>>805747
OP, I am coming from outside the catholic church, but the Lord has given me the amazing grace of confirming His presence within me. (To anons about to tell me to become catholic: yes, perhaps I will indeed arrive there. For now, I am praying and waiting for more guidance from the Lord about his time and his will for me. The Lord has done many things for me over the course of this past year. I am trying to determine his will, and the best way to serve Him). As you may imagine, it is confusing as an outsider to determine how to arrive amid conflicting advice. However, do not worry. I am no longer a lost sheep, and the Lord has guided me already a significant amount of the way as soon as I began trying to find Him. If it is the Lord's will, I will surely arrive there soon.
In the meantime, however, I have started praying the rosary. I have found it to be extremely spiritually productive. Before I explain why, I should say that my own experiences and interpretations are certainly biased by me being new to the practice of the rosary in the first place, and also from being new to the faith and as yet not currently affiliated with a parish.
For my own part, I like to listen to the rosary being said by female voices (this is possible via spotify, or numerous other places), and to say the prayers along with them. In my case, this started off being somewhat necessary, since I was not sure about exactly how to do it on my own. Since I am not affiliated with a parish, I have been thinking in particular about prevalence of Mary, and especially the words used in the Hail Mary. Listening to female voices praying about Mary–led me to begin meditating very deeply on the spiritual significance and purpose of Mary in the prayers. It seemed strange to me, for example, that medieval monks in all-male monasteries with very strict rules about women and thinking about women would spend so much time thinking about this one particular woman throughout the prayers. For the record, I am not affiliated with any particular christian tradition. Outside of catholic and orthodox traditions, very often no special attention is given to Mary. meditating on all of this, especially when pondering my own relationship experiences, my own relationship with my mother, etc. has truly been absolutely unbelievably spiritually productive for me.
I would encourage you to think a bit more about Mary, and why she is featured so prominently in these prayers. And why, for instance, the Hail Mary is said so very often. And why, for instance, so many people report experiences about the rosary as a sort of spiritual defense against temptations and dark times. Mary has very deep spiritual significance, and meditating on the spiritual purpose of Mary, and that prayer, has been astonishingly helpful in coming to a much deeper understanding of the Word of God. For me, contemplation of Mary helped to unlock many mysteries. The other aspects of the rosary–the actual mysteries, for example–I do not understand at all, yet. However, just contemplating Mary alone led to one of the most profound spiritual transformations in my entire life.
Finally, I will also say that I still very much /following along/ with the prayers via spotify or some other playlist. This helps me to say the prayers aloud, and also a bit more slowly. Additionally, the prayers being said aloud by others, and also by me, helps to make the prayers sort of…inward. Where I might start off sort of saying them along with them, and then finding I am saying them more quietly and more quietly, and then not speaking at all, but still "saying" them, if that makes sense.
The whole thing is a very beneficial practice, I do have to say. I am fully confident there are many more things to discover.
Additionally, I also really am connecting with certain days being dedicated to certain meditations. The "joyful" and "sorrowful" mysteries I find to be particularly helpful. If left to myself, I would I think tend to choose the "joyful" mysteries on days when I am feeling joyful, and "sorrowful" mysteries on days when I am feeling sorrowful. However, if there is instead a specific day for a specific one, then it tends to very often be the case that I am feeling very sorrowful while I am praying "joyful" mysteries, or feeling very joyful while I am contemplating "sorrowful" mysteries. Those times are very insightful also, I think.
Obviously, take my opinions with a grain of salt. And I suppose you all do additional things like, ask your priest. Probably that is very wise advice. If someone who knows more about the doctrine or what a priest might say about any of the things that I just wrote, and wants to provide advice–please do share. I will be very happy indeed to learn more.