Day 28 = Praying the Rosary

A very Catholic prayer for this evening, one that I haven't yet dared pray due to my preceding attitudes towards Catholicism as inspired by an ex-boyfriend... but as I attend an AngloCatholic church, and as many of my friends use this prayer on a regular basis, I thought it was time that I tried it out.

For those who don't know, the rosary consists of a few prayers repeated several times. The prayers begin with an opening prayer (including the Apostle's Creed) then follow with five cycles of the Our Father and the Glory Be (the closing blessing used in many more evangelical churches), with five pairs of the Hail Mary and verses relating to different parts of the gospel story. The prayers close with a closing prayer. And in each cycle there are intentions and a Catholic prayer I've never heard before. People often use beads to keep track of the different prayers and verses, though this is an aid more than a requirement.

I was surprised by my changing feelings of the course of the prayer time, starting initially with feelings of rejection and nervousness as I don't particularly like the Hail Mary, due to its common reference to attributes that I don't believe Mary had in the way that many people express them. Towards the end of the prayer, I felt empowered, strengthened and aware of the gospel story in a whole new way.

There are four sequences of scriptures that are read over the course of a day, relating to different periods in Jesus' life; as I was doing it in the evening, I followed the traditional evening series of scriptures - the Crucifixion, and felt the impact of Jesus' sacrifice in a keen way. I would like to do it again at a different part of day, and see how my feelings change based on different moods and the different scriptures followed.

I think having heard the Hail Mary 50 times (in this one session), I am a lot more familiar with it, and will know what the people in my church are saying certain Sundays. Who knows? I may even use them myself on occasion. I am also aware of how helpful praying the rosary could be at particular times. Not something to avoid in the future, but to dip into every so often when I want to pray through scripture.