How does one pray the Life of Christ Rosary?
Hardware – These prayers can be easily said using the same five- or even one-decade Rosary beads on which one would pray a Dominican Rosary.
Software – The Life of Christ Rosary is a journey through the life of our Lord. At first, you will likely need to make use of a reference such as this to keep track of where you are along the way. Over time and with faithful practice, the mysteries will become committed to memory and you will find that you are able to move smoothly through the events without any written material.
Principles – The mysteries of the Life of Christ Rosary are inserted into the Hail Mary prayers, aligning what one is thinking and saying throughout its recitation. Pray the first half of the Hail Mary as you normally would, then add the mystery at the name of Jesus like this:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, conceived in you by the Holy Spirit during the annunciation of the angel.
At the time Dom. Dominic composed these mysteries, the Hail Mary had not taken its current form and ended with the first sentence as shown above. Thus, each recitation of the Hail Mary and its accompanying clause followed the pattern of bringing one through Mary to Jesus. This option is still available to those so inclined. It is equally valid, though, to add the second part of the Hail Mary after each clause as follows:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, conceived in you by the Holy Spirit during the annunciation of the angel.
Please bear in mind that the goal here is not to get to the end of the Rosary but to draw closer to Christ as one meditates upon His life. As a result, you are completely free to pause on, skip over, or repeat any of these mysteries as you feel directed to do so.
Prayer with the Life of Christ Rosary in this sense can be very similar to Lectio Divina, in which one slowly, prayerfully goes through a text until the Holy Spirit calls one’s attention to a particular verse or phrase. You will know when this happens, as suddenly a line or a thought will grab your attention in a way very different from everything else. Rest there. Repeat the line or thought as long you feel called to do so. The Sprit is speaking to you. Eventually, you may feel compelled to say something back, as this meditation leads you into a heartfelt response, or you may find that once you have dwelt for a while in the particular thought you are ready to move on. Either is equally good, as each is a gift from the Spirit perfectly suited to your needs at that moment.
In accord with his vision of the heavenly court, Dom. Dominic recommended that at the name of Mary one should bow one’s head, and at the name of Jesus one should genuflect. Again, this is merely a suggestion.
The mysteries listed below are a compilation of two versions of this form of the Rosary which I have combined as follows, following Dom. Dominic’s instruction that his schema was to be taken only as a suggestion. One version is taken from Fr Johann Roten’s excellent website “The Mary Page”, to which the reader for further information about Our Blessed Mother in general and this form of her Rosary in particular (campus.udayton.edu/mary). The second is from a prayer book from Trier, where Dom. Dominic composed these mysteries.
Original text Copyright 2012 by Daniel A.C. Frattarelli
Hardware – These prayers can be easily said using the same five- or even one-decade Rosary beads on which one would pray a Dominican Rosary.
Software – The Life of Christ Rosary is a journey through the life of our Lord. At first, you will likely need to make use of a reference such as this to keep track of where you are along the way. Over time and with faithful practice, the mysteries will become committed to memory and you will find that you are able to move smoothly through the events without any written material.
Principles – The mysteries of the Life of Christ Rosary are inserted into the Hail Mary prayers, aligning what one is thinking and saying throughout its recitation. Pray the first half of the Hail Mary as you normally would, then add the mystery at the name of Jesus like this:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, conceived in you by the Holy Spirit during the annunciation of the angel.
At the time Dom. Dominic composed these mysteries, the Hail Mary had not taken its current form and ended with the first sentence as shown above. Thus, each recitation of the Hail Mary and its accompanying clause followed the pattern of bringing one through Mary to Jesus. This option is still available to those so inclined. It is equally valid, though, to add the second part of the Hail Mary after each clause as follows:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, conceived in you by the Holy Spirit during the annunciation of the angel.
Please bear in mind that the goal here is not to get to the end of the Rosary but to draw closer to Christ as one meditates upon His life. As a result, you are completely free to pause on, skip over, or repeat any of these mysteries as you feel directed to do so.
Prayer with the Life of Christ Rosary in this sense can be very similar to Lectio Divina, in which one slowly, prayerfully goes through a text until the Holy Spirit calls one’s attention to a particular verse or phrase. You will know when this happens, as suddenly a line or a thought will grab your attention in a way very different from everything else. Rest there. Repeat the line or thought as long you feel called to do so. The Sprit is speaking to you. Eventually, you may feel compelled to say something back, as this meditation leads you into a heartfelt response, or you may find that once you have dwelt for a while in the particular thought you are ready to move on. Either is equally good, as each is a gift from the Spirit perfectly suited to your needs at that moment.
In accord with his vision of the heavenly court, Dom. Dominic recommended that at the name of Mary one should bow one’s head, and at the name of Jesus one should genuflect. Again, this is merely a suggestion.
The mysteries listed below are a compilation of two versions of this form of the Rosary which I have combined as follows, following Dom. Dominic’s instruction that his schema was to be taken only as a suggestion. One version is taken from Fr Johann Roten’s excellent website “The Mary Page”, to which the reader for further information about Our Blessed Mother in general and this form of her Rosary in particular (campus.udayton.edu/mary). The second is from a prayer book from Trier, where Dom. Dominic composed these mysteries.
Original text Copyright 2012 by Daniel A.C. Frattarelli
