When Catholics recite the twelve prayers that form a decade of the rosary, they meditate on the mystery associated with that decade. If they merely recite the prayers, whether vocally or silently, they’re missing the essence of the rosary. Critics, not knowing about the meditation part, imagine the rosary must be boring, uselessly repetitious, and meaningless. It is the meditation on the mysteries that gives the rosary its staying power.

• The Joyful Mysteries are these: the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, and the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple.
• The Sorrowful Mysteries: the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, and the Crucifixion.
• The Glorious Mysteries: the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, and her Coronation.
• The Luminous Mysteries: Baptism of Jesus, Wedding at Cana, Proclaiming the Kingdom, the Transfiguration, the Institution of the Eucharist.

Both Catholics and non-Catholics, as they learn more about the rosary and make more frequent use of it, come to see how its meditations bring to mind the sweet fragrance not only of the Mother of God, but of Christ himself.