How to improve the prayer of the Holy Rosary

"Make time for the Lord every day. Do not let this flower that is prayer wither, water it constantly. Prayer clears the mind, strengthens the spirit, and opens the heart. What value prayer has for the Lord, you cannot imagine it, my children, that is why I ask of you so much prayer!" (Our Lady of the Rosary of Saint Nicholas, 1985 and 1988).

Pray with love, that the love of God never stops growing in your hearts. God stops in each child, according to his need and the love that child feels for Him. No plea made with love will go unheeded. Prayer stimulates us to love God. It is love that drives our Mother towards her children and it is the love of her children towards the Lord, which will make our Mother implore the Lord for them. “…Perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love” (1 Jn. 4, 18).

Pray with fervour, with enthusiasm.

Pray in a state of grace or at least be fully determined to give up sin. “Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner” (Sir. 15, 9).

Pray with great attention and respect: God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. Avoid voluntary distractions. “The Lord said: Since this people draws near with words only and honours me with their lips alone, though their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29, 13). Always try your best to get rid of distracting thoughts as soon as you become aware of them, and the Rosary will be much better. Because it is more deserving and there is more merit in praying when it is hard than when it is easy. “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones” (Lk. 16, 10).

Put yourself in the presence of God and imagine that God and his Blessed Mother are watching you, and that your guardian angel is at your right hand, taking your Hail Marys, if they are well said, and using them like roses to make crowns for Jesus and Mary.

Pray with devotion, that is, with a feeling and attitude of deep veneration. It is deep prayer, immediate communication with the Lord and with Mary. When you look for God, do not look for him on the surface, look for him deeply, very deep in your heart.

Meditate on every mystery. The various mysteries of the Holy Rosary are more than enough reasons for meditation. In each one of them, we can appreciate the wonderful intervention of the Almighty in the life of his Son and of the Mother of his Son. We must keep in our hearts what the Lord wants to leave us in each message.

Ask for something or someone: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Mt. 7, 7). “Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive” (Jn. 16, 24). Prayer is the channel of God's grace.

Avoid having no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. Restrain the natural precipitation when saying your Rosary.

Pray the Rosary with modesty, as much as possible, on your knees with your hands together and the Rosary between them. However, in case of illness, you can say it in bed. While travelling, it can be said while walking, sitting, or standing. It can be said while doing manual work.

Having the Rosary blessed is very valuable, as valuable as the prayer itself. When the Rosary we use to pray is blessed, the prayer becomes a plea of love to the Lord and He, in turn, pours his blessing on that child who prays. That is why it is so important to have the Rosary in your hands while praying.

Do not interrupt. Prayer to the Lord must not be interrupted.

Pray the Rosary, as much as possible, in community or family. The prayer of each person acquires the merit of all the people who participate.

Pray the Rosary with faith: “Believe that you will receive and it will be granted” (Mk. 11, 24).

Pray the Rosary with humility, confessing yourself a sinner and imploring forgiveness: “Be merciful to me, a sinner” (Lk. 18, 13).

Carefully avoid running in search of the extraordinary and asking or even desiring knowledge of extraordinary things, visions, revelations, or other miraculous graces that God has occasionally given to some of the saints while they were saying the Rosary.

Never omit the least part of the Rosary in dryness of soul, distaste for prayer and interior discouragement. It would be a sign of pride and infidelity.

Say your Rosary more slowly sometimes when you find it particularly hard to say: “He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently” (Lk. 22, 44).

Pray with great confidence, with confidence based on the goodness and infinite generosity of God and on the promises of Jesus and Mary. God is the spring of living water that flows unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray. Trust in God is demonstrated by abandoning oneself totally to Him. Blessed is he who takes refuge in the Lord. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord” (Jeremiah 17, 7). "Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame” (1 Peter 2, 6).

Pray with perseverance. Only he who perseveres in asking, seeking, and knocking, will receive, will find and will enter. It is not enough to ask God for certain graces for a month, a year, ten or twenty years; we must never tire of asking. Works are seen by perseverance. “Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer” (Romans 12, 12).

Pray it every day. Watch and pray. The man is weak. The temptation, coming and going. And if you don't always pray, you will fall for it. “It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument” (1 Timothy 2, 8). “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5, 17). The Blessed Virgin asks to pray it every day (to Saint Dominic in Prouilhe, France, in 1208; in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917; in San Nicolas, Argentina, in 1984; and in many other apparitions).

Complement prayer with biblical readings, readings of saints and daily participation in the Holy Eucharist.

Pray that it is the hour of prayer, pray to save the soul, pray and you will purify yourself.

Praying, the evil one is driven away, praying, we reach God, praying, souls are saved.

The Holy Rosary is the weapon that the enemy fears, it is also the refuge of those who seek relief from their sorrows and it is the door to enter in the heart of Mary.

Prayer, the recitation of the Holy Rosary, can change the hearts of men; God expects a praying people; God expects of men, repentance, the desire to be new.

With the recitation of the Holy Rosary you will be able to renew your spirit, through prayer you will feel the company of Mary and especially that of Jesus, redeemer and saviour of the world.

It is necessary to pray the Holy Rosary, since the prayers that compose it help to meditate. In the Our Father, you put yourself in the Lord's hands asking for help. In the Hail Mary, you learn to know your Mother, humble intercessor of her children before the Lord. And in the Glory be to the Father, you glorify the Holy Trinity, divine source of graces.