my life of faith.
The Rosary has become an important part of my prayer life because it works. Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord” (Lk 1:46), and that is exactly what she does through the Rosary. She used the word “magnify” to mean “praise” or “exalt,” but she “magnifies” the Lord in another way, too. “Magnify” means “to make larger,” and that’s what Mary does in our lives: She makes Jesus larger and more real to us than we could ever imagine.
Every Step along the Way
Through the Rosary, we go through every stage of Jesus’ earthly life. Through the power of meditation, the Holy Spirit actually uses our minds to take us into the saving events of Jesus’ life. Because he was sinless, Jesus’ life was all that a human life should be. It was full, complete, and whole. It was mature, healthy, fulfilled, and balanced. Because he was God in human form, Jesus was radiantly alive, totally free — and abundantly, overwhelmingly human.
Because of this, when we enter into the stages of his life through the Rosary, we experience a life that is totally and abundantly whole. We experience life in its fullness, and we participate in the health, wholeness, and goodness of being fully alive and free. By entering into the wholeness of each stage of Jesus’ life, we begin to share in his wholeness and health. As this happens, we are healed and made whole at a very deep level of our being. Pope Saint John Paul the Great said about the Rosary: “The Rosary does indeed ‘mark the rhythm of human life,’ bringing it into harmony with the ‘rhythm’ of God’s own life” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, n. 25).
Long before I had read Pope Saint John Paul II’s words, I had discovered this simple principle through my own experience of the Healing Rosary. I discovered the truth that as the meditations take us through every stage of Jesus’ life, so they take us through every stage of our own lives. As we remember, with Jesus and Mary, the stages of our own life, all that was broken, faulty, or wounded at those stages of our lives can be healed.
By praying the Rosary in this way, we can gently pry open the dark cupboards of our hurt memories, fears, and sins. Once the injuries, sins, and painful memories from each stage are accessed, Christ’s healing can begin. As Pope John Paul II teaches: “It becomes natural [through the Rosary] to bring … all the problems, anxieties, labors and endeavors which go to make up our lives. … To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and his Mother” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, n. 25).
As we do this, we are praying not only for ourselves, but for our families, our nation, and our world. If each of us, as individuals, goes through progressive stages of growth, so do groups of people. Pope John Paul the Great said, “At the same time our heart can embrace in the decades of the Rosary all the events that make up the lives of individuals, families, nations, the Church, and all mankind” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, n. 2). Many popes and countless Christians have testified to the healing power of the Rosary. Why not join with them and begin to use the Rosary again in a new way?
A Word of Warning
I should give you a word of warning at this stage. From the very start, this book will take you to the depths. Jesus calls us to cast out into the deep (see Lk 5:4). However, if you are in a fragile or especially vulnerable emotional condition, tread carefully. Pray first for guidance, and embark on this healing journey only if you feel courageous enough to confront some aspects of life that may be disturbing. If you are in a vulnerable or fragile state, it is good to have the support of a wise and spiritual friend with whom to discuss what you discover. However, do not allow my word of warning to become an excuse for remaining where you are! God wants to heal you, but the time must be his time — and you must know when that is.
When you are ready, this book will help you to pray the Rosary for your own healing and for the healing of your family, your community, and your world. This is a practical book. It is not just theory. It works. Don’t just read this book and put it away. Use it, tell others about it, and spread the word. If you have the courage to approach him and reach out to touch the hem of his cloak, Jesus really will turn, touch your life, forgive you, and heal you. The healing may take time. It may be painful — and the road to recovery may be long and hard — but Mary will be there at every step to help you discover a new life in Christ that will be radiant, abundant, and free.
How to Use This Book
• The first section of the book reminds you how to pray the Rosary. Even if you know how to pray the Rosary, skim through this section because it includes some special pointers for using the Rosary for healing.
• The main part of the book takes you through all twenty mysteries of the Rosary.
• The title of each mystery is matched with a stage of our lives.
• The section on each mystery begins with a Scripture reference that reminds us of that stage.
• On the opposite page there is an illustration of the event to help you visualize your meditation.
• Next, there is a short meditation on the event itself.
• This leads to an explanation of how that event in Jesus’ life matches our own life, and how we can open that area of our life to God’s healing love.
• A real-life illustration of this healing follows.
• Next, there is a prayerful reflection on how you can apply all this to your own life.
• Then say a decade of Hail Marys.
• The section closes with a brief prayer that can be said with the bead between decades. This prayer may be said after the Our Father and before the beginning of the next decade.
How to Pray the Rosary for Healing
The Rosary is a pattern of prayer that helps us to meditate more deeply on the life of Christ. We pray the Rosary by holding a Rosary and saying a prayer for each bead. The spaces between the beads become spaces for silence and meditation.
There are many different ways to pray the Rosary, and different customs and prayers have grown up in different cultures and for different individuals.
Some people kneel to pray the Rosary, but to pray the Healing Rosary I recommend sitting comfortably, perhaps with a candle burning before an icon or a crucifix.
Most people begin by holding the crucifix and reciting the Apostles’ Creed. This is followed by reciting the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father) and three Hail Marys and a Glory Be on the beads that connect the crucifix to the main circlet of beads. When you get to the medal that joins these two groups of beads, I recommend that you stop and ask God to use this prayer for your healing. You may use your own form of words or you might like to say: By the power of this Rosary, I pray the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede for me for my healing, the healing of my family, and the healing of the world. This I ask by the redemption won for us by the suffering, death, and Resurrection of the one Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Pope John Paul recommended beginning each decade by announcing the mystery for that decade and, taking a moment, holding the chain before the decade of beads to visualize the events of this particular mystery. In this book, you will find material to help you visualize the event and apply it to your personal needs. After that, pray the decade slowly, allowing the Lord’s healing to be applied to your situation.
You may feel that God is doing wonderful things as you pray through a particular mystery. Maybe you feel he is bringing
