The Healing Power of Praying the Rosary by Gary Jansen fell into my hands at a time when I felt I was not doing justice to praying the rosary and was looking for a fresh perspective. I learned to pray the rosary at a very early age. However, I was looking for ways to enhance my prayer time with the rosary. It was not my favorite praying activity, to be honest. Many times, I would fall asleep in the middle of praying and wake up still clutching my rosary beads.
The word “healing” in the title caught my eye immediately because all my readings about the rosary so far had focused on the biblical aspect. What did healing have to do with praying the rosary?
I was pleasantly surprised. This book brought together the mind-body-spirit connection. I am a believer of how our mental state can affect our body and have read several books on the matter but this is the first time a book, specifically about the rosary, showed how it could actually be a great meditative and experiential tool that can also be healing. Gary gives us several chapters that dwell on using vagal breathing, Ignatian contemplation, and imagination to help immerse ourselves in the life of Jesus through the rosary while bringing our body into a relaxed state through prayer.
Thank you to the author, Loyola Press, and Netgalley for the ARC. Here are Amazon affiliate links if you want to get the paperback or the ebook.
There is a saying by Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
