HOW TO USE THE
ROSARY
TO MAKE CHRIST 
CONNECTIONS 
TO OUR LIFE

a free e-book by
Andy Costello, CSSR

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: The Rosary

The Five Joyful Mysteries

1) The Annunciation
2) The Visitation
3) The Nativity
4) The Presentation in the Temple
5) The Finding in the Temple

The Five Luminous Mysteries

1) The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan
2) The Wedding Feast of Cana
3) The Proclamation of the Kingdom
4) The Transfiguration of Jesus on the Mountain
5) The Giving of the Eucharist

The Five Sorrowful Mysteries

1) The Agony in the Garden
2) The Scourging at the Pillar
3) The Crowning With Thorns
4) The Carrying of the Cross
5) The Death on the Cross

The Five Glorious Mysteries

1) The Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead
2) The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven
3) The Descent of the Holy Spirit on The Church
4) The Assumption of Mary into Heaven
5) The Crowning of Mary Queen of Heaven

INTRODUCTION:

THE ROSARY

The Rosary is one of those helps to prayer that has been around for a long, long time. Moslems take out their worry beads or their prayer mat when they want to pray. When Catholics reach for our rosary, we’re telling ourselves we want to pray.

Rosary beads are something to hold onto when we want to pray in the middle of the sorrowful moments of life – as well as in the joyful, glorious and light producing mysteries of life.

Life? It’s a mystery. We can’t see around corners. Sometimes the phone rings in the middle of the night and sometimes it rings in the middle of a meal. Sometimes it’s good news and sometimes it’s hard times ahead.

A question: is our song, “Ah sweet mystery of life….” or is, “Hard Times A’ Coming”?

Life….

“I have come that you might life and have it to the full.” (Cf. John 11:11b.)

“The secret of the kingdom of God is given to you …” (Cf. Mark 4:11.)

One of the secrets of life is the ability to balance our ability to look forwards and backwards. Life is both. When we are young, we do a lot of looking ahead; when we are old, we do a lot of looking back.

Remember Lot’s wife. It’s a great folktale – that contains a great truth. As the picturesque language of the Bible puts it, she turned into a pillar of salt – because she looked back. (Cf. Genesis 19:26.) Someone seeing natural salt sculptures in the landscape saw images of people. The creator of this story in Genesis 19 saw these salt formations as metaphors of people stuck in the past – stuck like salt in a salt shaker on a humid day.

It’s important to look back on our life – but we better not get stuck there. The ability to remember, reflect and reconsider is a skill to develop. In fact, it’s a key moment in life when we begin to do that – but we won’t know we are doing that till much later. We remember. We regret. We resent. We also celebrate and feel joy for our history – our stories, our accomplishments – our laughs.

When we are young it seems that all we notice is the windshield – the road ahead – “Are we there yet?” However, at some point we discover there are also a back window and a rear view mirror.

Life is both! And life is more. We crash or get hit – when we miss what’s ahead of us – what’s behind us – as well as what’s around us and what is catching up with us.
When we discover and rejoice about our mysterious powers of being able to see the past, imagine the future and do all this in the present moment, we are been at a key moment in our life.

Consciousness moments are key moments in life. Consciousness moments can be wonderful prayer moments.

Each life is different. I know someone who collects rosary beads. He has hundreds of different rosary beads. And he prays them.

Some questions: What is my life like? Is it like a strong chained rosary bead that never breaks? Or is it always breaking? And do I pray the mysteries of my life?

Many people might describe their life as a primitive rosary – a string with many knots. We don’t know how long the string of our life will be. We gladly tie a knot at some moments of life – especially those moments we want to hold onto. We want to always savor joyful, glorious, and enlightening moments in our life – those turning points that turned our life around. Then there are some moments, some knots, that we wish never happened. Those are those knots and mysterious moments and experiences when and where we got all tangled up – our life was really knotted up – moments when we made dumb decisions – moments we often try to untangle in order to understand the stuff and story of our life.

Each life is like a rosary – with many mysteries, many moments. It is worthwhile making those moments like beads we finger and rub and twist in prayer and reflection.

Praying the rosary can be a person’s attempt to connect their life with the life of Jesus and to see the similarities as well as the differences. Mary’s story is kept in mind to help us make the connections.

For centuries there were the traditional 15 mysteries of the Rosary: the 5 Joyful, the 5 Sorrowful, and the 5 Glorious Mysteries. In October of 2002, John Paul II added 5 more mysteries under the title of “The Illuminative or Light Giving Mysteries.”

