How to pray the rosary

I was raised in a spiritual community and my family’s spiritual commitment is to pray the rosary everyday before dinner. We are five in the family; my parents, my two older sisters and I so the five mysteries of the rosary fits us perfectly. Each one of us would recite ta mystery and include our personal intention, I would often recite the last mystery, given I am the youngest.

Here is the basic guide in praying the rosary and the complete list of the Mysteries:

Now that I have a family of my own, I still practice praying the rosary. Let me share with you what my personal intentions are:

The first mystery is for the people who are suffering and greatly need prayers. I offer the first mystery especially to the people who not know that they need prayer. People who have no knowledge of the reason behind their suffering, who haven’t accepted and are losing hope and faith. That they may be enlighten and may be shown the true meaning of their quest, to give them the strength to live life according to His will and to bring them closer to Him.

The second mystery is for my family and by family I mean not only my parent & sisters, relatives and in-laws but everyone immediate to me that could have been part of my life from the beginning or as recent as today. I pray that they’d be safe from harm and that they may touch other people’s lives as much as they’ve touched mine.

The third mystery is for myself. Most people neglect to include or offer a prayer entirely for themselves. It may sound selfish but offering a mystery for yourself might be exactly what you need. My mystery for myself would include: asking for guidance, for forgiveness, for strength and for courage to know the difference of good and bad and be able to choose the right one, to learn from my mistakes and to never repeat the same mistake twice, to forgive as I am forgiven,to be able to see God inside everyone and most importantly to thank God for all the blessings and trials that have made me who I am today.

The fourth mystery is for my husband. Since he is my better half, I offer an entire mystery for him. Same as my intention for myself; to give him the strength to resist temptation, to guide him in making choices and decisions, to bless him for all the sacrifices he’s done as the head of the family, to let him live life according to God’s will, to keep him safe from harm or danger and to bless our marriage and family.

The fifth mystery is for my daughter. I pray that He may guide me and my husband to be good parents and example for our little one. That we may give her the best of the world, show her the true meaning of life, for her to have a close relationship with God, to be able to instill values that she needs in order to live a meaningful life and mostly to be the best that she can be so that she may inspire others to do so.

Prayer is the direct line of communication to God and I believe that prayer doesn’t solve everything and gives you everything you want but rather prayer helps you get what you need. It only takes up 20-30 minutes of your time to pray the rosary, so if you can do so. Make it as your daily conversation to God, if others can’t help you, I’m sure He can.