How to Pray the Rosary

Step One: Make the Sign of the Cross

Step Two:  Say the Apostles Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth.  And in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified died and was buried.  He descended into Hell.  On the third day He rose again from the dead.  He ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, Father Almighty.  He shall come again to judge the living and the dead.  I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the  body, and life everlasting. Amen.

Step Three: Our Father
Begin the Rosary with an Our Father.

Step Four: Hail Mary
Say three Hail Mary's.

Step Five: The Glory Be to the Father and the Fatima Prayer
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

The Fatima Prayer
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins; save us from the fire of Hell.  Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. Amen

Step Six through Ten: Recite the First Mystery 
Say the First Mystery for that day.  (Mysteries are listed below).  Then say an Our Father on the first bead.  After you say Ten Hail Mary's.  Repeat this step 4 more times saying the second mystery, third, fourth and then 5th.

Step Eleven: The Fatima Prayer and Hail Holy Queen
Recite the Fatima Prayer.

Hail Holy Queen
Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life our sweetness and our hope.  To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.  Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
Verse: Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
Response: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

The Mysteries and Days to be said.

The Joyful Mysteries (Monday and Saturday)
The Annunciation
The Visitation
The Nativity
The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
The Finding of Jesus in the Temple

The Mysteries of Light (Thursday)
The Baptism at the Jordan
The Wedding at Cana
The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God
The Transfiguration
The Institution of the Eucharist

The Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday and Friday)
The Agony in the Garden
The Scourging at the Pillar
The Crowning with Thorns
The Carrying of the Cross
The Crucifixion

The Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday and Sunday)
The Resurrection
The Ascension
The Descent of the Holy Spirit
The Assumption of Mary
The Crowning of Mary as Queen

The Prayer of St. Francis (Prayer for Peace)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved at to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life

Radiating Christ

Dear Jesus,
Help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go.
Flood our souls with your Spirit and Life.
Penetrate and possess our whole being,
so utterly-
that our lives may only be a radiance of yours.

Shine through us and be so in us...
that every soul we come in contact with may feel your
presence in our soul.
Let them look up and see no longer us. but only Jesus!
Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine;
so to shine as to be a light to others;
the light, O Jesus, will be all from you, none of it will be ours...
it will be you shining on others, through us.
Let us thus praise you in the way you love best;
by shining on those around us.

Let us preach you without preaching,
not by words but by our example,
by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do,
the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you.
Amen.
(Adapted by Cardinal Newman, for the Missionaries of Charity.)

Prayer to Christ the Healer

In the comfort of your love,
I pour out to you my Savior,
The memories that haunt me,
The anxieties that perplex me, 
The fears that stifle me,
The sickness that prevails upon me,
And the frustration of all the pain
That weaves about within me.

Lord help me to see your peace in my turmoil,
Your compassion in my sorrow,
And your love in my need.
Touch me , O Lord, with your healing power and strength.

Anyway

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.  Love them anyway.

If you do good people will accuse you, of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do, will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spent years building, may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help, but may attack you if you help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.  Give the world the best you've got anyway.
(from the book, 'A Simple Path')

Draw close to God in order to bring him close to others.
Be sanctified to sanctify;
Lead by the hand and counsel prudently.

God be with me (from a 9th Century poem in Old Irish)

May every hurtless blessing, every pure prayer, every ladder which reaches heaven, be of help to me.
Every good saint who has suffered on the face of the earth below;
every pious disciple who believed in Christ;
everyone meek, everyone quiet, everyone sincere,
everyone unsullied;
every confessor, every soldier who exists beneath the sun;
every glorious pilgrim, every rich person of goodly power;
every destitute person, every saint who has abandoned the land;
every tongue without fail upon which grace has been bestowed; every heart throughout the world which never covens treachery.
From here may they protect me against the fog surrounded demons, these companions of the King's Son from the lands of the living.  May my King guard me, me He aid me always.
May I, at every need, be under the protection of God's hand.

Act of Dedication to Christ the King

Loving Jesus, Redeemer of the world, we are yours, and yours we wish to be. To bind ourselves to you even more closely we offer ourselves to your most Sacred Heart. Have mercy on all who have never known you and on all who reject you and refuse to listen to you: Gentle Lord, draw them to yourself. Reign over the faithful who have never known you and on all who reject you and refuse to listen to you: Gentle Lord, draw them to yourself. Reign over those who are misled by error or divided by discord. Hasten the day when we shall be one in faith and truth, one flock with you, the one Shepherd. Give to your Church freedom and peace, and to all nations justice and order. Make the earth resound from pole to pole with a single cry: Praise to the Divine Heart that gained our salvation; glory and honor be his forever and ever. Amen. (Pope Leo XIII for the feast of the Sacred Heart)

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can:
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Accept hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He will, this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it:
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.

Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, Sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within Thy wounds hide me.
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee.
From the malignant enemy, defend me.
In the hour of my death, call me.
And bid me come to Thee.
That with thy saints I may praise Thee.

Lord Our God (St. Thomas Aquinas)

Lord Our God, In this great sacrament we come into the presence of Jesua Christ your Son, born of the Virgin Mary and crucified for our salvation. May we who declare our faith in this fountain of love and mercy, drink from it the water of everlasting life. Amen.

May it Rise

May the kindness of you face rise above the hardness of our hearts. May the humility of your heart rise above the foolishness of our pride. Let the light of your face shine upon us!

Jesus Our Hope

Jesus our hope, Peace of our hearts,
in you we find the consolation
God wants to pour into our lives.
And we understand that, in prayer,
we can bring everything to you
entrust everything to you:
even the things of which we are ashamed
even the things of which we are afraid.

Help us to live each day as a day that belongs to you,
and to rejoice at what you accomplish in our souls.
in this way we can be channels of your peace,
living vessels of your presence.
Jesus, help us to live by the words you speak to us:
"My peace I leave you...
Do not let your heart be troubled anymore."

We Welcome You

Lord Jesus, we welcome you, as we receive you in the Holy Eucharist. We give you thanks for the priceless gift or your Body and Blood. Let us listen in our hearts, so that we may hear all you want to say to us and help us to make you present to all the people we meet each day.

A Thousand Welcomes to you, Body of Christ

A thousand welcomes to you, body of Christ,
Son who descended from the most bright,
most gentile virgin:
It is your death and the cross of the passion
That freed the children of Eve and destroyed sin.

Jesus who bought us, Jesus who blessed us,
Jesus of the family rosary, do not forget us,
now or at the hour of our death.

O Christ who was crucified on Friday,
who shed your blood forgiving us and freeing us;
may the grace of your Holy Spirit
be in our hearts and in our minds
and may you, Son of God, grant our petitions.
Amen.