When I left Islam for Protestantism, the practice of rote/repetitive prayers was largely discouraged; instead, I strove to pray spontaneously, with anything else being thought of as “dead,” “vain repetitions,” etc.

By God’s grace, I was led *back* to the fullness of the Christian life – I was baptized Catholic as a baby – and it wasn’t long before I developed what seemed to be a very simultaneously natural and supernatural desire to draw closer to the Holy Trinity through my Blessed Mother. A good friend taught me how to pray it, and I followed along with audio and video helps.

I’m not very good at being consistent, but I can truly say that by grace, I have been praying the Rosary practically every single day since 2015, sometimes multiple times a day. I have seen miracles through the intercession of Mary in the life of a dear friend, who left communion with Rome, and is now returning with his whole family!

Never doubt the power of Mary! Whatever she has, she has from, in, with, and through our God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Dustin Quick aka E-Truth

Then one Sunday, I decided to pray the Rosary each day for a week, “to see what happens.” So I grabbed one of my roommate’s cheap plastic rosaries he kept around, along with a “How to Pray the Rosary” booklet he conspicuously kept out on his desk. I pray the Rosary on Sunday, on Monday, on Tuesday…and then decided to convert to Catholicism!

I tell my roommate that he had three years of trying to convert me without success, but it only took Our Blessed Mother three days!

It is nothing like I would have imagined.  There is no burden or drudgery or mindless repetition.  I have found it to be refreshing and intense and insightful.  I have my ordinary prayers, and then incorporate or fold them into the petitions and meditations of the Rosary.  

I am not inclined to stop. As a deep-rooted former Protestant, I can say there is no “Mary worship” in it at all.  I recall many, many years ago checking out the Church, then turning back because of some Marian difficulty. It is all quite amazing. Now, coming to the Mother of my Lord, I find that I have drawn nearer to Him. Jesus, whom I have known as so real for so long, has become more real, more present, more beautiful.

The Lord used authority to lead me into the Church. There was so much good evidence. Then, diving right in, the Rosary became more proof, but in a personal way. This is evidence one could never know by merely looking in through the windows, so to speak.

The answer that came back to me was short and simple: I can’t.

As a cradle Catholic, I also knew that devotion to Mary is always directed ultimately toward Jesus. Mary’s “job,” if you will, is to lead all her children — you and me — to a more intimate relationship with her son, Jesus. I began to understand that Mary’s request to pray the Rosary would draw me to her, and she in turn would point me to her divine Son. The mysteries that I would contemplate were sort of a repeating lesson on Scripture and on keys incidents in the life of my Redeemer. In short, this prayer is exactly what I needed if I wanted to grow in holiness and in knowledge of my Lord.

The discipline necessary to start saying the Rosay everyday didn’t happen overnight, and there are still days when I miss. But the second thing that helped me get started and has kept me largely faithful to this devotion was the realization that I don’t have to say the entire Rosary in one sitting. I am a person who is not good with repetition, so sitting through 50+ Hail Mary’s, a handful of Our Fathers, and assorted other prayers said over and over in one session was extraordinarily difficult for me to accept and to do. So, in the beginning I hesitated. But when I realized I could say a portion of the Rosary at various points throughout the day, the obstacle to praying it didn’t seem nearly so great. So I started saying it in “shifts.”

I also encountered some very strong Catholics who said the Rosary in the car. Some reported that it made them more gentle drivers, and that they often prayed for other drivers who irritated them rather than having the urge to roll down the window and yell. Having a half-hour commute to work each way gave me plenty of opportunity to get through several decades before I got home at the end of day. Typically, this left me with one or two decades, which I would try to finish at night, typically an hour or so before I went to bed.

Books and various websites gave me material on which to base my meditations as I prayed the various mysteries. This helped me to keep my mind focused on praying and not on the problems of that particular day, or reasons why my favorite team lost another baseball game, or what I was going to make for dinner that night. My mind still wandered, but I managed to keep it on point much more regularly when I had a “bullet list” of meditation material I could pull up from memory as I prayed in the car or wherever.

The old Nike slogan is helpful here. If you want to get serious about saying the Rosary, you have to make up your mind to “just do it.” If you’re not up to an entire Rosary, get in the habit of saying one or two decades each day. As you warm-up to the beauty of this prayer, you might begin to discover that you want to say more decades or even the complete Rosary.

My advice: Just go for it and do it. Do it now. The graces waiting for you are too good to pass up.

I looked up instructions online on how to use it. I also watched Mother Angelica’s broadcast on EWTN and prayed along with her and the sisters. Even though I learned “how” I couldn’t really understand “why” and felt very uncomfortable doing it. I was Protestant and it was very Catholic!

Finally, after years of indecision, I was confirmed on my 69th birthday. After becoming Catholic, I sincerely wanted to do Catholic things, so I took up my beads and began. At first I got kind of bored and sleepy. Eventually, as it became more natural, I began to add an intention to center on. While doing so, Our Lady has given me mental pictures which I cherish and call to mind when I need encouragement. For example, one day as I was praying for my grandson who has wandered from the church and lost his faith, I asked her to bring him home. I began to picture him standing next to her with her left arm around him. It was so clearly visible in my mind’s eye that all I could do was express praise and thanksgiving. Then suddenly, without any effort on my part, Jesus moved into the picture and she put her right arm around Him. There she stood holding my grandson on one side and Jesus on the other. She said to me, “Your grandson will be reunited with my Son.” Oh, the comfort and encouragement this gave me. Now every time I see my grandson, or even think of him, that mental image comes to me and I can only smile because I know, in my “knower,” that it will be. I could give many more examples, but let it suffice to say that I have received many graces from praying the Rosary and it is a very sweet, special devotion.