Click here to download “A Mother’s Song” by Danielle Rose, from the Mysteries CD, courtesy of World Library Publications, wlpmusic.com

Why do you have a strong relationship with Mary?

When I was 19, I realized that although I knew a lot about Jesus, I did not know Him the way that I wanted to – to hear Him, see Him, touch Him, and be truly intimate with Him. I realized that there was someone who knew Him that way – Mary.

For the first time in my life, I spoke to Mary from my heart, and I asked her to please teach me and show me how she loved Him and knew Him. Our Mother Mary is very gentle; she waits for us to come to her and ask her for assistance.

I didn’t have any visions or hear any voices. A greater miracle happened. Mary quietly entered my heart and began to plant seeds of desire for prayer. I began to long to go to Daily Mass, confession, dates with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and to pray the rosary. Instead of fitting prayer “into” my busy schedule, prayer became the #1 priority that everything else was ordered around. Through Mary’s heart, I fell in love with Jesus.

She knew that the intimacy I longed to find with Him was waiting for me in the Sacraments of the Catholic Church. Through her invitation, I began to know that Jesus was truly present in the Eucharist – and that I could receive Him each day and know Him, hear Him, touch Him, see Him – the way that Mary did. And once I knew Him as Mary knows Him – to hold and receive His Body and Blood just as she held Him in her womb, her arms, and her heart – then my relationship with Jesus was forever transformed.

Can you tell us about this song?

I didn’t pray the rosary growing up. It wasn’t until college that I discovered the creative wonders and joys of praying with Mary to ponder the life of Jesus. Praying the rosary is like having a bible study with Mary. We look through her eyes, and she walks with us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Mary helps us cooperate with the Holy Spirit to take up our cross daily and to say “Yes” to God in all the joys and sorrows of our lives.

The mysteries of the rosary are living, and when we ask Mary to help us turn to Jesus, we begin to see and experience these mysteries in the events of our own lives. In order to share with others what Mary has shared with me, I wanted to write a meditation song for each of the 20 mysteries of the rosary, so that others (especially young people) could receive the gift of this prayer coming alive in their hearts anew.

This particular song is the meditation for the 5th sorrowful mystery: the Crucifixion. The song is from the perspective of Mary at the foot of the cross, as she recalls her the story of loving Jesus from the cradle to the grave.

I’m a girl and I love weddings.

Big surprise, huh? I’ve spent many of my 22 years dreaming up the most perfect wedding. And since the creation of Pinterest, the harmless dreaming has become a borderline-addictive pinning-spree of dresses, cakes and the world’s most adorable flower girl outfits. So, it’s only natural, that I fell in love with the story of the Wedding at Cana when I started praying the rosary regularly last year.

This photo may or may not be from Pinterest . . .

I was never a daily rosary person, in fact, praying the rosary was my least favorite way to pray. But once I discovered how much I could learn from praying and meditating on the mysteries, it became one of my favorite prayers.

I started with what I liked (weddings), opened my heart, and the next thing I knew, I had a much deeper understanding of the importance of the Wedding at Cana and Mary’s role in my faith grew in leaps and bounds.

They Have No Wine

Mary’s first line in this wedding story is, “They have no wine” (John 2:3). Those four words never seemed that important to me until I put them into context. You see, no one knew who Jesus truly was at the wedding, He hadn’t performed any miracles yet, or given any teachings; but Mary took the servant’s worries of having no wine to her Son anyway.

Mary didn’t need to explain the situation or even ask Jesus to do anything; she just trusted and believed in Him. Those four, simple words were Mary’s prayer, “They have no wine.” She let Jesus know what was wrong, and then left it in His hands. When I have a problem, my prayers usually become a long session of whining, complaining, and worrying. If we live by Mary’s example, she teaches us that God only needs us to put our problems in His hands and trust Him.

Do Whatever He Tells You

Mary’s second and last line in the story of the Wedding at Cana is, “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5). This might be the best piece of advice anyone can give. Ever. In all of eternity. Period.

Mary lived her whole life following God's will

After Mary told Jesus about the lack of wine, He didn’t tell her what He was going to, but she already knew the solution. That’s because Mary’s entire life was based on doing God’s will.

Mary has shown me that what Jesus says is always the answer I am seeking and the solution to every problem I have. When Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them, she became a perfect mirror of Christ; and she remains one today. You can’t look to Mary for guidance without seeing her Son; she wants nothing more than to point us back to Jesus and His will. Because of this, the more I grow in my relationship with Mary, the more I grow in my relationship with Jesus.

A Lesson from Mary

So what began as a girly obsession with weddings, has ended up teaching me just how important Mary is in my life. Her example at the Wedding at Cana showed me how to approach the Lord with complete trust. I’ve learned how much Mary desires me to follow the will of her Son. Who would have thought all that could come from two short sentences in a simple story?

If you take the time to pray through the mysteries of the rosary, I guarantee you’ll find some pretty life changing stuff hiding between the lines. I know I did.

Our friends at RosaryArmy.com have some great instructions for how to make your own rope rosary. Do something meaningful (and super Catholic) with some of your free time and get together with your friends or youth group to make a bunch of rosaries for yourselves, or to give away. You could even make small rosaries that are just one decade and wear it on your wrist as a witness and reminder to pray.

