How To Pray The Rosary
Thanks for joining me again! I'm going to explain how to pray your Rosary decades. Before I explain how to pray the Holy Rosary, I invite you to watch the "surprise music video" that I told you about. It features someone you will recognize. The song is called: "Sweet Mary."
How To Pray The Rosary
Take the Crucifix at the end of your Rosary in your hand and kiss the image of Jesus on the Cross. Say: "Thank You, Jesus, for dying on the Cross for me!"
Now make the Sign of the Cross with it on yourself: "In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen,"
#1 If you know the Apostle's Creed by heart, you can pray it as you hold the Crucifix. If you don't know it, then you can read it. Little kids who don't know how to read yet can just listen. I'll put all the Rosary prayers at the bottom of this page for you to see if you don't know them all by heart yet.
#2 Now on the first bead next to the Crucifix pray an Our Father. #3 Then comes three beads close together. On each of the three beads pray a Hail Mary. #4 Then on the next bead pray a Glory Be.
You have just prayed the "Introduction" of the Rosary! You have prepared your heart and mind to enter into the "Mysteries of Jesus." In other words, now it's time to pray your Rosary decades!
The Rosary Decades
Do you know what the word "decade" means? Decade means "ten." For example, if you are ten years old then you can say you have been alive for a decade. Your little brother or sister might divide their toy blocks into decades or groups of ten. In a Rosary decade we pray the Hail Mary ten times.
#5 You begin your decade by announcing the Rosary Mystery. For example, if you are praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, the first Joyful Mystery is "The Annunciation." That's when the Archangel Gabriel was sent from Heaven to tell Mary that she had been chosen to be the Mother of God! After announcing the Rosary Mystery, you begin by praying an Our Father on the large bead. #6 Then comes ten small beads close together. You pray a Hail Mary on each of the ten beads. #7 Then you'll come to a large bead and there you pray a Glory Be.
You are almost done with your first Rosary decade!
There is one last prayer that Our Blessed Mother asked to be added at the end of each Rosary decade when she came from Heaven to Fatima, Portugal in 1917. You pray it on the bead you are holding for your Glory Be #8. It is called the O My Jesus prayer. It goes like this: "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy."
Like I mentioned, I'll write out all for you to see at the bottom of the page to help you memorize them if you don't know them all yet. You can also pray your Rosary with the CK101 Rosary videos for kids found on the next page. Praying with the videos will really help you learn the prayers!
Okay, now back to the Rosary. Keep holding that big bead and you are now ready to start your next Rosary decade. Announce the next Rosary Mystery and then pray an Our Father on the big bead. Then pray the Hail Mary ten times keeping track on the ten smaller beads. Then finish your Rosary decade on the next big bead with the Glory Be and the O My Jesus prayer. You have just prayed your second Rosary Decade! Keep going around the Rosary for the rest of the decades in the same way.
"Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her Heart."
Luke 2:19
Pondering the Rosary Decades
Now if you just prayed the Our Father and the Hail Mary prayer over and over, there really wouldn't be anything wrong in that. To tell God that His Name is holy or to say the name of Jesus a bunch of times is a wonderful thing! But our Rosary decades have much more meaning and the power to help our hearts love more if we also ponder or think about the "Mysteries of Jesus" as we say our prayers.
I explained about this on the "Why the Rosary?" page. You can go back and read it again if you need a little refresher. And the four sets of CK101 Rosary Videos for kids: The Joyful, The Sorrowful, The Glorious and The Luminous Mysteries will help you to ponder. The videos include beautiful artwork by artist Anna May McCallum. She drew these pictures to help kids pray their Rosary decades well!
Then when you get to the very end of all your Rosary decades, you pray the Hail Holy Queen #9 prayer. Sometimes you might hear people add a few other prayers #10 at the very end such as the one that starts out: "O God, whose only begotten Son," or the Saint Michael the Archangel prayer. That's okay too. There is no one exact set way to end the Rosary.
The important thing is to keep praying your decades! Even if you are only able to pray just one decade a day, that's okay! You can start out small but keep going! It's super important that you don't ever give up! Before you know it, you will have all the Mysteries memorized and you will be pondering them all too!
"We are kids changing the world one decade at a time."
Prayers of the Rosary
The Apostle's 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; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come 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 live everlasting. Amen.
Our Father
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Hail Mary
Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Glory Be
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.
O My Jesus
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy.
Hail Holy Queen
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy. Hail 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 toward us, and after this our exile show us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
