My lolo simply pointed out an analogy of the bus' wheels. The bus is on a journey and, like any other journey, the bus has to reach a destination. In order to reach a destination, the bus' wheels had to do their thing, which is to keep turning round and round until the bus gets to the place. This is the same thing that happens with the rosary. We pray the same prayers over and over again so we can reach that special destination.

I also came to a point where I questioned the whole thing. Praying the rosary was hard work; it was a chore. What made it look uglier was that praying it was coerced. I had no choice because, as mentioned, it was the staple prayer of the family. I also did not find any meaning in praying a very "unnatural" prayer, silently citing Matthew 6:7 as proof that I was right.

But my attitude changed. All it took was a little education, of course. The rosary was, for all intents and purposes, a guide to meditation. It wasn't a prayer per se but a tool to meditate on the Mystery found in each decade. Technically, the rosary was a litany of prayers, whispered repeatedly, as one's mind transcended its verbal utterances and delved into the depths of the Mysteries of Christ's life and God's love.

However, despite this, I cannot say I'm a fan of praying the rosary. Perhaps, I prefer a different kind of prayer, one that would suit me more. Still, one cannot discount the immense power it holds on many of the faithful and how it has nourished generations of Catholics over the years.