SET PRAYERS AND MENTAL PRAYER

This book will provide some thoughts and meditations on these 20 mysteries of the Rosary – these 20 mysteries of life – ideas to reflect upon while going through the mysteries and while saying the Hail Mary’s of the rosary.

The genius of the Rosary is that it combines set prayers with mental prayer. As kids most Catholics learn how to say the Hail Mary by heart. The hope is when we become adults we’ll take these beautiful scriptural and traditional words of the Hail Mary to heart. Then as we grow even older we’ll move deeper and deeper into the heart of the mystery of Christ.

We’ve all heard someone use the word “mantra”. It’s a Sanskrit word for a holy or mystical chant or incantation or invocation. A mantra is a set prayer that helps set the mood for contemplation of the deeper mysteries of life.

The Hail Mary is a mantra. By picking up the rosary, we are reminding ourselves we are about to enter into prayer. It’s like taking some time out to enter a church or temple or mosque. It’s like a Jewish male putting on a yarmulka, or kippah, or skullcap. It’s like a Moslem taking out a prayer rug. A person by these behaviors is saying, “It’s now time for prayer.”

The Rosary then is a popular reminder and a practical help for praying.

In our efforts to understand the Moslem world and Moslem religion, the rosary can be seen as an opening connector. Moslems are often seen with “worry beads” in their hands. Well, many Christians when they are nervous, they pick up their rosary and start praying with their “worry beads”. It has been used this way by millions and millions of people down through the ages. It’s no wonder then that a rosary is usually put in a Catholic’s hands as they lay in their casket or coffin.

When we simply want to be an everyday person of prayer, we can keep them in our pocket. We can pray with them visibly or invisibly when going for a walk or just sitting in our home or backyard. Many people keep them hanging on their car mirror to remind them to take them down for praying while driving. Others keep them under their pillow in order to pray before going to sleep.

When we want to pray as a family or with others, the rosary can be divided up in several ways, allowing people to pray as a group – with different people taking turns saying the prayers.

The rosary has always been a reminder for us to be like Mary – a woman of prayer – a woman in deep contact with God.

WARNING # 1: DON’T BABBLE

Don’t babble. Jesus warned us in the Sermon on the Mount about babbling when praying. He said, “In your prayers, don’t babble as the pagans do. They think by using many words, they will make themselves heard. Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this ….” (Matthew 6:7-9). Jesus then taught the crowd the Our Father.

To avoid babbling or being mechanical while praying, some people concentrate on the words of the Hail Mary; some concentrate on the mysteries; and some concentrate on a scriptural text.

Obviously it is better to say one Hail Mary slowly and prayerfully than to say 53 Hail Mary’s without any sense of prayer.

Be creative. As I said in my book, Thank God It’s Friday, “Rosary beads aren’t just for Hail Mary’s any more.” One can use the beads to say short mantras or darts of prayer like:

· “Lord, have mercy.”
· “Lord, Jesus, teach me how to pray.”
· “Lord, Jesus, teach me how to love.”
· “Lord, Jesus, teach me how to give.”
· “Lord, Jesus, teach me how to forgive.”
· “Jesus!”
· “Jesus is Lord.”
· “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”
· “Thank you, Lord. Thank you.”
· “Come Holy Spirit.”
· “Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus.”
· “Help!”
· “Thanks!”

The Rosary then has never been frozen. The beads are not made of cement. In general, most people use the rosary to weave a crown of prayer “roses” to put around Mary’s head. Hence the name rosary.

Down through the years there have been all kinds of rosaries. At one time there was a rosary of 150 Our Fathers. It was called, “The Poor Person’s Breviary.” At another time people said a Rosary of 50 mysteries. How could one remember all of them? Thank God in time the mysteries were cut down to 15. Now they are up to 20. Do I hear 25?

Today most people say the “short Rosary” – just 5 decades – using the Joyful, Sorrowful, Light Giving or Glorious Mysteries – depending on what day of the week it is or the season or the mood one is in.

WARNING # 2: ADDING ON THE TRIMMINGS

It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to pray the rosary.

However, the rosary can take longer if people start to add prayers.

Warning: too many words can kill prayer. This is especially true when it comes to the Rosary.

