The Via Media Rosary bookletMy "how to pray" this Rosary booklet is provided below or you can download it here.
Icon: “The First Communion” © 2016 by Valori Mulvey Sherer.
All rights reserved. Please contact me for permission to copy or reproduce this icon. Contact me if you'd like to purchase a custom ViaMedia Rosary or use the photos provided to make your own. Prices vary according to the materials used, and range between $10 and $25.
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About my Via Media RosaryThis Rosary meditation began to be developed in Advent, 2007 while I was serving as rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Cadillac, Michigan. It has been revised several times over the years, finally taking this form during my recent sabbatical.
Grounded in Holy Scripture, this prayer discipline draws on the best of the Roman Catholic (RC) and Anglican traditions as it engages the body, mind, and spirit in contemplative listening - hence the name: Via Media Rosary. The prayers in this form are adapted for inclusive language. The Hail Mary is the contemporary RC version. The Gloria is an adaptation of the Anglican version. The Lord’s Prayer is taken from the New Zealand Prayer Book (Anglican). I have also adapted the Fatima Prayer (O my Jesus…), the Closing Prayer, the Prayer After the Rosary, and the final two Glorious mysteries. About the construction of the Rosary: typically Anglicans pray four groups of seven beads, and Roman Catholics pray five groups of ten beads, called a decade. The “tail” in the RC version has five beads, the Anglican version typically has one or two beads. This form has three beads in the “tail” and five groups of seven beads. The number seven symbolizes spiritual perfection, completeness, and the work or action of God, as in ancient and Biblical understanding. This Rosary, like all prayer, is a way we respond to God’s call to come close and be “oned,” as Julian of Norwich calls it. Even as a child, I wondered why the Rosary, the form of prayer dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, the Theotokos, didn’t include The Magnificat, Mary’s prophetic proclamation preserved for us in Scripture. I have, therefore, included it in the Glorious Mysteries section, where I was led to place it. The Scriptural quotes have been taken directly from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. That there are graces to contemplate with our hearts as we pray with our bodies and minds, is derived from the RC practice. I used some of the traditional graces, i.e., faith, hope, obedience, zeal, etc., though they are placed differently in the context. I have also, out of prayerful obedience, offered new graces for contemplation which speak to the body of Christ in the world today. 
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