Recite the Apostles' Creed

Recite the Our Father

Recite the Hail Mary three times for the next three beads

Recite the Our Father

Recite the Hail Mary on ten beads, 5 times, contemplating one mystery for each set of 10. Finish each set with the Glory Be. Recite the Our Father in between each set.

Conclude with the Hail Holy Queen

The Joyful Mysteries (Said on Mondays, Saturdays, Sundays of Advent, and Sundays from Epiphany until Lent)

1. The Annunciation

2. The Visitation

3. The Nativity

4. The Presentation

5. The Finding in the Temple

Mysteries of Light ~ Luminous Mysteries (proposed by Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae (Said on Thursdays throughout the year)

1. Jesus' Baptism in the Jordan

2. Jesus' self-manifestation at the wedding of Cana

3. Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God, with his call to conversion.

4. Jesus' Transfiguration

5. Jesus institution of the Eucharist, as the sacramental expression of the Paschal Mystery.

The Sorrowful Mysteries (Said on Tuesdays, Fridays, and daily from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday)

1. The Agony in the Garden

2. The Scourging at the Pillar

3. The Crowning with Thorns

4. The Carrying of the Cross

5. The Crucifixion

The Glorious Mysteries (Said on Wednesdays, and Sundays throughout the year)

1. The Resurrection

2. The Ascension

3. The Coming of the Holy Spirit

4. The Assumption

5. The Coronation of Mary

From the Catholic Catechism

Devotion to Mary

971 "All generations will call me blessed": "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship."⁵¹⁵ The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration."⁵¹⁶ The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.⁵¹⁷

Understanding the Ave Maria (Hail Mary)

2676 This twofold movement of prayer to Mary has found a privileged expression in the Ave Maria.

Hail Mary [or Rejoice, Mary]: the greeting of the angel Gabriel opens this prayer. It is God himself who, through his angel as intermediary, greets Mary. Our prayer dares to take up this greeting to Mary with the regard God had for the lowliness of his humble servant and to exult in the joy he finds in her.³⁰

Full of grace, the Lord is with thee: These two phrases of the angel's greeting shed light on one another. Mary is full of grace because the Lord is with her. The grace with which she is filled is the presence of him who is the source of all grace. "Rejoice . . . O Daughter of Jerusalem . . . the Lord your God is in your midst."³¹ Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the ark of the covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord dwells. She is "the dwelling of God . . . with men."³² Full of grace, Mary is wholly given over to him who has come to dwell in her and whom she is about to give to the world.

Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. After the angel's greeting, we make Elizabeth's greeting our own. "Filled with the Holy Spirit," Elizabeth is the first in the long succession of generations who have called Mary "blessed."³³ "Blessed is she who believed. . . . "³⁴ Mary is "blessed among women" because she believed in the fulfillment of the Lord's word. Abraham. because of his faith, became a blessing for all the nations of the earth.³⁵ Mary, because of her faith, became the mother of believers, through whom all nations of the earth receive him who is God's own blessing: Jesus, the "fruit of thy womb."

2677 Holy Mary, Mother of God: With Elizabeth we marvel, "And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"³⁶ Because she gives us Jesus, her son, Mary is Mother of God and our mother; we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us as she prayed for herself: "Let it be to me according to your word."³⁷ By entrusting ourselves to her prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her: "Thy will be done."

Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death: By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the "Mother of Mercy," the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives. And our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender "the hour of our death" wholly to her care. May she be there as she was at her son's death on the cross. May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing³⁸ to lead us to her son, Jesus, in paradise.

2678 Medieval piety in the West developed the prayer of the rosary as a popular substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours. In the East, the litany called the Akathistos and the Paraclesis remained closer to the choral office in the Byzantine churches, while the Armenian, Coptic, and Syriac traditions preferred popular hymns and songs to the Mother of God. But in the Ave Maria, the theotokia, the hymns of St. Ephrem or St. Gregory of Narek, the tradition of prayer is basically the same.

For more information about praying the Rosary, pray the Rosary. Mary, Queen of Peace herself will instruct us, though the prayers in our hearts, and by drawing us to others who pray the Rosary every day. There are many who pray the Rosary every day. Let us pray together for peace.