"The Orthodox Way of Praying the Holy Rosary"
Dr. Alejandro Cañadas
Workshop No 3: March 23th, 2021
How do we pray the Rosary?
https://www.newadvent.org/images/rosary.pdf
Day Rosary
Mystery
Sunday Glorious
Monday Joyful
Tuesday Sorrowful
Wednesday Glorious
Thursday Luminous
Friday Sorrowful
Saturday Joyful
"Joyful Mysteries" (Monday and Saturday):
1) The Annunciation of Gabriel to Mary (Luke 1:26-38)
2) The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56)
3) The Birth of Our Lord (Luke 2:1-21)
4) The Presentation of Our Lord (Luke 2:22-40)
5) The Finding of Our Lord in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52)
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"Luminous Mysteries" (Thursday):
1) The Baptism of Our Lord in the River Jordan (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark
1: 9-11; Luke 3:21-22)
2) The Wedding at Cana, when Christ manifested Himself (Jn 2:1-11)
3) The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15; Matthew
6:25-27; Luke 15:11-24)
4) The Transfiguration of Our Lord (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9: 2-10; Luke
9: 28-36; 2 Peter 1:17-18)
5) The Last Supper, when Our Lord gave us the Holy Eucharist (Matthew
26: 17- 29; Mark 14: 22-25; Luke 22:14-23; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 11:23-
26)
"Sorrowful Mysteries" (Tuesday and Friday)
1) The Agony of Our Lord in the Garden (Matthew 26:36-56; Luke 22: 39-
46)
2) Our Lord is Scourged at the Pillar (Matthew 27:15-26)
3) Our Lord is Crowned with Thorns (Matthew 27:27-31)
4) Our Lord Carries the Cross to Calvary (Matthew 27:32; Luke 23:26-31)
5) The Crucifixion of Our Lord (Matthew 27:33-66; Mark 15: 25-47; Luke
23:33-56; John 19: 18-42)
"Glorious Mysteries" (Wednesday and Sunday)
1) The Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord (Matthew 28:1-15; Mark 16: 1-
49; John 20:1-29)
2) The Ascension of Our Lord (Acts 1:1-11; Mark 16 19-20; Luke 24:36-
53)
3) The Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-41)
4) The Assumption of Mary into Heaven (Psalm 132:8; Luke 1:28;
Revelation 12:1)
5) The Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth (Luke 1:43;
Revelation 12:1)
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How do we pray 150 Hail Marys?
The Rosary => 15 decades of Hail Marys (that is 15x10 = 150 Hail Marys)
Does Devotion to Mary Steal our devotion from Jesus?
1
 Christianity is Christ-centered, and there is no room for other gods, savior,
or idols.
 We worship our Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah, Son of the Father,
and the second person of the Holy Trinity who became man in the
womb of Mary.
 This Christocentric vision has led some to conclude wrongly that honor
shown to Mary or others is wrong.
 Due to the Protestant Reformation, a movement to reject any Blessed
Virgin Mary's veneration and the saints began.
 This rejection emerged from the Lutheran principle of “Christ alone.”
 The Protestant view perceived Mary and the saints as in competition with
Jesus Christ and therefore robbing Christ of His due glory (wrong
principle of the “fixed pie” or the Modern principle of the “zero-sum
game”/material).
 This is not how the life of love and family operates. Love is not fixed. The
more we love, the more our heart expands to love even more (the true
principle of the dynamic of love, which is the Holy Trinity principle).
 The problem is that Martin Luther rejected St. Paul’s teaching that all
Christian are disciples “in Christ”:
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law,
although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, 22 ¶ the righteousness of God
through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; 23 ¶

1 Adapted from Taylor Marshall, PhD, The Rosary in 50 Pages: The Layman’s Quick Guide to Mary’s Psalter
(Rockfort, IL: Saint John Press, 2020).
¶ 3:22: Rom 4:5; 9:30; 10:12; Gal 2:16.
¶ 3:23: Rom 3:9.
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since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 ¶ they are justified by his
Grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus2
(Rom 3:21-24).
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2
¶ By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3
¶ Do you not know
that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? 4
¶ We were buried‡ therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in
newness of life.
5
¶ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly
be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6
¶ We know that our former man
was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no
longer be enslaved to sin. 7
¶ For he who has died is freed from sin.
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¶ But if we
have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him3
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 When Paul persecuted Christians, Jesus Christ said to him:
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4)4
 Paul was not merely attaching Christians; he was directly attacking
Christ.

¶ 3:24: Rom 4:16; 5:9; Eph 2:8; Tit 3:7; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; Heb 9:15.
2 The Holy Bible (Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition.; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), Rom
3:21–24.
¶ 6:2: Rom 7:4, 6; Gal 2:19; 1 Pet 2:24.
¶ 6:3: Acts 2:38; 8:16; 19:5.
¶ 6:4: Col 2:12.
‡ 6:4, buried: Immersed in the water of baptism.
¶ 6:5: 2 Cor 4:10; Col 2:12.
¶ 6:6: Rom 7:24; Col 2:13.
¶ 6:7: 1 Pet 4:1.
¶ 6:8: 2 Tim 2:11.
3 The Holy Bible (Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition.; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), Rom
6:2–8.
4 The Holy Bible (Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition.; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), Ac
9:4.
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 This mystery reveals that Christians dwell within Christ and are
constituted in His Body's mystery, which is the Church.
 Therefore, if you persecute St. Stephen, you persecute Jesus Christ. If
you show love for St. Stephen, you show love for Jesus Christ.
 If we show love for the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are showing love for
Jesus Christ.
“When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing
near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
27 Then he said to
the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour, the disciple took
her to his own home.‡” (John 19: 26-27)
What is Prayer?
5
 Prayer is direct conversation and communion with God, whether
vocal or silent, planned or spontaneous, individual or corporate.
 Prayer is a gift from God. In the Rosary, we pray for that gift.
 Prayer, according to Scripture, is not a form of magic (the manipulation or
appeasement of spiritual forces to bring about the desired result).
 Meditation on scriptural truth that engages in conversation with God is a
form of prayer. In the Rosary, we meditate on Sacred Scriptures.
 Prayer, according to Scripture, is a conversation directed to God that, as
a human conversation, may take many different forms. In the Rosary, we
start our conversation with Jesus through Mary.
 It may come as an expression of desire or appeal, sorrow or apology, love
or admiration, gratitude or appreciation, of dissatisfaction or
frustration—or hopes and joys, fears and doubts, questions and
curiosities. We do this through the mysteries of the Rosary.
 All these forms of communication can be broadly grouped under three major
conversational categories:
 Request
 Worship, and
 Fellowship (or Communion).

