Tech Talk: The Rosary of the Hours

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Thanks to Our Sunday Visitor and Little i Apps, I now have a great new app to use to pray the rosary: The Rosary of the Hours.

It's based on something I downloaded and printed a number of years ago (before any of us dreamed of apps) called "The Rosary of the Hours." (It's still available for free download as a booklet, so check it out.)

The idea is one that works well for those of us in a very interruptible season of life: you pray one decade of the rosary an hour.

From the text of the introduction:

In his 2002 apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Pope John Paul II gave the Church a precious gift: the Luminous Mysteries. These mysteries, which focus our attention on the Lord Jesus’ public ministry, have made this Rosary of the Hours possible, whereby a decade, with its own special theme, may be prayed for each of the twenty-four hours of the day. Each hour can “stand on its own,” or it can be prayed in union with any or all of the other hours, depending on the need or desire of the user. The Rosary of the Hours does not replace any Rosary traditions, but simply provides another method of praying this beautiful, versatile prayer.

At the beginning of the hour, you start with a brief Psalm Prayer. You pray the decade and there's a meditation focusing on the theme of the hour. Then there's a closing prayer and you're done for that hour.

You can pray this anytime and anywhere. You can use it hourly, as suggested, to carry the rosary through your day with you, or you can pray them all at once for a different approach to the rosary.

The app gives you the ability to schedule reminders. It's easy to navigate if you have a certain mystery or set of mysteries in mind, and

A good friend of mine admitted that she uses it more as a reminder than to actually pray the rosary, and you know what? I say GO FOR IT. If you're being called to prayer and reminded to pray throughout your day--to turn to God in the craziness and mundane moments of real living, THAT is awesome!

It's only available on iTunes right now, but all of you Android users should send your feedback and demands to OSV! This app is well worth the 99-cents (and then some).