About the Rosary at Work
A quick note about praying the rosary either at work or during a work day. (This is motivated by the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary yesterday.)
I've never been able to actually pray a rosary at my desk. I'm too busy with the work at hand. But I've always tried to say a rosary during my work day. Sometimes on the way to work, sometimes during the day while traveling from one place to another in the course of my duties, etc. But I've discovered a problem with the way I've said the rosary I wanted to share with you.
I've frequently made it a priority to "get through" the entire rosary each day. But I'm not so sure this is the best way to approach this wonderful devotion. The rosary is a sacramental not a sacrament. It’s efficacy is therefore totally dependent on our interior dispositions of faith, hope, and love. It is a means, not an end, to raise our hearts and minds to Jesus and Mary. Quality, not quantity counts.
So if you dwell on a particular mystery of the rosary on a particular day, or even dwell on just one Hail Mary, for whatever reason, and that brings your mind and heart closer to Jesus and Mary, then you should not force yourself to get on with the rest of the rosary just to "get through it." If we just "get through it" it can be (and probably is) detrimental to our spiritual progress and what is known as our "liberty of spirit." (St. Francis de Sales teaches: “He who possesses the spirit of liberty will on no account allow his affections to be mastered even by his spiritual exercises, and in this way he avoids feeling any regret if they are interfered with by sickness or accident. I do not say that he does not love his devotions but that he is not attached to them.” More HERE.)
I hope to take this to heart and, while I intend to persist in saying your rosary, do so in the right spirit during this month dedicated to Our Lady and the rosary.
I've never been able to actually pray a rosary at my desk. I'm too busy with the work at hand. But I've always tried to say a rosary during my work day. Sometimes on the way to work, sometimes during the day while traveling from one place to another in the course of my duties, etc. But I've discovered a problem with the way I've said the rosary I wanted to share with you.
I've frequently made it a priority to "get through" the entire rosary each day. But I'm not so sure this is the best way to approach this wonderful devotion. The rosary is a sacramental not a sacrament. It’s efficacy is therefore totally dependent on our interior dispositions of faith, hope, and love. It is a means, not an end, to raise our hearts and minds to Jesus and Mary. Quality, not quantity counts.
So if you dwell on a particular mystery of the rosary on a particular day, or even dwell on just one Hail Mary, for whatever reason, and that brings your mind and heart closer to Jesus and Mary, then you should not force yourself to get on with the rest of the rosary just to "get through it." If we just "get through it" it can be (and probably is) detrimental to our spiritual progress and what is known as our "liberty of spirit." (St. Francis de Sales teaches: “He who possesses the spirit of liberty will on no account allow his affections to be mastered even by his spiritual exercises, and in this way he avoids feeling any regret if they are interfered with by sickness or accident. I do not say that he does not love his devotions but that he is not attached to them.” More HERE.)
I hope to take this to heart and, while I intend to persist in saying your rosary, do so in the right spirit during this month dedicated to Our Lady and the rosary.
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