“You know what Our Lady said about the Rosary? That the whole world would change if everybody said it. … If my Mother says, ‘Say it,’ I’m gonna say it,” Mother Angelica once shared.

EWTN viewers can pray the Rosary with Mother Angelica on demand via this link. And new to EWTN Religious Catalogue is an illustrated book about the Rosary (and a wide array of rosaries to choose from).

The new year, which begins with the Solemnity of the Mother of God, is an ideal time to start a new prayer routine, including the time-honored Marian prayer.

Franciscan Father Mark-Mary Ames, of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, can’t separate the Rosary from the life-changing movements of his heart.

He was only a freshman in college, around 18, when his conversion began, and with it, he took up praying one of the most iconic prayer forms for Catholics: the Rosary.

But something was missing. “I knew what to do, but I hurried through it, and it became more of a task or a burden in time,” the Franciscan friar told the Register. 

Around the same period, something profound happened. “I have a clear memory of praying a novena Rosary for someone who was struggling, and a very clear answer came out of it,” he recalled.

That sparked a new receptivity to the Rosary and its power for him, but lack of formation left the young Christian unable to comprehend fully.

“My conversion happened in October 2003 — the exact same time that the Year of the Rosary ended,” he said, noting that his conversion seemed tied to “the fruit of a lot of people praying the Rosary.” 

Considering Franciscans as “spiritual physical therapists,” Father Mark-Mary said he has always had a heart for those who are new at or struggling with something. This provided impetus for saying “Yes” to hosting the new The Rosary in a Year podcast, which will launch Jan. 1 through Ascension. Each episode will be “about the length of the time it takes to pray the Rosary,” so about 15 minutes.

“I had put out a video about my own experiences struggling with the Rosary and how I’d tried to do too much too quickly,” the priest said, adding that the idea “caught fire.”

“We’ve put together a plan for people to learn the Rosary through a gradual process,” he explained, encompassing several different phases.

“The idea is to learn to pray with the truths of our faith, with the Rosary as a chosen method,” he said, first by examining prayer in general, understanding “it’s not just a simple recitation but a relationship,” something like, “Here is what praying in the presence of God looks like and feels like. It’ll be a bit of a guide.”

After that, the prayers of the Rosary — the Hail Mary, Creed, Glory Be, etc. — will be examined beginning to end, starting with the Sign of the Cross, so that participants can better understand what is happening along the way. “It will be a bit of catechesis on these foundational prayers.”

The priest-host will then guide listeners into the 20 mysteries, connecting each with specific Gospel passages, along with their Jewish roots. “Then we’ll visit them again, like with the homily, with a guided lectio divina [prayerful reading of Scripture] so you can later practice on your own,” including saints’ writings and reflections to encourage and engage these mysteries. 

“We’ll do all this, and simultaneously build up, if you will, the muscle of prayer,” eventually concluding each day with a decade, then two, then three, he elaborated. “The last month, we’ll be praying the full Rosary together.”

Already several months into production of the podcast, the Franciscan priest is still working his way through the recordings, finding himself pleasantly surprised by the fruit it’s already bearing in his own life. “It’s been good for me to lean into this as well.”

Though he clarified that no one is inventing the wheel here, he described The Rosary in a Year as a tool “leveraging the genius of this ancient prayer” so that anyone, from young to old, inexperienced to veteran, can take part. “Wherever you’re at [in your own Rosary journey], it will be encouraging and helpful.”

But while St. Dominic’s contribution promoting the Rosary was unique and special, the podcasting priest said, the Rosary didn’t appear out of nowhere. “It’s so human, having the beads, the movement, the meditation and the prayers. It just resonates with how we’re made to pray, what our bodies are for, and how our minds work. That’s why it’s so popular.”

And, of course, there’s Mary, who, with every Marian apparition, seems to emphasize praying the Rosary: “God is showing us he has a fondness for Mary.” 

He believes The Rosary in a Year will be “a unique school of prayer for all people,” with the potential to become “a treasury of grace.”

“Everyone needs to pray, and everyone can pray the Rosary,” the priest emphasized, also touching on the powerful moments in Church history in which the Rosary was attributed to victory in various battles and conflicts. “We know the world isn’t going in a great direction,” he said. “I think there’s a reason God keeps inviting us to come to the Rosary. It’s been proven to miraculously change the world.”

“So much of prayer is remembering what it’s all about,” he added. “The Rosary can be received anew every single day.” 

MORE RESOURCES

Other Rosary guides that are available to pray-ers, depending on media preferences, include:

• One Hail Mary at a Time (for Instagram devotees)
• Praying the Rosary for kids via EWTN (for YouTube watchers with children)
• Rosary on the Hallow app (for app users)