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11 Ways to Work the Rosary into Your Busy Day

11 Ways to Work the Rosary into Your Busy Day via @ACatholicNewbie
To truly advance in growing into the saint God designed you to be, I highly encourage you to make praying the rosary daily a priority in your life. If you just don’t think you’ve got 20 minutes to sit down and ask for Mary’s prayers as you reflect on the life of her Son, let me find 20 minutes for you :). Keep in mind it doesn’t have to be a contiguous 20 minutes and you don’t have to carry a rosary with you. You have 10 fingers, right? That’s good enough.

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Here are 11 perfectly good ways you can pray the rosary TODAY even on the busiest of days!

1) In the shower – What else do you have to do in the shower? Praying is much better than letting your mind wander. Keep your eyes on the Lord! If you’re not done praying by the time you’re finished, continue while toweling off, getting dressed and even blow drying your hair.




2) While running – Do you go running regularly? Make praying the rosary your activity instead of listening to music. There are podcasts, such as on the free Laudate Catholic app, that you can listen to as you run.

3) In the car – It’s amazing how I can quickly pray the rosary just going to and from the grocery, while getting gas, taking the kids to school and more. A few car trips definitely add up to 20 minutes. I often use a free CD from CatholicCity, which I pray along with. It makes me feel like I’m praying with a group! It’s also a great way to learn to pray the rosary if it’s new to you (because it can be quite confusing to newbies). See other free Catholic resources.

4) While exercising – Try the wonderful SoulCore program that pairs core exercises with the rosary. Purchase the DVD and get two important things checked off your to-do list: fitness and prayer. This program has the approval of Lafayette, Ind., Diocese Bishop Timothy Doherty.

5) While cleaning – Pray away as you vacuum, fold the laundry, mop, dust, etc. And while you’re at it, you can bless those who will reap the benefits of your efforts of a clean home and wear those nicely-folded clean clothes.

6) Taking the dog for a walk – Do you walk your dog everyday? Make that your time for praying the rosary. Again, much better than letting the mind wander. Keep your mind focused and make it a fruitful time!

7) At lunch – Take a daily lunch break and sit quietly to pray the rosary. During warmer months, why not pray outside and enjoy the beauty of Mother Nature that God has gifted us with?

8) Try a walking rosary (sans dog) – Once a week, consider praying a walking rosary. You hold the rosary in your hand and walk in rhythm to the prayer. Now, other people may see you doing this, so you have to be a brave and joyful witness. A priest in our parish used to do this in visible spots around town and it was incredibly powerful to see him walking and praying in the public eye.

9) As you fall asleep – I received this once as a penance after confession and what a joy it is to drift to sleep with thoughts of Jesus and Mary on your mind. The only downside to this one is you might fall asleep before you get through the entire rosary! Read Patti Armstrong’s post on what happened when she was too tired to pray the rosary. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I consider it a sign that someone needs prayers and so I’ll pray the rosary until I fall back asleep, offering it for whoever might need it.

10) At church – It’s so powerful to pray the rosary in the presence of Jesus or with others in your parish. Make a weekly date with Jesus to sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament or in Adoration to pray the rosary. Or, if your parish has a practice of group prayer of the rosary, join in! Better yet, start your own rosary group!

11) While waiting – How many times do we wait in a day? Waiting in line at the grocery, at the doctor’s office, in the school pick-up line? Work in a decade each time you’re in line and you’ll be done by day’s end.

Any other suggestions for ways to work the rosary into your busy life?

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Honor Your Body While Praying the Rosary with SoulCore

SoulCore Rosary Exercise

Credit: SoulCore

Our bodies are a gift from God and they are an essential part of our being. Someday, we will reunite with our bodies in heaven. So we should honor our bodies here on earth as the divine gifts they are in everything from the clothing we wear to the food we eat to keeping it in healthy physical shape.

SoulCore, a program started by a parishioner in Carmel, Ind., offers a new way to honor your body with physical exercises while praying the Rosary, something Our Lady has asked us to do every day! What a wonderful way to accomplish two important tasks at the same time — and in the company of others with the same intentions.

SoulCore combines core exercises, similar to Pilates and yoga postures, with praying the Rosary. Here is a video that helps explain the program:

Started by parishioners within my diocese of Lafayette, Ind., I first heard about this in my local Catholic newspaper and local Catholic radio station. As a former practitioner of yoga before joining the Catholic Church, I was excited about the idea, but classes were not offered close enough to me to try it.

Our parish purchased a DVD version and invited parishioners to do the program together while watching the DVD and so I have now done the program many times. I really enjoy it and highly recommend it to others. It’s a peaceful respite in the midst of a hectic world and accomplishes two very important tasks that should be at the top of all of our to-do lists.

One note, for those of you who practice yoga. Did you know that yoga and Catholicism don’t jive? Here’s a great post on the subject from Spiritual Direction.

Essentially, there’s nothing wrong with the poses, but you must be sure the “intention” of your exercise is not directed to Gods or religions or other things that don’t fit within Christianity. And you certainly should not be saying words of which you don’t know the meaning.

SoulCore involves similar exercises (afterall, yoga doesn’t have a trademark on stretches and body exercises!), but with the proper intention of lifting our thoughts to Jesus and Mary.

According to the founders of SoulCore, while the program hasn’t been “officially” approved by the bishop of our Lafayette, Ind., diocese, Timothy Doherty, he did come talk with the founders, blessed the project and is “fully supportive” of it. He also encouraged our diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Moment, to write an article. SoulCore has also been featured on Seize the Day with Gus Lloyd on the Catholic Channel on Sirius XM radio and on EWTN’s The Son Rise Morning Show.

Says Colleen Scariano, co-founder, “We also have the full support of our pastor Fr. Doerr at Our Lady of Mt Carmel parish, as well as area priests, including Fr. Joshua Janko at Guerin Catholic [High School] and Fr. Haan at St. Elizabeth Seton [parish].” I can also say that Fr. O’Keefe of my parish, St. Alphonsus Liguori in Zionsville, also approves since he is permitting an organized gathering to do the program.

Want to try SoulCore? You can order a DVD or, if you happen to be local, they offer classes in Noblesville, Ind., and at Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind. You can also join us at St. Alphonsus on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. and Thursdays at 9:45 a.m. (right after daily mass at 9 a.m.) at the Parish Hall to do the program as a group. Let me know if you try it and what you think!

If you try it, let me know what you think!