More about the Rosary and Marian prayer from Mary and Me
While women…have found that the rosary brings them closer to Christ, it can also have the effect of bringing women closer to each other. Though it is often prayed individually, group recitations of the rosary offer a chance for Catholics to connect with their larger faith community.
I definitely can relate to this, the Rosary has been a constant visual chain of unity in my life; connecting women and men together. When I was growing up, I went with my mom every Thursday (unless I was in school) to her Rosary group. I played with the other kids and the moms prayed. Now, her group still meets and I join them every now and then as a mother now myself. My kids play and I pray. When I was a new mom, a few other new like-minded friends, who were desperate for company and grace, got together to pray the Rosary. Today, many of us are still friends and new friends have joined. We support each other like the crowd cheers the runners in a race. The women of my parish meet every Tuesday to pray the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. We pray, the kids play, and then we eat! It’s wonderful! I used to get upset in the beginning, when my kids were loud and obnoxious and wouldn’t let me sit through the whole Rosary without interrupting me for something or another. But now I’m just glad to be in the company of other mothers who are just living and surviving each day and minute as it comes like me. Sometimes, I like to just sit and listen to them praying, basking in the graces that are flowing from our combined prayers. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matt 18:20) A good friend, who also happens to be a religious sister, once said that she feels like she is a better sister than she is a friend and she understand that’s how it probably is for me too. And yes, she’s right, I have to give more of my time and attention to my job as a mother and wife than as a friend. However, I’ve come to find out that I need my friends to be a good mother and a good wife. Together, we all share our common link with Mary, our Mother and bestest friend. Though, one does not need to pray the Rosary or other Marian prayers in order to survive motherhood and get to Jesus, it sure makes it easier! Ginny Kubitz Moyer points this out also:
The prayers [Marian prayers] can be meditative, lulling women into peace; they can also be active, pulling women into the lives of Mary and her Son. There’s a deeply private quality to the rosary, making it a very personal devotion; there’s also a power in prayer it as a group, feeling the combined energy of a community.
In the end, it’s obvious that there is no “right” way to pray. Each of us has her own personal spiritual life, one that may or may not include Mary as a regular advocate. Still, there’s no question that the Blessed Mother has something unique to offer us. She’s the mother who cares for our spiritual growth, the woman who understands the rhythms of a female life. Above all, she’s the faithful disciple who is always ready to drop everything, take us by the hand, and leads us where she wants us to be: close to her son.