The Irish love to joke about the Trimmings of the Rosary – meaning extra prayers that are added on. There is an Irish poem with the title, “Trimmings of the Rosary.” It’s by anonymous. The poem is a tribute to all those “Little Irish Mothers” who gathered their kids reluctantly for the rosary. Just when one would think the rosary was finished, if mom was in charge, out came the trimmings. These would be prayers for cousins and aunts and uncles, prayers for sore toes, prayers for friends and prayers for foes.

This Irish poem is very sweet, but frustrations can arise when someone adds and adds and adds on too many extra prayers. The leader of the rosary can trap a captive audience.

Many times when this happens in a group, the spirit of prayer – the chain of prayer is broken. People start looking at their watches in anger and frustration. Their minds are far from being like Mary’s who turned God’s words over and over in her mind in prayer.

The history of public prayer often goes like this: People come along and add prayers and then people come along and cut out prayers and then people come along and add on prayers and then people cut out prayers and on and on and on. It’s human nature.

WARNING # 3: THIS BOOK

This book will simply present 20 meditations on the 20 Mysteries of the Rosary.

However, I put a warning on the label. Please do not use these meditations to overburden people while saying the Rosary. Do not kill the spirit of prayer in a Family Rosary or in Altar-Rosary Society or even in the private saying of the Rosary by reading a set of these mysteries while saying the rosary. They are for private reflection apart from saying the rosary, so that when one says the rosary, one might be more reflective on the mysteries.

Or a person or a group can take the time out every once and a while to meditate on one or two mysteries – and use these reflections for a reading – saying just one or two decades of the rosary and leaving the others for another day. The mysteries of the Rosary touch all the great mysteries of a person’s life – so we have a whole lifetime to meditate on them in prayer like Mary.

Why rush? Why crush the Spirit with “too much”?

Why not heed St. Teresa of Avila’s prayer: “From silly devotions and sour faced saints, Lord, deliver us.”

The Rosary is simply a WAY to pray, a MEANS of prayer. It is not an END in itself. The way we say the Rosary can always be changed. The END is what is important: ending up in GOD’S presence – in GOD’S embrace – in GOD’S love.

Taking time out to prayer is taking time out to enter into the timeless mystery of God. In time, in some mysterious way, God entered into Mary and she brought Jesus into the world and Jesus leads us to the world of the Father.

THE
FIVE
JOYFUL
MYSTERIES


“My being magnifies the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit finds joy in God my savior.”
Luke 1:47

1

ANNUNCIATION

Prayer is all about listening.

Prayer moments are annunciation moments at times.

When Mary went to the synagogue in Nazareth, she would see people getting up to read the scriptures. She would hear calls and echoes from the scrolls – especially words from the prophets urging all of us to listen:

“Be still and know that I am God.”
“Be silent, O Israel, and listen.”
“Hear O heavens and listen O earth.”
“Hear the word of the Lord.”
“Hear O Israel.”
“Listen O house of David.”
“You who are deaf, listen.”
“Listen to my voice and then I will be your God.”

Lord, teach me how to listen.

Lord, teach me how to pray.

Prayer is all about listening.

Prayer is all about questions.

Prayer is all about “Yes” or “No”.

Prayer is all about responding.

Prayer is all about the call to serve.

Picture Mary as one who listens.

Picture Mary as one who listens as she prays.

Picture Mary as one who takes time out
to listen to the silent shouts of God.

Picture Mary
listening to the everyday ways
the Lord gifts us:
listening in the market place,
listening in the synagogue,
listening to her parents,
listening to her neighbors,
listening to Joseph – the man she loves –
but also listening for the Word of the Lord,
in prayer
in the quiet moments of life.

Picture Mary hearing
the Word of the Lord
in life’s everyday moments.

The Annunciation
is history’s big listening moment.
A young girl begins hearing
a new vision;
a young girl begins hearing God’s announcement,
that the Word wants to become flesh
and live among us.

God was wanting a change in history.

Now that’s Good News.

Now that’s an annunciation.

Now to hear God’s News,
one needs to have
an open mind,
an open heart,
an open spirit,
gifts so necessary
to be a person of prayer.

Painters have often painted
pictures of the Annunciation.

Which one is your favorite?

The angel God sent to speak to Mary
was Gabriel – pictured in thousands of paintings
as an angel with wings and a flowing white garment,
but what did Mary see and hear
at the Annunciation?

