Customer Reviews

Praying the Rosary: With the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, & Glorious Mysteries

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For someone looking to "make a difference" in our world so filled with unrest and need, responding to Pope John Paul II's call to embrace the Rosary is one affirmative step that can be taken immediately. As a resource for making contemplation of the Rosary a part of your life, authors Michael Dubruiel and Amy Welborn have compiled the book Praying the Rosary: With the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, & Glorious Mysteries (Our Sunday Visitor, June 2003, hardcover, 64 pages).

Though compact in size, this book can and will have a tremendous impact upon your life if you choose to read and implement its suggested format. The book's introduction reiterates the Holy Father's call to this perfect form of Christian contemplation and points to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a role model for contemplating the true mystery of Jesus Christ, his life, death and resurrection. Bearing both the Nihil Obstat and the Imprimatur, Praying the Rosary incorporates all four sets of mysteries, including the new Luminous mysteries.

Welborn and Dubruiel follow the format suggested by Pope John Paul II in Rosarium Virginis Mariae including the announcement of the mystery, scriptural references, contemplative silence, the formal prayers of the Rosary (including a short prayer phrase following each Hail Mary related to the specific mystery), and a brief concluding prayer for each mystery. Newcomers to Rosary devotion will find the compendium of prayers at the completion of the book a helpful resource.

Complimenting the suggested format, stunning artwork graces the pages for each of the mysteries. Contemplation of these wonderful icons provided courtesy of St. Isaac of Syria Skete allows the user yet another point of interaction with the mysteries of the Rosary.

This book's compact size makes it the perfect tool for incorporating the Rosary into your daily devotional routine. The hardcover format is durable and will stand up to daily use. The book will easily slip into a purse, briefcase, day planner or coat pocket. Praying the Rosary has taken up permanent residence in my "home away from home", my vehicle, where my boys and I daily contemplate the mysteries of the Rosary in our own effort to better know and love Jesus Christ. We pray each day, joining our hearts and minds with countless millions around the globe, for peace in our own little corner of the world and beyond.

No idea why this little nothing of a book is earning such positive recommendations. (Well, I note that one five star review below is by one of the book's co-authors!) It is not really anything more than a one prayer, one page instruction book for the rosary, with the prayer on the right page, a small illustration on the facing page. Do you know the little blue "Pray the Rosary" books by Rev. Lelan, printed since the 1950s by the Catholic Book Co.? Exactly the same idea here, but in a little hardcover, with Medieval icons as the illustrations. Actually it's not even as good as those little give-aways, since they offer memorable little thoughts to help focus the prayer: "I desire forgiveness for my sins," "I desire the virtue of patience," etc. This book does offer brief scriptural readings to accompany each prayer, its true--but then so does a rosary pamphlet I picked up for 50 cents.

Sorry to be so grumpy about it; I was just expecting more. There's nothing wrong with this book per se. It just doesn't offer anything that you can't get elsewhere in free or nearly free Catholic publications.

Additional Gripe: Notice how glorious and grand the illustrations seem if you preview this book with the Search Inside feature. But this book is about 3" by 5", so the pictures are around 2" by 3", about the size of a wallet photograph.

This little devotional book presents the twenty mysteries of the rosary with beautiful icons illustrating each mystery. Each meditation is presented with a variety of ways to pray the rosary (based on Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter on the Rosary released in October of 2002). Pray-ers of the rosary will find this book an excellent aid to this greatest of Catholic devotions.

The best aid to prayer! Little prayer-helper that can be taken anywhere and which truly deepens the act and understanding of the Rosary. Love it! Just as I devoured "The How-To Book of the Mass" this one will get dogeared and tattered.

I bought this for a friend who had recently converted to Catholicism. He likes the book very much. I am not Catholic so I did not read the book myself.

Thank you for having that book available. It is handy to take traveling because it is easy to pack and convenient and quick to use.

This book is an okay book as it has the latest updates in it. But I had purchased it for a teaching aid and it didn't have a diagram and explanation of the Rosary itself.

I have been looking for a rosary prayer book that gives relevant scripture phrases between the "Hail Mary's." I was hoping this would have that, but it doesn't. Should have listened to the one-star reviewer. The pictures are nice, though.

Ii thought that the book was very helpful in my being able to follow the Rosary, in its new form. I loved its colorful pages and guide. For anyone who wants to start the Holy Rosary, or who have interest in just having the Holy Rosary, in its new form, this is a winner!

The icon pictures are beautiful, the text easy to follow. It's a great introduction to praying the Rosary and it will be at the top of my gift list when appropriate. I bought it in response to the suggested memorial for the author, and am grateful for the suggestion.