Why pray the rosary when you can pray straight to Our Lord? Why recite the rosary to a mere human person when you can go straight to God? The Catholic Church teaches many reasons why we should value the rosary and recite it diligently every day. As a point of fact, next to the Holy Mass, the rosary is the most beneficial Catholic prayer.
In many of her apparitions all throughout the world, the Virgin Mary has specifically requested that the rosary be prayed as frequently as possible. Our Mother moreso emphasizes that we pray it every day with the family.
Among the Fifteen Promises of Our Mother to those who say the Rosary, the Virgin pledged that she will answer all our prayers made through the rosary – for as long as our request is in conformity to God’s will, of course.
Numerous scientific studies have shown that prayerful people enjoy long life – there is a correlation between praying and good health. On a strictly physical basis, this is most likely because through meditative prayer like the holy rosary, we de-stress and calm ourselves down. Contrary to the accusation by some of our non-Catholic brethren that the rosary is nothing more than useless repetition without any substance, the rosary in reality is a meditative prayer. More importantly, it involves mental, meditative prayer – we meditate on the mysteries of the rosary, basically, the life of Jesus Christ.
Again, contrary to misconception by our non-Catholic brothers that the rosary extols Our Mother too much, at the expense of Jesus, the rosary is in fact very much a prayer that focuses on Christ In fact, the mysteries of the rosary are really nothing less than the life of the Son of God, condensed in 20 mysteries. Together with reading the bible, saying the rosary every day will help us penetrate the Person of Our Lord better, every single day.
The Mother is the best way to the Son. The rosary is our highway to heaven – it is our shortcut to becoming more and more like Jesus, to becoming “alter Christus”, or “other Christs”, in this world
Mr. Arthur Policarpio is the Managing Director of the Totus Tuus, Maria Foundation – publisher of the online magazine Totus Tuus, Maria, a website on the Blessed Virgin Totus Tuus, Maria includes well-researched articles on the Rosary.