The month of May is dedicated to Mary; so it’s the perfect time to put your fingers to good use and make a rosary.

“The holy rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you’ll be amazed at the results.” – St. Josemaria Escriva

• Download printable instructions
• Watch an instructional video
• Get supplies to make a rosary

What’s the Life Teen Summer Prayer Challenge? Find out here.

On your mark … get set … go!

Here’s the first Life Teen Summer Prayer Challenge: Pray a rosary with your friends – on your knees.

We’ve got a few resources to help you pray the rosary. First, we’ve created a free printable rosary guide on CatholicYouthMinistry.com. If you prefer a digital version, there’s an app for that, too. If you’re looking for a little inspiration on praying the rosary, check out Matt Smith’s blog: “For People Who Can’t Stand the Rosary.”

“When the Holy Rosary is said well, it gives Jesus and Mary more glory and is more meritorious than any other prayer.” Saint Louis de Montfort

If you can’t stand the rosary, this article is for you.

Pope John Paul II loved praying the rosary, and that was a problem for me. I admired the pope’s wisdom, but I was an eighteen-year-old college freshman who couldn’t stand praying the rosary. Don’t get me wrong, I loved being Catholic, but the rosary seemed like the least appealing way to pray. How many of you reading this now feel the same way?

But since I was a freshman in college, I’ve prayed the rosary off and on again even though I didn’t like it. And through those years, there are things that I’ve learned that have changed the way I feel about the rosary. So here’s four reasons to give the rosary another chance:

1. Because the rosary isn’t all about you.

   We live in a self-obsessed society. It’s all about me. Me. Me. Me. Even well-intentioned Christians can make their faith all about us. We pray because we want or need something. In the experience of life, God is there to help us work out the kinks so we can get what we want. And when we don’t get what we want, some of us give up on God.

   But the rosary teaches you how a way to pray and not make it about you. In a 20 minute rosary, it’s all about Jesus’ life and not yours. (Actually, most Catholic exercises of prayer–including the Mass–share a common theme: it’s not about you.) Not praying for yourself can change the way you look at prayer altogether.

2. Because a lot can happen when you pray for 20 minutes.

   When you pray a rosary about an intention, it gives God enough time to reveal something to you. Let’s say you are worried about whether or not you’ll get into a college that you applied to. If you offer up a casual, heartfelt prayer, it will always end up being thirty seconds of this:”It’s important to me to go to this college. If it’s in your will, please let me get in. God I need you…” Then you say “Amen” and you go on with your day. It’s like a quick email to God that you send just once.

   But when you pray the rosary, you say your intention at the beginning, then you spend five decades praying. That gives God a chance to answer you by broadening your understanding of what you are praying about. So by the time you say “Amen,” you might have a totally new understanding of why you want to get into that college so bad. And that could mean more than whether or not you actually get accepted or not.

3. Because it’s an interactive Biblical experience.

   Like it or not, we live in a media-saturated society, and it’s all about the things we see. I’ve heard so many people say that they can’t pray the rosary because it’s too boring. Actually no–you are the one who is boring. If a rosary is boring, it’s nobody’s fault but your own. When you commit to praying a rosary, you can choose one of four mysteries to contemplate: the joyful mysteries, the sorrowful mysteries, the glorious, and the luminous mysteries.

   Each of those mysteries are divided into five different “scenes” from the Bible. Why not make those scenes more real? Put yourself at the foot of the cross. Feel the wind on your shoulders. Hear the hammer crush the nail.One of the most powerful rosaries I’ve ever prayed was when I had four hours to kill on a flight across the country. I directed a Matrix-style rosary. At the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan river, I imagined the scene with bullet-speed. I froze the moment when the first drop of water hit Jesus’ forehead, then I did a 360 degree sweep with the camera. You get the idea.

4. Because the rosary can make ordinary situations extraordinary.

   When we pray while we do normal things, those tasks cease to be normal. How awesome is that? Now mowing the lawn isn’t an embarrassing chore, but a chance to pray and gain a deeper understanding of God. The rosary is a common-sense way to pray while you are doing other things. I mean, have you ever tried to drive to school and read the Bible? The rosary is unique because the prayers can become the “background music” to whatever you are doing. So turn off your radio on your drive to school and pray the rosary instead.

I guess what I’m trying to say is this: give the rosary a chance. I can’t explain the impact the rosary has on me spiritually, but I know in very practical ways the rosary has been a helpful tool. And I hope the rosary well help you too.

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Photos are from Camp Tepeyac summer camp 2010, Week 12, for Edge. The camp theme is “Behold the Mystery.” The host is Paul Latino and the musician is Michael Paul Leon.

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Photos from Camp Tepeyac Summer Camp 2010, Week 11, for Life Teen. Camp theme is “Behold the Mystery.” Camp hosts are Tricia Tembreull and Marc Leon, musician is Matt Miller.

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Photos are from Camp Tepeyac Summer Camp 2010, Week 10, for middle school (EDGE) youth. The camp theme is “Behold the Mystery.” Camp host is Beth Davis and the musician is Matt Franklin.

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