HOW TO PRAY THE HOLY ROSARY
Make the sign of the cross, kiss the crucifix, then say the Apostles' Creed.
On the first large bead, say the Our Father, for the intentions of the Pope. Then announce, "For an increase in the virtues of faith, hope, and charity"; and say the Hail Mary on the next three small beads. After the third bead, say the Glory Be.
Announce the Mystery (e.g., "The first Joyful Mystery, the Annunciation.") Remember to think about the Mystery you are praying! Say one Our Father on the large bead and an Hail Mary on each of the next ten small beads. Then say the Glory Be and the Fatima Prayer.
This completes one decade. Repeat these steps four more times to complete one set of the Mysteries (five decades). When you reach the medal, say the Hail Holy Queen and the Concluding Prayer.
WHAT IS THE ROSARY?
The Rosary is a meditative prayer, ordinarily prayed on a set of beads, which focuses on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Rosary consists of both vocal and mental prayer. As the vocal prayers are recited, one meditates on stories from the life of Christ, called the Mysteries of the Rosary.
WHY DO WE PRAY THE ROSARY?
Like all prayer, the Rosary is a means of obtaining God's blessing and growing in holiness. "Rosary" means crown of roses. When we pray the Rosary devoutly we fashion a spiritual crown of roses for Our Lady. At its heart, the Rosary is a genuinely "incarnational" prayer since just as Christ was both divine and human the Rosary has both a material aspect (the vocal prayer and the beads) and a spiritual aspect (the mental prayer). The meditative aspect of the Rosary is so essential that to recite the prayers without meditating on the Mysteries of Christ's life would be to fail to pray the Rosary. This meditation on the Mysteries, moreover, keeps the Rosary from being "vain repetition" of "empty phrases" (Matt. 6:7). The Rosary is a powerful way of praying the Scriptures and growing closer to Jesus Christ. It is said that no one knows us better than our mother. When we pray the Rosary, we come to see Jesus through the eyes of His Mother Mary.
THE ROSARY IN SCRIPTURE & TRADITION
The Rosary's principal prayers, the Our Father and Hail Mary, come to us directly from Scripture (cf. Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 1:28, 42-43). As a formal prayer of the Church, the Rosary gradually developed out of the ancient monastic tradition. The Desert Fathers of the 3rd and 4th centuries, for instance, were known to use knotted ropes to recite the Psalter (150 Psalms) each day. It is believed that the Rosary in its modern form was given to Saint Dominic by Our Lady in the 13th century. Dominic used the Rosary during his mission to preach against the Albigensian heresy in southern France. This was fitting as the Rosary's innate focus on the Incarnation helped to combat the Albigensian denial that Christ had come in the flesh.