Praying the rosary is a time-honored spiritual practice to ask for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and to meditate on the life and words of Jesus. An excellent source of additional information is St. Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, which you can read online at https://rosaryreflections.com/pjp2rosary.
This collection of traditional rosary mysteries and Scriptural rosary reflections focuses on the life and words of Jesus, as found in the Gospels of the New American Bible. Praying the rosary during Eucharistic Adoration provides two major avenues of spiritual growth. First, the rosary offers a way to slow down and listen to God speaking to you through sacred Scripture. Second, praying the rosary offers a practice of intercession – praying for your intentions, the needs of others, the Church, and for God’s Reign to come on earth.
The traditional mysteries of the rosary include the Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, the Glorious Mysteries, and the Luminous Mysteries. For each of these mysteries, you pray five decades of the rosary. Each decade recalls a significant event from the life of Jesus and His Mother Mary. You meditate on that event to gain spiritual insight into God’s work of salvation in human history. Praying the traditional mysteries is like using a telescope to observe the big movements in salvation history.
A Scriptural rosary reflection takes one event or passage from the Gospels (or Scripture) and parses it into five “movements” of the story or the words in that passage. For example, the Annunciation event is the first decade of the Joyful Mysteries. A rosary reflection on the Annunciation of the Lord contains the entire Gospel text of the story of the Annunciation found in the Gospel of Luke. The five decades contain the Scripture passages in that story. You pray the rosary in the same way as when praying a traditional mystery and then focus on the “mini” event or words from Scripture. It is a form of combining “Lectio Divina” with praying the rosary. Praying a rosary reflection is like using a magnifying glass to zoom in on the details of the lives and words of Jesus and Mary.
Each page in this booklet contains one mystery or reflection. Each rosary page is formatted into two columns. The left column includes an Introduction, What to Remember, and suggested intentions in What to Pray For. The right column contains The Five Decades, including the name of the decade, the Gospel passage, and the text of the passage (where available.) Read the left column before you pray the rosary. Add any intentions you want. As you pray the decades of the rosary, turn to the right column. Start each decade by reading the Scripture passage, then let the words sink in as you pray the Our Father, the ten Hail Marys, and the Glory Be.
This document provides both the traditional mysteries (with selected Scripture passages, where available) and rosary reflections on the words and actions of Jesus. Since Eucharistic Adoration offers a unique moment to be in the Real Presence of Jesus, this collection of rosary reflections draws upon Gospel accounts of Jesus’ words and actions. Reflecting and meditating on the words of Jesus helps make His words more present to you.
Scroll through the list of traditional mysteries and the rosary reflections in the Table of Contents and choose one that resonates with you for this visit to Jesus, in the Blessed Sacrament. Then, pray that rosary. Take your time. Let Jesus speak to you in your mind and heart.
As you reflect and meditate more closely upon the life and words of Jesus, you enter more fully into the Real Presence of Jesus – in you. You are “eating God’s word” to feed your mind and heart with the wisdom, love, and grace of Jesus.
May your experience of Eucharistic Adoration be filled with the light, love, and goodness of Jesus!