Was she by an open window?
Was she feeling a gentle breeze?
Was she looking into the morning light
or the setting sun?
Was the angel a whisper of God
uttered deep in the recesses of her being,
asking her, a teenage girl,
to make an eternal decision?

Listening is not just silence.
At times it’s also asking questions.

Mary asked questions?
Mary received mysterious answers.

And then Mary said, “Yes!”

Mary said, “Amen,” to Our Father,
and her world and our world
would never be the same again.

What Mary experienced,
was God’s question to every person,
“Will you bring Christ to the world?”

Annunciation moments
are not life threatening moments.They are life challenging moments.

Annunciation moments!
The call to change,
the call to change our plans,
to say, “Yes”,
to say, “Amen”,
to a new spirit in our life,
to let a new spirit overshadow us,
to let God break our ice,
to let God pierce our darkness,
to let God speak in our silence,
to let God go through our defenses
to let Christ enter deep into the womb of our being.

Annunciation moments.

Feeling the Wind,
seeing the Light,
hearing the word,
tasting the Bread and the Wine,
meeting the hurting,
stopping to be with the poor,
any and every way
God tries to announce his way into our lives.

Annunciation!

Morning, opening a window,
feeling the gentle breeze on our face
and saying, “Amen Yes
Thank you God for another day.”

Annunciation.

Help me to live this day to the full.

Annunciation.
Struggling to say “yes” to God,
when the Spirit surrounds us
like the wind,
sometimes gently,
sometimes violent,
but always calling us, urging us,
challenging us to be:
a better listener,
a better friend,
a better witness,
a better wife,
a better husband,
a better worker,
a better Christian,
a better follower
of Christ in the modern world.

Annunciation.
And Mary said,
“I am the servant of the Lord,
let it be done to me as you say.”

2

VISITATION

Prayer is not just listening.

God loves to visit people!

When the Lord visits us –
it’s a call us to stand up, get moving
and reach out to others.

Visitation always follows annunciation.

How could anyone hold in Good News?

A mouth needs an ear.

And Mary went with haste
into the hill country
to visit her cousin Elizabeth.

Friendship.
People visiting people.
People caring,
listening, spending time with,
wondering how the other person is doing.

Can I help?

The knocking on the door,
the sending of the letter,
the surprise call,
the reaching out in haste
to come into another’s life,
into another’s world,
into another’s need.

Annunciations
lead to visitations.
Annunciations:
those moments of prayer
that rivered the flow of the Spirit into Mary’s life,
immediately flowing into action,
an uphill river of love,
the movement of Christ into the world.

Annunciations
lead to visitations:
calls to an awareness of another,
to another’s needs,
calls to love, to service.

This is the Way to live life –
and Mary showed us the Way to do it.
As soon as she knew someone could use her help
she dropped everything.
She set out in haste
to visit her cousin Elizabeth.

And Elizabeth greeted her with words
that would flow like a river from that day forward.
“Blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”

And the baby leapt with joy in Elizabeth’s womb.
And with the coming of the Messiah
the world would soon leap
another step forward towards the Father.

And Mary sang her song,
her Magnificat, her gospel for all ages,
for all women, for all men,
for all those who want to visit and serve their neighbor.
“My being proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit finds joy in God my Savior.”

It was a song of joy,
a summary of all the Old Promises,
that the Savior would come,
that the Messiah would come
and the proud would be humbled
and the humble would be exalted.

Soon the blind beggars would see themselves
invited into the kingdom,
invited to the banquet
and find themselves sitting next to
the poor and the hungry,
enjoying the company of people
they were not supposed to be seen with,
people they weren’t supposed to enjoy.

And those who look down on them,
who look down on sinners and prostitutes
and the poor and the hungry in hell,
a hell of their own making, lonely and looking in.

And Mary stayed there 3 months with her cousin Elizabeth.
The two gathered together in his name
and there he was in their midst. Amen.

3

NATIVITY

“And the word became flesh
and dwelt among us.”
Christmas is a wonderful feast.

The birth of a baby is always Good News
of great joy!

God the Silent, speaks.
God the Invisible, becomes visible.
God the Darkness, gives light.
The unexpected, the unbelievable, happens.
God empties himself to become one of us.

“Have no fear
I bring you tidings of great joy
to be shared with all the people.”

“This day in David’s city,
a savior has been born to you,
the Messiah and Lord.”

“O come let us adore him,
O come let us adore him,
O come let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.”

There was no room in the inn.
There was no room in the world.
There was no room in our hearts,
yet he came.

