THE ROSARY:

The four seers praying the Rosary with Our Lady!

THE "FIFTEEN DECADES OF THE ROSARY"
AT SAN SEBASTIAN DE GARABANDAL

At church or at the cuadro, the rosary was said every day and, in general, it preceded the ecstasies. Sometimes the girls said the entire rosary. At times, they even sang it, always proclaiming, thanks to their Vision, the "mysteries" to be meditated. The children used their own rosary, the one that they most often held in their hands during the apparitions. However, we point out that they never recited this prayer in the presence of the Angel or of the Child-Jesus. Were there any exceptions, these will be resolved later, but only after having access to other original documents. So we may presume that the visionaries began to pray the rosary in ecstasy only from the following August 18, and always within the framework of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin alone.
[Excerpted from 'Garabandal' Book, page 62.]

The rosary always plays a big part in Our Lady's apparitions! Lourdes and Fatima are striking examples, where the Blessed Mother prayed with and taught the seers to pray it properly. It seems that heaven wants us to pray slowly, meditating on the Mysteries, or at least on the words of the prayer. I've learned over the years that rattling off a lot of prayers and not thinking about what I am saying, does not help my spirituality at all! I think it's good to pray all "Fifteen Decades" each day, (I usually wind up praying two) but it's better to pray One slowly, meditating on the Mystery. 

Some of us can't meditate, so Our Lady said "Think about the Passion of Jesus!" We can all think. St. Louis de Montfort, the great Marian priest, said we should pray the Sorrowful Mysteries every day! I try to do that! Our Lady also suggested at another apparition that we should look at the Crucifix as we pray. It's good to set up a little "prayer space" where we could have a Crucifix and some statues or pictures of Our Lady. "The eyes are the windows of our souls", they say. Have you ever sang the rosary? I have and it's spiritually rewarding! Happy praying! And pray for me as I pray for all of you!
Deacon John