Alternatives to the Rosary

How do you spot a Catholic in the parking lot? Maybe it’s because they have a rosary on their rearview mirror. Catholics are known for their love of the Rosary. We even celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary every October 7th (fun fact: that is the day before our wedding anniversary). Many Catholic groups organize prayers of the rosary quite often. There is a good reason for this of course. The rosary is a powerful weapon according to St. Padre Pio. We can earn many indulgences and graces from praying the rosary. Numerous saints have spoken of the benefits of praying the rosary - some of these even came directly from visions they had of Jesus and Mary. However, in our devotion to the rosary, we may forget about the many other prayer practices we have available to us. 

As wonderful and beautiful as the rosary is, we may find ourselves struggling with it. This is only natural. Let’s face it, we can be easily distracted, and the repetition of prayers may make us lose focus on their meaning. We may also feel that praying the rosary is a time commitment. After a few days, we may find ourselves dreading having to set aside so much time, but we feel obligated to continue with the practice. However, Catholics have so many other prayer practices and devotions available to us. If you are finding yourself struggling with the rosary, it is perfectly acceptable to try something else. Below, we will share several other practices you can take up if you’re looking for a change from just praying the rosary.

Chaplets (especially the Divine Mercy Chaplet)

Like the rosary, chaplets utilize repetition. However, most of them - including the Divine Mercy Chaplet - are made up of prayers that are significantly shorter and tend to not require as much time to complete as the rosary (which may make it easier for those who find themselves easily distracted). The good news is you can use your trusty rosary beads for the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

The Divine Mercy Chaplet is probably the most popular chaplet and a popular devotion in general. This devotion is especially popular during the Triduum and beginning of the Easter season leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday (the Second Sunday in Easter). If you do not know the history of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Jesus revealed it to St. Faustina in her many visions of Him. He made many promises to her related to this chaplet, which she recorded in her diary. The purpose of this chaplet, as the name suggests, is to grow in trust of God’s mercy. This practice is especially powerful for the dying, and we gain many indulgences by praying it. Some may even pray it as an offering for a loved one who has passed away.

There are of course many other chaplets you can pray such as the St. Michael, Padre Pio, or St. Joseph Chaplet. The Divine Mercy chaplet is however a particular favorite of ours (probably because Stephen is Polish like St. Faustina). With its rich history and many beautiful indulgences, it is a great devotion to take part in either leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday or any time of the year. If you wish, you can pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day.

Morning/Evening Offerings

If you are looking for something short and consistent to add to your prayer routine, consider doing a morning or evening offering (or both). These are short prayers designed to be said at their related times of day. The prayers themselves should not take more than a minute or two and provide a beautiful reflection on the gifts God has given us. This is a great way to start and end your day properly: by focusing on God.

Several sites will offer a subscription where they will send you the morning and/or evening offerings everyday, making it easy for you to remember to say them and access the prayers. We get them from The Catholic Company.

The Stations of the Cross

In this devotion, we reflect on fourteen events within Christ’s passion and death, beginning with his condemnation by Pontius Pilate and ending with him being placed in the tomb. This is a common practice during the Lenten season, but we can of course pray the Stations of the Cross anytime. This is a fitting devotion to pray throughout the year because we are called to remember Christ’s passion at all times and particularly on Fridays. 

During Lent, your parish likely offers Stations of the Cross. This is a great opportunity to pray this devotion, but you can also pray them on your own. Plenty of booklets of the stations with the associated prayers and reflections are available to purchase. You may also find some resources for free online (the Laudate app is a great resource). 

Novenas

If you have been following us for awhile, you probably know we love novenas. This is an old practice where you pray, usually nine days in a row, to a specific saint or for a particular cause. Some novenas are longer (like the 54-day rosary novena traditionally prayed from The Assumption to the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary or around any Marian feast days), but most are nine days. Often, novenas will be the nine days leading to a saint’s feast day, but you may pray a saint’s novena at any time. Many have found answered prayers through novenas, such as for a job or healing from an illness, but please note that praying a novena does not guarantee a specific outcome at the end of the nine days. On the other hand, you may get very lucky and receive an answer the day you begin (yes, that happened, please go see our podcast episode).

One advantage to this prayer practice is that it lasts for only nine days, so it is great for those who are looking to “start small”. From there, you can choose how many and how often to pray them. We pray novenas regularly, usually finding a new one every couple weeks, and enjoy having the flexibility of how often we can pray them. Another reason we like novenas is because of the variety. Catholic tradition has provided us many novenas to choose from, and every novena is different (if you like some variety in your prayer life, this could be a great practice for you). With all the saints and feasts in our faith, there is a novena for any time of year and any intention. 

If you would like to take up this practice, please check out PrayMoreNovenas.com.

The Liturgy of the Hours

Clergy are required to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, but this prayer is not restricted to those who have been ordained. The Liturgy of the Hours is a series of prayers designed to be said throughout the day. It consists of different prayers for dawn, morning, midday, afternoon, evening, and night. As laypeople, we may choose how many of the prayers we would like to take up. Some may like to pray all six while others may want to stick to one or two, which is perfectly fine as we are not required to pray all of them. Some of the prayers in the Liturgy of the Hours will change slightly from day to day or hour to hour, such as the Scripture readings. However, other parts remain consistent. We enjoy that this devotion offers a lot of structure yet also has some variety to keep it from getting too repetitive.

To pray the Liturgy of the Hours, you can get a book with all the prayers. You can also find plenty of resources online or through the Laudate app.

Consecrations

Have you ever gone through a consecration? Many people will do a consecration to Mary, Jesus, or Joseph (we have both completed the Consecration to St. Joseph offered at our parish). Consecrations are typically designed to be thirty-three days long. During that time, we study the topic of our Consecration and pray the related prayers. At the end, we make an act of consecration. This Act of Consecration is usually on a relevant feast day. For St. Joseph, this could be March 19th, May 1st, November 1st (All Saints Day), or the Feast of the Holy Family.

If you are interested in a Consecration, see if your parish offers any Consecration classes, which is what we did with our Consecrations to St. Joseph. If not, maybe see if there are others who would like to participate in the same Consecration. Having a group to do it with has many advantages, and it can be especially helpful in holding you accountable to complete the prayers and readings.

In Conclusion

While these six are great devotions, they are only a small sample of all the prayers we can take part in. Mother Church has numerous other devotions for us including the Angelus, Canticles (Canticle of Simeon, Canticle of Zechariah, etc.), Aspirations, Daily Examination of Conscience, Litanies, the O Antiphons, and so many more. You may even find some of these included with the prayers we mentioned above. For example, we prayed the Litany of St. Joseph in our St. Joseph Consecration. The nighttime Liturgy of the Hours includes the Canticle of Simeon.

Exploring new devotions is a great way to grow spiritually and to increase our understanding and appreciation of Church history as we see how the significance of these different devotions relates to different people or different points in time. With such a long and rich history, there is no shortage of prayers and devotions that Catholics can take up. We highly encourage you to check out some of the ones we mentioned (or some that you find that we did not go into in this post). Maybe you will find a new favorite, or maybe you will discover that you would rather pray the rosary. Whatever you decide is perfectly licit as devotions are subjective to each individual. Thankfully, Mother Church has plenty of devotions for us, and no matter what our preferences are, all Catholics are sure to find something that suits them.

Do you have a favorite devotion? Share in the comments!