A light went on
in the dark house of earth
and the darkness
will never be able to put it out.

A star appears on the wall of night.
“Silent night,
holy night,
all is calm,
all is bright.”

Awake shepherds!
Awake wise men!
Awake, O Jerusalem.
Your hope is here;
your savior has appeared.
A flower has sprung
from Jesse’s stock
and a star has risen from Jacob.

But I warn you now in a dream
that he is not what you are expecting.
God never does that.
God is never what you expect him to be.
God has emptied himself,
becoming a baby.
The hand of God has baby fingers.

This baby is God
who is beyond our imagination,
beyond our brains.

God becoming human,
becoming a baby is
ridiculous.
Who could believe it?

Surprise! The Christmas story
features shepherds and kings,
the rich and the poor.

Go to the stable!

You’ll find Mary and Joseph,
a couple from Nazareth,
80 miles from home,
in the little town of Bethlehem,
House of Bread,
Breadbox of the World.

God feeds us with the finest of wheat.
Peace on Earth,
Good will to all.

Gifts?
What kind of a Christmas gift,
a birthday gift,
can I bring him?
What does he want of me?
I don’t know.
I’m empty too.
I’ll come to him
like a child in the silent night empty,
but ready to be filled
with the word,
with the Light.
There he is, an infant,
wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.
See the light.
See the halo of light, enlightenment, delight,
surrounding him.
Jesus is Emmanuel - God with us.
His tiny fingers reach out for Mary,
for Joseph,
for the ox and the ass,
for you and for me,
for the whole of creation.
He’s trying to grab the whole of creation.
His arms opening wider and wider
to embrace the world,
to embrace the Father.
Come Lord Jesus
Come.

4

PRESENTATION

Present!

It’s easy to say “Present,”
as we did a thousand times as kids in school”,
but to be really present, now that is difficult.

And Mary and Joseph
brought the baby to the temple
to present him to the Lord.

They walked through the crowd,
up the steps, past the money changers,
till they came to the tables
of those who were selling doves.
Some of the buyers, the sellers,
the people on the lines,
stopped for a brief moment,
stopped to smile into the face of this baby boy.
and then it was back to business as usual
here in the temple of the Lord.
Did these people know
that this was the one,
this was the Son,
who would one day rise in anger
to turn over these very tables,
to drive them and their children,
along with the money changers
out of the temple area?

Did these people forget
that this was the house of God,
that this was a house of prayer?

Then Mary and Joseph walked deep
into the darkness of the temple,
carrying their son, a candle,
the Light of the world.

They walked past Pharisees and Publicans in prayer.
They walked to the place
where they could offer their poor sacrifice:
two small birds, in thanksgiving to the Lord
for all their blessings.
Being poor,
this is all that they could offer.
Being rich,
they came to offer up the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world.

Suddenly, in the middle of the ceremony
an old man arrives in the temple.
His eyes are rushing, searching,
his mouth is muttering,
his legs are moving as fast as possible
trying go locate the child.
Simeon knew that the Spring
he had been waiting for
had finally arrived in the winter of his life.

“Look! There is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world.
Look there is the child.
There is the One!”
He stands there and bursts into prayer,
thanking God that his long wait is finally over.

“Enough!” he says in an old man’s prayer.
“God you can now take me.
What more is there in life for me to see?
Here is the Light of the world.
Here is the Light
that will be seen by the Gentiles;
here is the Glory of Israel.”

He stops speaking.

Silence.

Then Simeon looks into Mary’s eyes,
into Mary’s heart.
Slowly, he begins to tell her
the good news and the bad,
the sweet and the sour stories
of everyone’s life.

“This child is to be part
of the joyful and sorrowful mysteries of your life,
and everyone’s life from now on.”

“A sword will pierce your heart,
so that the thoughts of all hearts will be revealed.”

And after Simeon came Anna.
It reminded Mary of the stable of Bethlehem,
the arrival first of the shepherds
and of the wise men.
Anna was one of those old women
you find in every temple.
Age had bent her like an anchor,
a sign of hope.
She came to Mary and Joseph;
she came with good news only.

“This child,”
putting her hand on the baby’s heard,
“is destined to deliver Israel.”

With that Mary and Joseph left the temple
and thought about these predictions
all the way back to Galilee and beyond.
And as Mary watched her son grow
in size and strength,
in wisdom and grace,
she turned all these thing
over and over again in her mind.