A. Some persons find praying the Rosary difficult, because they do not understand the manner in which the vocal and mental prayer of the Rosary are to be combined. The vocal prayers are sometimes called the BODY of the Rosary, while the mental prayer is its SOUL. While the lips are uttering the words of the Hail Marys, the mind dwells on our Lord's Agony in the garden of Gethsemani. We are not meant to focus our attention on the Hail Marys. The ten Hail Marys function as a measuring device to determine the length of time to reflect on this incident in the passion of Jesus.

B. Others have difficulty in keeping their mind on the mystery of the Rosary they are praying. The mind tends to wander, and distracting thoughts enter in. To help solve that problem, the Rosary Center has a booklet, Praying The Rosary Without Distractions, from which this guide is excerpted. For information on how to recieve it, please go to our catalog. For each of the twenty mysteries of the Rosary there are ten brief points of reflection, to help keep one's attention focused on the mystery in question, in addition it has a colorful picture of each mystery. It is not necessary to dwell on all ten points of reflection, but one may choose to do so. One may feel free to dwell on as many or as few as is found helpful. For example, one could spend the whole decade on two, or three, or four points of reflection (or all 10), depending on how his devotion leads him. Of course there are countless other points of reflection that could be used for each mystery.