Many of us have been praying the rosary for most of our lives. We learned how to pray the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries, meditating on the individual mysteries in each. Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries during his papacy. And we learn the efficacy of the rosary within a separate writing on this website, titled “The Rosary.”
We follow the well-defined script in saying the Our Father and the Hail Mary prayers. Some of us say them hastily, without thinking, as if we are just trying to get quickly to the finish line with our rosary. It is not a mechanical repetition of prayers, but an intimate conversation with the Mother of God. Mary desires to know our hearts, which requires us to be specific with our rosary intentions.
I heard that the Blessed Mother told the visionaries in Medjugorje to pray the rosary slowly with meaning. Her request is extremely important because she knows the temporal and eternal value of well-said rosaries, and I know that we, the faithful, always want to please Our Heavenly Mother.
What if we add a personal flavor to our rosary, that is, by adding our own personal touch to our rosary we make it even more meaningful for us and pleasing to Our Lady. How can we do that? I am listing two ways that I make my rosaries more personal:
- As a reminder of my intentions for the private rosaries that I’m praying, I personalize Hail Mary’s in each decade. Calling Jesus my Beloved expresses my love for Him. This is the Hail Mary that I say:
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, ‘my Beloved, [my intention],’ Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
So my standard Hail Mary is: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, ‘my Beloved,’ Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
Then I add my intention to some of the Hail Mary’s in the decade, which varies according to my intention for the rosary. Here are examples of my requests to Jesus:
- For my rosary for the souls in Purgatory, I add “release a soul today.”
- For my rosary for specific sick and suffering, it’s “heal them.”
- For my rosary for my prayer partner, it’s “help Elisa today.”
When I’m in a group setting, I pray any added words silently in my thoughts.
- Periodically, I choose to present a rose to Our Lady for every Hail Mary I say in my rosary. She places them in a heavenly vessel. At the end of my rosary, she will take the vessel full of my roses and offer them to Jesus on behalf of my intentions. If I am praying my rosary with others, I silently offer roses for all of our Hail Mary’s. It is very powerful having the Mother presenting our gifts to her Son, who refuses His Mother nothing.
My incentive for sharing how I pray my rosaries was to hopefully encourage you to make your own rosaries personal to you. Let’s always remember that the Rosary is the key to open the heart of Mary to her children!
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An addition to this writing also must be made known, which is Mary’s request of adding The Flame of Love Prayer to the Hail Mary. Elizabeth Kindelmann, in her book The Flame of Love, said that in October 1962 the Blessed Virgin petitioned her to add The Flame of Love Prayer to the Hail Mary. So with the added prayer, the Hail Mary becomes:
Hail Mary,
full of grace,
the Lord is with thee,
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus,
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
spread the effect of grace of thy Flame of Love
over all humanity,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
On February 2, 1982, in order to give credence to Our Lady’s petition, Jesus explained, “Because of the Holy Virgin’s efficacious pleas, the Most Blessed Trinity granted the outpouring of the Flame of Love. For her sake, you must place this prayer in the Hail Mary so that, by its effect, humanity is converted.”
Our Lady also said, “I want to awaken humanity by this petition. [. . .] If at any moment, someone prays three Hail Mary’s in my honor, while referring to the Flame of Love, they will free a soul from purgatory. During November, one Hail Mary will free ten souls.”
In honor of the Blessed Mother, let’s free some souls from purgatory!