Our Lady's Psalter

A couple years ago, I discovered a practice in the Church that I was completely unaware. Most of us when we think of praying the rosary, we are referring to the five decade rosary. At least, that's what I always thought. My question for you, readers, is have you heard of the fifteen decade rosary? This is the rosary that Our Lady gave to St Dominic, a meditation on all the mysteries of Christ's life, the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries. 

Daily.

It was an uphill battle for me to get this started one Lent. I had every excuse in the book. Five decades is sufficient. Surely Our Lady never asked for more than this. I don't have time. It's too much. I'm already doing a variety of spiritual practices, etc, etc, etc. The fact of the matter is, you can always come up with a reason not to do something, but in the end time is God's gift to us and it matters what we spend it on. One decade takes maybe five minutes and a good place to start is adding one decade consistently.

I realized the fight against this inspiration was ultimately because the enemy knows the power behind this practice. I like this quote, "no one can live continually in sin and continue to say the rosary. Either they will give up the sin or they will give up the rosary." The fifteen decade rosary is transforming. It is called Our Lady's Psalter because of the 150 Hail Mary's of the fifteen decades and refers to the 150 psalms. St. Louis de Montfort, not surprisingly, promoted the fifteen decade rosary.

Of course if we're praying the five decade rosary daily that is a beautiful habit and significant way to honor Our Lady. In this month of the holy rosary, however, let's accept a challenge to go deeper and not only find time but make time to pray the fifteen decades. I can't recommend this devotion enough. You won't regret it. Imagine when you come to the end of your life and every rosary you prayed was a crown for Mary, a gift to her in your hour of death when she promises to come to us as we pray in each Hail Mary.