Mary has been relentlessly tugging on my heart as of late, trying to get me to pray the rosary. I’ve seen people post about it on Instagram, tweet about it, and witnessed the little old lady’s pray it before or after daily Mass.

I finally decided, “OK, fine. I’ll start praying it.” So I started to pray a nine day rosary novena for a couple of special intentions.

And it went great!

For about two days.

For a while, I beat myself up about not being able to finish my novena. It wasn’t that I no longer cared about the intentions I was praying for, I just found the rosary so difficult to pray! I’m super jumpy and get distracted very easily, so I was finding it difficult to meditate on the mysteries. I always felt like I had to start over. It was just rough.

But Mary kept insisting.

A few days later, I came across a YouTube video about the rosary (surely at the guidance of Our Lady). In it, a few different people shared what happened in their lives after praying the entire rosary every day.

But wait a second, I thought. The entire rosary?

These people were talking about saying the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries all in one day! There was absolutely no way I could ever do that! I mean, I was lucky if I prayed one set of mysteries every two weeks! And now Our Lady was pushing me to pray four a day?!

Yes, she was. And as soon as I put my inhibitions aside and prayed the entire rosary in one day, my entire life changed. And now I want to share with you five benefits that I’ve discovered from praying the entire rosary every day.

1. Mary Will Shower Graces Upon You

I am not joking when I say my life changed in an instant. I won’t go into all the details here, but God and Our Lady began to move in big ways in my life through this practice.

Our Lady promises unique graces to those who will pray her rosary devoutly, meaning I get to receive those gifts. She is not playing games, and I finally realized this after praying the entire rosary just once.

2. The Presence of Our Lady Becomes More Tangible

In order for me to make sure that I’m not getting overwhelmed with this, especially since I’ve just picked up this practice, I spread the rosary out throughout the day. I usually say the Joyful Mysteries when I wake up, the Luminous around lunch time, the Sorrowful in the afternoon or evening, and the Glorious at night.

Because I’m praying the rosary more frequently now, I have it on my mind a lot more than before and because I pray it throughout the day, I carry my rosary with me. I’ve found that I’m so much more aware of Our Lady’s presence in my life. I’m far more aware of how much of a tender and loving mother she is and how greatly she desires to bring me closer to her Son. That’s what the rosary is all about, but I never really thought of it in that way before I made it a part of my daily prayer routine.

3. Learning to Imitate Christ Becomes Easier

The power of the rosary comes from meditating on the lives of Jesus and Mary. The Christian life is all about seeing Christ as our model and doing everything we can to imitate Him.

How can we learn more about Christ? By seeing what He did throughout His life!
In the mysteries of the rosary, we watch Christ in His early life, His days of ministry, His Passion, and His Resurrection. We can literally witness His actions and words and have a greater understanding of what it means to be Christlike.

Meditating on the life of Christ on a daily basis is a constant and powerful reminder of what we need to do in order to get to heaven, which is the goal of every Christian.

4. It Draws You Closer to the Sacraments

In the Holy Eucharist, we receive God. Jesus gives us His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, so that He can dwell in us and we can be one with Him. What better way to come to imitate Christ?

Through the recitation of the rosary, I’ve desired to go to Mass more. I desire to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation more. I desire to make sure that my soul is in a position to receive as many graces as possible so that I can resemble Christ as closely as possible! Mary knows the power of the sacraments, so through the rosary, she draws us closer to them!

5. Mary Can (and Will) Make a Saint Out of You

You know how many amazing saints prayed the rosary every day and asked us to do the same?

St. Padre Pio
St. Maximilian Kolbe
St. Louis de Montfort
St. Teresa of Calcutta
St. John Paul II

These men and women left an immeasurable impact on the world and all had devotions to Our Lady! The Blessed Mother is in the saint-making business and she wants you and I to be next!

These people got it — they realized that in order to fulfill our ultimate vocation in life, which is to become saints, they had to learn from the model. They learned to imitate Christ by mediating on His life, which helped them become the saints they are today.

Never in my life have I experienced Christ like this and I have the Blessed Mother to thank for that. Now, I want to pass what I’ve experienced on to each of you!

Now I know this task might sound crazy, and you might be like me and think that there’s no way you can do it.And maybe you won’t be able to do so right away. That’s possible. But, I can’t stress this enough: I really hope you at least try.

Maybe make a point to say a decade a day and then work your way up to one set of mysteries each day. Eventually, you can build up to praying all of the mysteries. Whether you’re just praying a decade or all of the mysteries, you will receive graces from Our Lady and experience the benefits.

God knows the heart of man better than we ever could. He loves it when we do our best to get to Him. Even if we stumble and fall in our efforts to do so, we can’t stay on the ground long. We have to get up and keep trying.

There’s a war going on for our souls, my dear friends, and we’re in the middle of the battle. Go to battle with the most powerful sword ever created: the holy rosary.

Give it a try and see how the Blessed Virgin Mary can completely change your life.