How to pray the Rosary & make it worthwhile

[INPEFESS]

The less "good" you feel about it, the more merit you derive, for this proves that you are praying for God's sake and not for your own.

Well, this is a comfort. I just want to feel as though my heart's really in it, you know?

Of course. I don't pretend that I don't have struggle with the same desire. But, as St. Francis de Sales points out, the drier the prayer, the more merit is gains. How else could we be certain that our love were pure? If we always feel some sort of consolation, then we can never be certain that we are praying for God's sake and not for our own. This uncertainty is a torment to the saints, who then begin to desire this dryness that they might prove their selfless love for God.

We should be thankful for the encouraging consolations we receive, but not solicitous or anxious for them. It is by the lack of consolations that we truly show our love for God. It is this lack of spiritual consolation that is found in the "unitive way" of perfection, which caused Christ to call out on the Cross, "My God, My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?"

The spiritual writers (such as St. John of the Cross) refer to this as the "dark night of the soul," which is a purification of the soul (and not the body, as is the purgative way), whereby the soul is deprived of all spiritual consolation. The soul feels abandoned by God, but the soul rejoices is this abandonment, since by this abandonment we receive the opportunity to try the purity of our love for God, being certain that all selfish motives have been removed.

This is not to say that the moment you feel dryness of prayer you are entering the unitive way, but it is only in the unitive way that we actually desire this dryness above consolations because of the unique opportunity it affords us to purify our love for God. But until we have reached that point, this spiritual dryness (not feeling as though you're "getting" anything out of the prayer) serves as an exercise of patience, resignation, and a reminder of our yet selfish love for God. 

[Penelope]

Another edifying post, INP, and again, thank you. It's interesting to reflect on this spiritual dryness--is the struggle about "not getting anything out of it" because of a purity of love for God, or is it because of a lack of "putting anything into it"--am I just going through the motions? I think this is what I'm struggling with right now.

[Bonaventure]

For me, dryness tends to be not "feeling" anything. None of the positive emotions one often experiences during Mass, for example, and sometimes a spiritual nothingness.

[INPEFESS]

Another edifying post, INP, and again, thank you. It's interesting to reflect on this spiritual dryness--is the struggle about "not getting anything out of it" because of a purity of love for God, or is it because of a lack of "putting anything into it"--am I just going through the motions? I think this is what I'm struggling with right now.

If you are doing all that you can (meditating on the mysteries in such a way as to make as many acts of love as possible, whether by humility, patience, resignation, or trust), then you can be certain that you are putting something into it. If you still feel as though you aren't, then it is simply spiritual dryness, which requires that you try to make those same acts of love even more than ever. If you are doing this, then the less you feel you are getting out of it the more you truly are.

You may find that the harder you try the worse the distractions become, but this is where the test is. Your merit isn't measured in proportion to how well you succeed; rather, it is measured in proportion to how hard you try. We mustn't think that God has abandoned us to our own efforts; He is permitting every one these distractions to use for a greater good. It isn't the lack of distractions that makes your time well-spent; it is how you make use of those distractions.

It may be a consolation to you to recall that St. Therese of the Little Flower used to fall asleep during prayer all the time. It occasioned some anxiety about whether she was really serious about her prayers, but none of us would doubt that the unitive way in which she persevered was the result of lack of effort on her part.

[OCLittleFlower]

Is there a good online guide to the various mysteries that is in depth?  I'd love something that goes through each of them in detail.

And INP -- great posts.  Thank you.