‡ 19:27, took her to his own home: Joseph must now have been dead.
5 Adapted from Layton Talbert, “Prayer in the Life of the Church,” in Lexham Survey of Theology (ed.
Mark Ward et al.; Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).
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 In Scripture, prayer may take any or all of these forms.
 Prayers of request include
 Supplication, which arises from a sense of need, whether
 Petition (supplication for oneself) or
 Intercession (supplication for others);
 Confession, which arises out of a sense of offense (i.e.,
an acknowledgment of sin and request for forgiveness
and acceptance); and on rare occasions,
 Imprecation arises from a sense of sanctified indignation
and not personal vengeance (i.e., a request for God to
deal righteously and decisively with the wicked).
 Prayers of Worship include
 Adoration (praise, admiration), and
 Thanksgiving (gratitude, appreciation).
 Prayers of communion include
 Fellowship (conversing with God on any subject), and
 Grievance (expressing to God one’s frustrations, doubts,
wrestlings; sometimes called “complaint” in Scripture).
 A wide variety of Hebrew and Greek words denote these various kinds of
prayer. Yet, many prayers actually appear in Scripture without any of these
words necessarily being present in the text.
 The first reference in Scripture to prayer is
 Genesis 4:25–26: “Men began to call on the name of the Lord.”
 The same language (calling on the name of the Lord) is used of Abraham (Gen
12:8; 13:4; 21:33) and Isaac (Gen 26:25).
 The first recorded prayers are Abraham’s (Gen 15:1–9; 17:18; 18:20–33,
etc.), though the first occurrence of the word “pray” does not occur until
Genesis 22:7, 17.
 Genesis also records or mentions the prayers of
 Abraham’s servant (Gen 24:12–15),
 of Isaac (Gen 25:21),
 of Rebekah (Gen 25:22–23), and
 of Jacob (Gen 28:20–22; 32:9–12).
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 The Old Testament features numerous outstanding examples of prayer. Some
significant Old Testament prayers by era:
 Mosaic era: Moses (Exod 3–4; 32:9–14; 33:12–23; Num 14:11–25;
16:20–23; 27:15–17); Joshua (Josh 7:6–11).
 Monarchical era: Hannah (1 Sam 1–2); Samuel (1 Sam 8; 12); Jabez
(1 Chr 4); Solomon (1 Kgs 8); Asa (2 Chr 14); Hezekiah (2 Kgs 19;
20); Habakkuk (Hab 1–2).
 Postexilic era: Daniel (Dan 9); Ezra (Ezra 9); Nehemiah (Neh 9).
 Psalms comprise the richest source of inspiration and example for prayer in
all its conversational variations. A full half of the psalms begin with prayer in
the first verse; most of the psalms include prayer, and many are prayer from
beginning to end. Marian Psalms => 150 Hail Marys
 Nevertheless, it is a curious fact that the Bible provides no direct instruction
on how to pray until Jesus offers it in the New Testament (Matt 6; Luke 11;
18). Mary & Joseph taught Jesus how to pray.
 As the God-man, Jesus both teaches and exemplifies the ideals of Christian
prayer in all its forms. Jesus prayed with Mary and Joseph in the family.
 Luke and Acts are especially rich veins for the theme of prayer.
 The apostle Paul, too, models Christian prayer's content and priorities in his
New Testament letters.
 All Christian prayer is heard and answered not based on the petitioner’s merit
but solely based on God’s Grace, love, and mercy extended to those who are
reconciled to a right relationship to him through the redemptive work of
Christ. In the Rosary, we pray with Mary, who is full of Grace and blessed
among women.
 Christian prayer means approaching God on the basis (“in the name”) of
Christ and his merit alone. “And Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”
 Jesus taught prayer as directed to the Father (Matt 6:9) and in the Son's name
(John 14:13; 16:23). In the Rosary, we pray the Our Father.
 The New Testament itself, however, broadens that general approach to
include prayers addressed to Father and Son jointly (1 Thess 3:11; 2 Thess
2:16–17) and to the Son directly (Acts 7:57; 1 Thess 3:12–13; Rev 22:20;
cf. 2 Cor 12:7–10). In the Rosary, we pray and adore the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.
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15 decades (15x10 = 150 Hail Marys) for busy people and busy families:
1) Driving Rosary
2) 5 km Rosary (3 miles)
3) International Rosary
4) Walking Rosary
5) Cooking Rosary
6) Weeding/gardening Rosary
7) Washing Dishes Rosary
8) Family Rosary
9) Preparation for the Divine Liturgy Rosary
10) Biblical Rosary
11) YouTube Rosary
12) Biking Rosary
13) NPR Rosary
14) Hiking Rosary
15) Birthday/Anniversary Rosar