Praying the Rosary Fruitfully

The rosary is the typically "Catholic prayer", one that gives us identity and visibility. Even Major League baseball players sometimes wear it around their necks, making it as clear as when they make the sign of the cross before stepping to the plate,  that they are Catholic. While on the Pine Ridge Reservation, I was touched when both the local Presbyterian minister and deacon asked for a rosary, saying that it gave them a closeness to Jesus through Mary.  Sometimes, just holding the beads even without praying gives us the same experience.
There's no doubt, it's a gem of a prayer, and when prayed with a living faith. one based on a personal relationship with Jesus, as we advocated yesterday, it can bear even more fruit.  Like Mary, we ponder the events in her life with Jesus, and those in our own; the depth of his love unfolds the more we look at the scenes proposed in the Mysteries; we are led to obedience to the Father's will in Mary's Fiat, her command at Cana, "Do whatever he tells you." and Jesus' own submission to the Father in Gethsemane. Her birthing of Jesus reminds us that we too are to bring Jesus to life in our own lives and help others do the same.  Standing with Mary at the foot of the cross helps us bear our own, and grieve with the suffering around the world. If we "don't get it" after years of praying the rosary, we just haven't been praying it the way it was intended; we have just been "saying it."   Mary, our Good Mother, teach us how to pray the rosary which you love so much that we may come to Jesus through you.  Amen